Three Top Gun tomatoes I picked. The rain made 'em ugly.

The psyche mix cosmos

The black-eyed susans

There were three about this size.

Purple coneflowers

Week Eighteen

The Indian Princess hibiscus finally bloomed! The wait was well worth it!

A row of all four hibiscus, in bloom.

Pickling cucumber. Uber alles.

This bachelor button didn't recover after the torrential downpour we received last week.

A purple periwinkle, that must have reseeded itself from last year.

The original bed

This blanket flower — the only one of which that has thrived this well, perhaps it's the porch? — is about to bloom.

A lot of rain this week, especially after a category 2 hurricane hit Mexico. Here's some soggy cosmos.

The rain brought the critters, too. I found several of these catapillars, and they ate most of the surving tomato plant Kim's uncle gave us.

Here's a shot of the original bed. A lot of the taller cosmos and zinnia have fallen, and the zinnia are now crowding out the portulaca.

A handful of bachelor buttons bloomed right after all of the storms.

This is the only Monarda ‘Bergamo’ that has made it to maturity to flower. All of the others I transplanted, as seedlings, into the bed, but they didn't make it. There were only a few that got big enough to transplant. Won't be buying this again.

The homegrown coleus from seed is doing very well in various pots on the porch.

These black-eyed susans — the only thing still left from last year's father's day gift from Kim and Corina — are going wild.

The seminole hibiscus bloomed again. That's the second time, since we picked it and the indian princess up at the hibiscus show in Pasadena. The Indian Princess still hasn't bloomed yet, its blooms keep falling off.

A blue bachelor button has bloomed.

Week fifteen in the original bed. Like Fats Waller said, it's Loafin' Time.

Harvested two beef maestro tomatoes and more eggplant.

It's time to start letting go of the snapdragons.

The first bachelor button has bloomed, and it is pink. Kanye West would be proud.

Week fourteen in the original bed.

It was a good week for the carefree beauty rose.

On Tuesday of this week, the sunflower in the corner was blooming loud and proud.

But on Wednesday, a big wind storm blew through and blew it down, and caused a lot of damage to the overgrown zinnias and cosmos.

Here's the original bed, week thirteen.

The Carefree Beauty rose.

The zinnias are attracting all sorts of wildlife.

Some visitors crawl, and some fly.

The red and white verbena haven't looked better.

Kim's red roses have bloomed again.

The original bed, week twelve.

Here's a shot of the monster from today, after it finally stopped raining.

The first harvest!

There's a lot more where that came from!

The purple coneflower is blooming!

We'll have some tabasco peppers soon, though I don't know what we'll do with them.

The obligatory shot of the original bed in week eleven.

First blooms of the eggplant, May 16.

Before the fruit comes, May 20.

The fruit and a frog, May 27

More flowers mean more fruit, May 27

A white cosmos psyche mix, about to bloom, shot on May 23.

The same bud, shot on May 25.

And, ka-bloom. A white cosmos on a very large and staked plant, shot today.

This magenta cosmos from the psyche mix seed packet was actually the first to bloom, earlier this week.

Here's a shot of the magenta psyche cosmos from today.

Also to bloom this week were some baby breath, I think, from the mixed cut wildflower seed packet.

Also, the vinca that re-volunteered itself in Kim's bed from last year finally bloomed. The first two that came up, however, I moved to a container then put back in the bed extension. Those aren't growing as quickly as the ones that were left alone.

The new additions: The tall tomato, the short tomato, the short pepper and the tall pepper.

The tall tomato

Where I placed the tall tomato

The small tomato

Where I placed the short tomato.

The tall pepper

Where I placed the tall pepper

The short pepper

Where I placed the short pepper

The Beef Maestro plant, in its new triangular tomato fold-up cage, $5 at Home Depot.

The new tomato!

The first fruit just keeps getting bigger.

I like this shot of a bee and the happy ring cosmos.

Three of the four hibiscus flowered simultaneously this week.

A shot of the original bed, week ten.

There's a frog in my shoe!

He's never amused when I have to shake him out of my shoe so I can go and water things.

Best frog photo ever?

Get off the coleus!

The crookneck squash was bought to satisfy my craving for summer squash. Photo taken May 15.

The crookneck squash was actually two plants. Yesterday, the one on the right was down. Dead. That was it. So I cut it at the bottom of the stem. Then, today, this. Sigh.

This one must have gotten mixed up with the coleus. It's actually from a cut wildflower seed packet I got from Wal-Mart for 20 cents. The packet called it a Clarkia, but a little internet research revealed its long name.

Another shot of the Clarkia

Kim's morning glory has finally started to bloom.

The first bloom of the Seminole hibiscus, one of two that I bought at the show I went to.

Here's the second bloom.

A purple zinnia blooms. What's unusual about this is that I didn't plant any this year. I did plant a packet of zinnias in late late summer last year, but none ever came up. Hmmm.

Another shot of the purple zinnia.

And the Persian Carpet mix zinnia are looking really good, too.

The Happy Ring cosmos are doing really well. The Psyche Mix Cosmos haven't bloomed yet, but some of them have grown quite large.

A butterfly. On a marigold. Nice.

The pentas are doing fine.

Week Nine

The first of the Mexican Zinnia Persian Carpet Mix. Nice. The seed packets were 75 cents each from Park's Seed. Bonus.

The zinnia before it bloomed.

My first tomato!

Another shot of the tomato/self portrait.

This is a Platycodon-Sentimental Blue, that I picked up for less than $2 at Enchanted Forest. It's also known as a "balloon flower." I put it in the middle of my established original bed.

