Thorny Guy has broken my camera! He has a knack for breaking everything he tried to use. Recently he broke another one of my hand shovels (not a pink one). Usually he is good about not touching my tools, in fact he knows any tool that is pink means he can not use it.
He goes through about three shovels a year! Usually the handle splits in two. Any products out there that wants to take the Thorny Guy challenge, we will review them and see if they can stand up to the wrath of Thorny Guy!

Balloon Flower Pie

First Coneflower

Isn't it early for coneflowers? Well this white swan does not think so. All my other pictures of coneflowers in Minnesota are from mid-July!

Cheerful Combination

These coreopsis and blanket flower just make me put on a smile. They are so bright and cheerful. Inch Worm also seems to enjoy all of the flowers. He wants to touch each one before we can move onto the next garden. It is extremely cute until you hit a display like this or one covered in bees.

Filling it in...

The woodland garden is filling in nicely. I recently bought some plants from Linders at half off and added them to the border. I can not believe how well the wintersown columbine are filling in. Next year, this should be an awesome drift of columbine.

Mulch

I love the way a fresh layer of mulch smells in the garden. It looks great too. Thorny Guy and I got a trailer full of mulch last weekend. I have been slowly making progress applying to the gardens. Somehow I do not think there is enough to go around. Can one ever have too much mulch? Not at our place!

Water Lilies

Every gardener has a spot they ignore right? Well mine is our pond. After an attempt at removing the rocks around the edge and finding out it was a tough and big job, I find the project/problem easier to ignore.
The other day though, Thorny Guy tells me I must check out the water lilies which are blooming. They are fabulous! You just have to ignore everything else around them.

Painted Daisies

The painted daisies are blooming in the Wagon Garden. These are three year old plants, blooming for the first time. They only get morning sun. The whole garden has a country feel to it.

Creeping Phlox

This is a variety called 'Candy Stripe'. It is planted in Sneaky's garden. I originally bought two but the one towards the house is struggling to hang on after winter. This one however it huge. I need to try my hand at taking cuttings to make more. I will let you know how it goes.

Solomon Seal

The solomon seal has settled into its new home over the last two years. It is just starting to create more offshoots in the Hilltop Garden