Start of Summer Garden

The porch garden has been loving the warmer weather and growing into its summer look. Though the beginning of summer has fewer flowers, the leaves of plants go crazy, as seen in the sudden burst of growth in my young cucumber plants.

Last week's baby cucumber plant, starting to climb the lattice.

Cucumber has reached the top of the lattice, starting to climb the porch railing now!

Other plants had to wait until the warm weather to come outside. I'm trying out a Venus Fly Trap this year. I'm hoping to keep it for multiple years. Apparently they are native to North Carolina bogs and can be kept in the refrigerator for winter dormancy in colder climates? In any case, they're a bit picky about their surroundings. They have to be kept somewhere humid, without any fertilizer, bright sunlight, and only rainwater or distilled water. Hopefully this plant will make it... 

The sea thrift is thriving! I'm happy that it likes its super airy pot and well-draining soil. I may have to move it to a larger pot when the weather gets hotter so it has more root mass to keep it from getting too thirsty during the day. (PS: Check out the little lavender plant in the background! New perennial flower for beeees!)



Lack of root mass was what made my poor rose lose all of its leaves during the few 90 degree days we had a few weeks ago. The weird thing was that the leaves didn't droop, they crisped. I've never had a rose before, so I would look out, see the leaves all perky and think it was ok. It was definitely not ok. :( By the time I looked closely at the leaves it only had a few un-crisped ones left. I soaked it in water and trimmed it back a bit, trying to keep all of the un-crispy leaves. It slowly dropped the ones that had died. Now, however, it's in a larger pot and I noticed that new leaves are sprouting from the leaf nodes. Give it a few weeks and hopefully I'll have a picture of a healthy plant to show you.

Beans have been sprouting! These are Bush Beans, which means they grow in sort of a low, shrubby shape instead of trailing. I've heard they're good for pots so I'm trying them out this year. 

I really like sitting out on my porch and enjoying my garden. It's very calming. :)