zinnias and back garden

The zinnias started blooming a few days ago - 46 days after seed planting.  The first flower opened the day we got air quality alerts and wildfire smoke in the air so I stayed inside.  Just as well, since more bloomed days later and the garden looks even prettier now.

After photographing the garden, I pulled a bunch of the crazy pokeweed getting out of control on the property line.  My strategy was to remove the pokeweed berries first, and then deal with the tall stalks afterwards.  Finally, I pulled up any seedlings I noticed.  Maybe one day there won't be any, or hopefully it'll be a more manageable amount.

Back to the gorgeous flowers - at least 5 or so different shades - magenta, yellow, orange, red, and another shade of pink perhaps.  BIG SMILES! 

😃 😁 😊

The magenta / dark pink one appeared first, about four days ago.  I see 5 layers of petals so far.

The yellow, cheerful one showed up soon after.

Today I noticed the orange, red, and more up close in person.  (It's nice to be able to see the garden from the window too.)

In the wildflower patch behind the zinnias, there is a Black-eyed Susan (?).

I think this may be a calendula.

Happy summer flowers!

pink rose

 

Behold, the second bloom of the pink Morden blush rose bush.  The first rose bloomed on June 22nd, but I missed getting a good photo before it expired.  I see something has been munching away at the leaves and petals here as well.  There were no obvious creepy crawlies out there when I was watering it today.  Maybe they desiccated in the heat wave.  In the background is the bunch of begonia leaves which will hopefully flower as well one day.

takeout

 Korean fried chicken and (Japanese) miso ramen with chicken, shared with family.  Yummy!  Oishiiiii!

The soup was on the bottom part of the container, and the toppings and ramen noodle was on the top part like a plastic sieve/colander to keep them from getting soggy.  How clever!

and funny chicken art that looks AI - hahaha

 

wildflowers

Some colors are appearing in the wildflower garden.  The sweet alyssum were already blooming, but today I noticed some new ones while watering them in the hot hot heat wave.

Google told me the yellow one is a yellowcress and it is actually a weed.  Ohhh am I supposed to pull that one out?

I can see the hue of this Siberian wallflower all the way from the house.  It's surrounded by sweet alyssum.

And the prettiest one of all so far - a Johnny jump-up that I noticed at the last moment - it jumped out at me - hahahahaha...

The wildflower mix that I scattered back in the end of April included the following:

baby's breath, blue flax, lupine, calendula, Siberian wallflower, yarrow, sweet alyssum, English daisy, Shasta daisy, lancelet coreopsis, dianthus, coneflower, California poppy, Indian blanket, Iceland poppy, Mexican hat, Black-eyed Susan, and Johnny jump-up.  Hope to see more of them soon!