More garden pics!

I've been spending at least one afternoon a week in my garden for awhile now. I'm trying so hard to keep up with all of it! So far I'm doing a pretty bang-up job, I think. And the weather has been cooperating. It's been dry and hot here (low to mid-90s). No more monsoon, like we had last year (last year it pretty much rained for a month straight in June). So, I've been actually watering to help things out. Here's a bunch of pictures!

It is very hard to capture the "big picture" of my garden. Too many big green leafy things... So this is an attempt to show some scale.

Brown-eyed susans! Wow, the bushes got huge like overnight. There are even more blooms since I took this picture about a week ago. I'm worried about their survival, though! Severe storms are forecast for tonight.

Purple coneflower! This is actually a native Oklahoma wildflower. I don't have too many blooms of this yet, but I think it's improving. They just got a slow start this year.

Another variety of brown-eyed susan. I have two or three varieties, as best I can tell. There's the big bushy type pictured above. Then this type, which is just a single stalk that shoots up from the ground, then there is another type with a black center, which I don't have a photograph of, because they weren't blooming a week ago.

I don't know what this is, but it's pretty! Also, check out my camera strap in the frame. I'm clearly a professional photographer.

More stuff that I have no idea what it is... It's also a native Oklahoma wildflower though, because you can see this stuff (the white stuff) blooming everywhere.

Cannas! Growing big and healthy, and looking much better than last year, so far. I think the monsoon hurt them last year. They are tropical plants, but too much rain makes them rot.

My asiatic lilies! My favorites.

I wish I had time to take more pictures before the storms arrive tonight. Unfortunately I'm working at both jobs today, which means I won't make it home until after dark. Oh, and I've even spotted my zinnias coming up! Last year I'm pretty sure they didn't emerge until July. I just don't know, I'm so new to this gardening thing! I guess things are just different every year. I purchased three more bags of mulch last week, bringing the running total for this season to 20 bags.

In other, completely unrelated news, I've decided to forego any additional "big" projects this summer and freakin' take a vacation. I haven't had a real, get out of town for a few days vacation since September 2006. I am overdue. My mental sanity and peace of mind are every bit as important as my house. Hopefully I'll be going to Austin with a friend for a few days in July.

P.S., I think I'll be givin' the ole blog a makeover soon. I've grown tired of my weak-ass header. Just as soon as I get some spare time and can sit down to fool around with (read: be clueless with) photoshop, I'll crank out something new.