What's Growing

My garden and plants are keeping me peeking at them. :) Here are a few images of what's happening around here:

The Clematis is in full bloom, reaching to the gutters of our house! (I bought it mail-order last spring.) Last year, I don't recall it blooming this early, so I am quite suprised. I wonder how long it will last. Plans for the future include more of these guys. I absolutely love them!The hydrangea I bought from mail-order last spring is now sitting in a pot and thriving near the front porch, loaded with buds. Can't wait to see it! I wonder what color it will be this year???The garden is bursting forth from all the seeds I planted. Contrary to how it looks, most of those little green things are there intentionally; not weeds. Ha! The poppy peony and dahlia bulbs are all about 2 inches out of the ground. Seedlings of cosmos, hollyhock, bachelor's buttons, daisy, lavender, ageratum, violet and maybe some others are all popping up in a thick blanket. The tall bushy thing is a form of hollyhock, and very unusual. -- The flowers appear hidden under the massive leaves. It's not what I'd expected, but right now I'll leave it alone.My seeds that I started indoors are all thriving except for the sunflowers. -- The squirrels cleaned out the starter pots in one fail swoop. They left me with all of four plants. Rascals! They would have had a lot more this fall if they'd let the few go that I planted. Otherwise, I have 3 cucumbers, 4 yellow squash, and 18 tomatoe plants of 3 different varieties, all transplanted to larger pots. Now I need a garden to house them in. Hopefully we'll get to that this weekend.I've also planted some herbs and flowers in a pot. So far the basil and cilantro are shooting skyward; only a few flower seedlings have emerged.I also planted some flower seeds into peat pots. So far the lavender and daisies are doing great. The delphinium and bells of Ireland are not appearing yet. ??? I am thrilled with the lavender, though. That stuff is expensive when it's in the stores already grown! I didn't think it would grow that well for me, but so far I'm succeeding. Yeah!!! (The large seedlings are the sunflowers; the smaller ones are the lavender and daisy.)