Princess party at the nursery

Mahalah Grace is the daughter of one of my dearest girlfriends... She is 4 and I got to babysit for the weekend while her parents were in Chicago at a wedding. Her 2 favorite things are mermaids and princesses in no particular order... We had a really good time and wore tiaras (real ones of course) all weekend!


Dot and Diana came to visit too, and we made all sorts of crafts! The beads and glitter and crayons were everywhere!


Tag! You're it!


We're posing under some of the sunflowers we seeded in jiffy pots this spring!


After a long day, watering the nursery, in my tiara, with a glass of wine!

Native sunflower


I love this baby gourd growing next to the big mama one!


Helinium "Tiny Dancer"


Echinaceas are being hybrid into amazing shades... here is a pink cone from the "Summer Sunset" variety...


A little out of focus but still pretty, Swallowtail on a yellow echinacea

cosmos in the garden

more sunflowers...

I realized last spring, after receiving all of the packets of seeds I had so carefully selected, that I forgot SUNFLOWERS! So one day I was in kmart and saw a Martha Stewart packet of 5 different varieties and threw it in my basket. What a great impulse buy that was! The sunflowers are the best I've ever grown!

I just love these zinnias and sell huge bouquets at the tailgate market...


The already controversial (some people complain I need a bigger or brighter or whatever sign - but so what - it's just what I wanted and if you miss it, maybe you just weren't meant to come pester me!) sign is becoming overwhelmed by flowers planted at the base!

butterfly party

the butterflies are swarming! it's truly amazing!

I hung a "closed till 1" sign on the door of the nursery on Saturday and spent the morning selling plants at the tailgate market. I met a bunch of people and some of them walked away with plants!


I found a huge black widow spider in the basket of sempervivum (hens and chicks) after a lady bought one... Had to smush it after she walked off!

Finally I got a snap of the hummingbird in the agastache!



Some crazy metalic bugs



This hawkmoth was sleeping on the floor one day

the sunflowers are AMAZING!

I planted half a dozen different types of sunflower around the perimeter fence of the nursery and the show has begun! They take my breath away and the bees butterflies and all sorts of other insects are drunk in love with blooms big and small....