Gorgeous Croton Plants

 These two Croton plants started from small plants in 5 inch pots many years ago.  They spend the winter in the house every year and the rest of the year outside on the front porch.  Five years ago I left them out too long and they lost all of their leaves in a frost.  Luckily the plants recovered.  They are always very colorful but this summer, they are displaying a generous helping of bright yellow leaves.  They are so large now, we have to use a hand-truck to move them into the house.

The Deer Family

One of the great things about living here is the abundance of wildlife in the area.  This week I lucked out with a picture of this beautiful deer family.  I don't know for sure but I think this group includes a matriarch with two kids from last year and two kids from this year.  If you look close you see mom with this years kids in the front.  Just behind mom you can see the antlers of a young male and a young female. A really nice family photo.  We've seen this group a number of times this summer.

Elephant Ear Giant 2

 Here are the Elephant Ears next to the shed door.  They have been in the ground longer than the plants by the garage and continue to grow huge.  On a smaller note, one of our Oak Leaf Hydrangea's sent a shoot outside of the raised bed where they were planted.  We moved it to save it from the lawn mower.  We planted it next to the Elephant Ears on the side of the house.  We're keeping our fingers crossed that the Oak Leaf will do as well as the Elephant Ears have done.

Elephant Ear Giants

 On May 22nd I wrote about our Elephant Ears coming back strong.  Well if you compare these pictures with the earlier one's you'll see how big these beautiful plants can get.