Discover Life and Athens Select Websites

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Today's photos are all weeds. I know. But, I love these weeds. The tiny blue flowers that appear in the back yard in the spring, the huge Dock that grows under a tree back by the compost bin and the Zebrina or Friendship Mallow - all are considered weeds by horticulturists. Good thing the rest of us are just gardeners.
In our garden - The cucumbers are having a wonderful time in the heat - we are bringing in 6 a day now. No red tomatoes or ripe blackberries yet but still lots of spring veggies.

And, the flowers. No end to the daily joy from them.

On the Net - There are two interesting websites I discovered today. One is called Discover Life. Sounds religious but it isn't. The sponsors include: Missouri Botanical Garden, Sun Microsystems, Topozone, Maps a la Carte, University of Georgia, Smithsonian Tropical Research, USGS, etc.
On the home page there are links to All Living Things, Tree of Life, etc. All Living Things is a complete show and tell about all living things - endless fascination to nature lovers. The Tree of Life is simply amazing, too.
Photos illustrate each link to each living thing on the planet.
The other site is a for a plant propagation and production company that specializes in heat and humidity tolerant flowers, Athens Select.

Athens Select is responsible for one of the best heat and sun tolerant ground covers I have in my garden, a type of Heliotrope. (Heliotropium amplexicaule 'Azure Skies'). Last spring it started out as a 4-inch pot. It spread over the small bed it was in and then spilled out onto the sidewalk. It bloomed every day until the first hard freeze. It is already back and blooming.

The sweet scented flowers are magnets for pollinators so keep it away from the swing set if you have small children.
Take a look at their list - photos and growing requirements are given for each plant in the Gardeners link. Southwood in Tulsa is their local distributor.

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