HOLLYHOCK HARVEST/SPEEDERS AND STINGERS

A sky full of clouds and a forecast of temps only in the 80s were enough to prompt my typist to wiggle his green thumb and do some cleanup around the yard yesterday. He asked if I wanted to help him harvest some hollyhock seeds.


Hollyhock harvest

'Sure. I can do that. I will even count them for you.'


One, two. One, two. One...

There were so many seeds. I counted over two.


Sea of seeds and ladybirds

Things were going great. We saw ladybirds, speeders and itty bitty beetles. On the very last plant Mr. Green Jeans Thumb (But he has two.) found a stinger hiding in an empty seed pod.


Peek-a-boo

Luckily he didn't get stung. Why the stingers picked just the one hollyhock to populate is a mystery. There were other hollyhocks of the same color, at least to our eyes.

We had to fight off all kinds of critters.


One of many speeders


Ladybird beetles also hid in the hollyhocks.

After the harvest, we checked the rest of the garden and found our first hibiscus blossom.


First California hibiscus of the year.

We even have a baby from a seed we planted last year.


Baby hibiscus

We are running out of room for plants. Wonder where he will plant it. Just like Mr. Newman sings about Mr. Monk, 'It's a jungle out there'. Just like Dad likes it. Me, too.


Rainbow in July? In Rio Vista?
No way. Yes way.

After counting all those seeds and surveying our garden, it was time for an evening walk to stretch my legs. During our discourse about the day's happenings I noticed a very rare sight. A Rio Vista rainbow in July. Hollyhocks and rainbows. Arf, arf!

All in all, it was a great day.