Max and His Hollyhocks

Max, on the right, usually spends his mornings sleeping in the sunshine with his buds.

But this time of year, Max is preoccupied with his garden.

Max raises 10 foot hollyhocks. This is his third year. The old hollyhock bed runs right alongside the fencing of the puppy yard. Every year it gets a little thinner as the hollyhocks migrate through the fence, into Max's dominion. Every year my hollyhocks get shorter and sparser, and Max's get taller, brighter, and thicker.

This year the hollyhocks are red with maroon details.

Plain and ruffled.

The behind-the-scenes look.

The blossoms still have pollen on them (this means next years hollyhocks will be even thicker).

He refuses to tell me how he lures them over to his side of the fence, or how he gets them to grow so tall.

He says it's a trade secret.

Whatever it is, he runs right out there first thing every morning to check on them.

Next year I may put him in charge of the rest of the garden too.

Perfection

The only word to describe that very first tomato off the vine. This time it was a Golden Jubilee (last year Mr. Stripey took first place). An absolutely perfect tomato, still warm from the sun.

In spite of all the mistakes and problems this season, a few plants are cooperating. The gourds have finally kicked in (for awhile I thought this would be one of those years they just didn't come up. Ever). I love gourds - the leaves are the size of dinner plates, soft and fuzzy, and smell like baking bread.

Although the hollyhock flowerbed has peaked (it needs to be re-seeded), and significantly fewer plants come up each year, there are still stunning blooms appearing. Originally, the bed colors were pink and dark black, but over the years they have morphed and in-bred to this dark pink bordering on maroon.

Finally, it wouldn't be summer without my favorite flower -morning glories. I've planted and replanted so many times that the colors have inter-mixed and now appear in blue, purple, white, pink, and petals with stripes of every possible combination.

Fortunately, something goes right in the garden each week. Otherwise, after last week I'd have been tempted to pave it all and paint it green.

Of course, the wiregrass would still come up through the concrete.