Mother nature can be so cruel

But on the other hand, so nice as well. I snapped a few photos of our favorite plant in the garden the day before heavy rain and wind cleared it of most of the flowers. A few summers ago I decided to feed our rhododendron with guano and clean it up. It grew nicely but the next spring it barely flowered. It grew but we had a fraction of the flowers in the photo above. That's when I read online that feeding it will limit the flowering. It's now about three feet high and five feet wide as she reaches for the sun on the left. I was hoping to get out the next day around sunset for better light but that's when the rain and wind crushed the flowers.

A friendly bumble bee was buzzing around and you can see the pollen (it's pollen, right?) all over. The sun has again returned so now we're in major clean up mode outside over this long holiday weekend. I have the pleasure of using the faux-Karcher as Joelle enjoys picking mealy bugs from our jasmine, branch by branch and leaf by leaf. The rainy spring has sent those nasty little things into overdrive and they're killing our bushy friend.

Over the years we've figured out what works in our north facing garden and what doesn't. Many of the flowers and herbs that we enjoy won't make it here since the light is limited to a window in the morning and a bit in the late afternoon. We would love a rose bush but the poor things struggle in our garden. And then there are the snails, who have slaughtered our hostas. I try surrounding them with beds of little stones and egg shells but they are persistent. We avoid using a lot of store products outside because of the cats.

Even with the tightest of budgets, we always like to spend a little on the garden because it gives us so much pleasure during the summer. Has everyone started their garden for the summer? What do you like where you live and what grows well?