Semi-Famous

This is the scene that greeted me when I returned home yesterday and looked out the back door. Crazy, right? A wall of green! I don't remember the garden ever looking so dense and lush. We can barely even see the buildings around us.

The teasels, in the center of the frame just behind the barely-visible birdbath, are huge. They must be ten feet high and they have at least a dozen flower heads apiece. Allowing those to grow -- they appeared on their own, from seed -- has really created a showstopper.

Here's the scene from another angle -- the back of the garden looking toward the house, along what is normally a narrow path between two flower beds. As you can see, the plants have encroached on the path to such a degree that Dave didn't even try to mow it the last time he mowed the lawn. There's red persicaria to the left, a large burdock to the right and beyond that, another teasel.

Olga is so happy to lie in the sun. I love how she's perfectly using the leaves to shield her eyes.

I've been calling this lamb's ear (above) but apparently it's actually a species of Verbascum, commonly known as great mullein or Aaron's rod. It grew wild, with no encouragement from us, and sent up a big flower spike. Now it's blooming yellow. 

Our jimsonweed, or datura, is blooming too. Even though it's in a pot and sitting up on a table, something's eating the leaves -- but it's a tough plant so it will be fine. Out of that entire packet of jimsonweed seeds I bought, we got only one plant. The others never sprouted.

On the front porch, the snapdragons are doing their thing.

As long as we're talking about the garden, I have some exciting news. I've mentioned the weekly BBC show "Gardener's World" here on the blog many times. Dave and I love it and have been loyal viewers for years. Last year -- in order to develop content during the lockdown -- the producers invited viewers to make videos of their own gardens and submit them to the show, and this year they've continued that feature. Each episode normally features two or three viewer videos.

Well, just before I left for Florida, Dave and I pulled together a video of our garden and sent it in, talking about how we've allowed many so-called "weeds" to grow and had some luck creating wildlife and insect habitat. The BBC asked for additional footage, which Dave shot while I was away, and now they've slated us to appear on a future "Gardener's World" episode -- number 19, to be specific. Woo hoo!

Nothing is final yet -- I get the sense that this could all change at any minute -- but apparently they've re-edited our video which is a good sign.

Dave is going to be in the states when that show airs in a couple of weeks, so I hope he'll have access there. We'll let our friends know closer to the date -- you're getting the news before anyone else. And yes, Olga is in the video too.

Can you believe it -- our garden, on television?!