Leela's Garden & Kitchen

chameli flower that I got from my mom which smells so good saucer magnolia plant that  I bought and planted The tomato plants are growing wild and need more support Indian beans started blooming Jasmine plant  that I got from California  started blooming  Sunflowers that are highlight of my garden After a lot of rain for a last few days, today it is hot and sunny.  In my garden, the sunflowers look best.  This morning, my daughter told me that she has good memories with sunflowers.  In one of the picture that I took a long time ago, my older one is holding my younger one and the younger one is trying to reach the sunflower. Another year, I planted some sunflowers, one plant reached so high, my children had to climb the ladder to touch the sunflower. I got some ripe tomatoes and  beans and some sorrel leaves to cook. I got roots from the stems of  the gardenia,chameli and jasmine.

Thai basil I planted some Thai basil seeds from last year and the seedlings are coming.  I cannot wait to use the leaves in my cooking.

Muscadine plant I found in the garden This lily is given by one of my neighbor this spring I need to find the name of this plant. This plant got new leaves and growing very slowly My first tiny sunflower.  It is tiny because it is crowded. Shasta daisy bloomed late Under the deck Dahlias. I got inspired to plant Dahlias after my India trip Perennial Hibiscus, it will bloom  whole summer My garden from the deck Finally, it rained after a long time and the plants got enough water for a few days. It is easy to move the seedlings around after the heavy rain.  One tiny sunflower opened today.  I made a mistake of planting sunflowers in the vegetable beds because the sunflower plants took over and they aren't letting the vegetable plants get enough sun.  I need to put stakes in the ground for the tomato plants to grow on before they get out of control.

Cosmos flower with a visitor!                                                                  Unripe pear.                                                                   Gardenia. They smell so good. This rose changes color from yellow to orange and then to red Ornamental pepper that birds love to eat Today I found a Muscadine plant in my garden with some bunches of muscadines on it.  I showed the children, and I cannot wait for it to ripen.  I don't think that everybody likes muscadines because they have seeds and you have to remove the skin.  They look like grapes but with very thick skin.  I enjoy them but they are available only in the south and have a very short season in the fall.  Another fruit that I love is persimmon, and they are also available in the fall for a month. I bought and planted two blueberry bushes, and the sunflower plants are ready to bloom soon.

Figs  My compost bin  Rain barrel I made in a workshop that still need to be painted but already very useful and saving water Persian shield in a container Sweet basil from last year seed cilantro with coriander seeds Cone flowers (perennial and easy to take care) Knockout roses blooms whole summer persimmon fruit (I cannot wait for them to ripen) This morning I took some pictures of the garden to share. Some plants are ok without the rain like coneflowers, pear, fig trees and cosmos.  But I am watering the tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers, and eggplants.  I am waiting for the rain but the forecast says that we will not have rain for the next week.

Today I harvested garlic from my garden. I planted garlic before winter came, and they looked ready by the end of May.  It is so hot outside and I cannot wait for the rain to come.  One of my Magnolia died last summer because of drought.  I learned how to make a rain barrel this spring and and started using rain water.  I also started a composting and it really helping the plants.   The only problem so far is that we found a snake in the compost bin while mixing the compost.  After finding a couple of snakes in the yard, I am careful and not that scared anymore.