Here's how I filled in the extended bed where some zinnias and all of the jalapeno transplants I attempted failed. From back to front, from left to right, we've got a cayenne pepper, "long and thin" I think it's called; a Tabasco pepper plant, a pickling cucumber that needs a trellis, a couple of crook-neck squash and a sweet banana pepper plant.

The sweet banana pepper plant. Got this one from Home Depot, and it was more expensive than the other plants I got from Enchanted Forest.

The two crook-neck squash plants. Yum.

Hot Tabasco pepper plant.

The pickling cucumber plant. Wish I knew exactly what kind it is ... oh, yeah, I do, it was the cheap kind!

Cayenne Long Slim plant.

"New Look Pink" Pentas, with a "Butterfly Red" Penta in the middle.

These are two evolvulus nuttallianus, otherwise known as "Blue Daze." They're related to Morning Glories, and they're right in front of Kim's Morning Glory trellis, and their flowers also only open during the first part of the day before it gets too hot.

The eighth week of the original bed.

The portulaca are coming in nicely.

I shot the Caldwell Pink rose bush from another angle, in an attempt to do it justice.

Some things are looking nice on the porch.

The Betty Prior and Kim's yellow rose greet people at the front entrance.

It's getting too hot in the original bed for the begonias I bought in a 24-pack from Houston Garden Center. So, I pulled two of the best ones out and surrounded the one I left on the porch in this new container that previously held a strawberry, that I planted in the ground. There really is no excuse for the length of that last sentence. And, I added two coleus for good measure.

Here's what I got mom for Mother's Day - a quart Super Petunia from Proven Winners that I've been hearing so much about.

First strawberry - a quinault

Corina was the recipient of the first strawberry of the season.

Ready to be picked

This sunflower was growing beteen the carefree beauty rose and the caldwell pink rose. But, I moved it over to the corner of the yard. Previously, three other sunflowers also volunteered themselves - I moved them to a very shady part of the yard weeks earlier, and they aren't doing as good as this one.

Last year, I had a frog frequently visit my shoe which I kept outside. On Saturday, I caught this one perched on my shoe. I wonder if it's the same frog ...

Week Seven in the original bed

First happy ring cosmos to bloom

A close-up of the first bloom.

One bloomed in the milk jug that contains four happy ring cosmos.

One bloomed in the front yard, near the house.

And two bloomed in the new bed extension section, between the vegetable containers and the seedlings.

Then Kim's yellow rose in the front started putting on a show.

The Marie Daly rose in my bed has been doing well all season.

The Caldwell Pink finally opened up this week.

There's a lot more blooms on the Caldwell Pink that will open soon.

Kim's pink peace rose is also on the cusp.

(Quite rightly)

Another shot of the first bloom. I've vowed to not allow the portulaca - which I'm using as a border for my original bed - to not get too wild this year.

A shot of the portulaca from last year. Something to look forward to.

I drove right by this trellis, sitting curbside in some unknown neighbor's trash - and I kicked myself about it all the way to work. But then, without me even mentioning it, Kim decided to repurpose one person's trash into our new treasure. Go Kim!

The greatest selling point was its $8.99 price tag.

The new pink jasmine on the new trellis.

Some pink jasmine flowers are forming.

Here's a shot from yesterday of my original bed. Lots of growth to note, and a trellis was saved from the curbside on trash day - thanks to Kim. More on that later, I'm sure.

I found these periwinkle (as Kim calls them) or vinca (as I call them) volunteers in Kim's bed this week. There's plenty more returning, too. So I snagged these first three, in hopes of transplanting them to the extended bed to keep these resilient flowers coming.

This is my largest coleus. I transplanted him Sunday. But here, he's shown in his original pot.

This is my largest zinnia, which I believe I direct sowed into my bed. It's a little lanky, long in the tooth perhaps, maybe it's the wind or the fertilizer, but it's really healthy. It's said to get up to 16 inches tall and spread profusely.Â

This is a "Lollipop Gerbera Raspberry" gerbera jamesonii daisy that Corina and I bought at Lowe's last year when it was discounted to, like 50 cents or something. We bought a companion one that's white with red accents that I put in my bed this year. It has grown a lot so far this spring.

April 17

April 22

I put in a few rows of cosmos in the backyard, including this one around the container garden.

This color-coded image of the right side of my original bed shows what's planted here. The same general pattern is planted on the other side, too. Orange is the zinnia, yellow is the mixed wildflowers, purple is the bachelor buttons, turquoise is the blanket flower and the single green spot is the jalapeno.

Some bachelor buttons were also transplanted to a new section of the extended bed. This shot was taken today, and they've really grown since being put into the ground here in full, uncrowded sun.

Do you see him?

Here's a better shot of him. I found him under a strawberry pot.

A golden lady bug!

Corina looks at hibiscus flowers ready to be judged.

Last year, in mid-Summer, Corina and I stumbled upon two hybrid gerbera daisys at Lowes for a clearance price of $1 each. We bought two - and they stayed in the pots we bought them in all year. This year, I decided to plant the white one in the ground - and this is its first bloom of the season.

The white hibiscus had three blooms at once this week. But, my favorite shot of it is this one.

Week five: The requisite shot of my original bed.

The Hansel Eggplant, planted in the back of the new bed extension.

And to think, there used to be at least 50 more seedlings than pictured here.

I transplanted at least eight cosmos between Kim's flower bed and the new bed.

From left to right, some marigolds, some what I think are zinnias that I direct sowed a few weeks ago and the newly-transplanted blanket flower.

I started transplanting cosmos this week. Pictured here are some Happy Ring cosmos.

This week, I transplanted four of Kim's jalapenos to my bed. And then I told her about it.

This week's Saturday shot of the bed.