It's that time of year again!  The tomatoes are ripening faster than we can eat them.  Russell talked me into canning stewed tomatoes - a fabulous idea! We still had some spanish onions and green peppers from the garden which I decided to to add because we enjoy the crunch and added flavor.  My recipe yielded 10 quarts of stewed tomatoes.

1. First, I blanched 10 lbs of tomatoes in boiling water for 30 secs and then placed them in cool water so the skins peeled off easily. One thing that helped was using a colander in the boiling pot and lifting it directly into a sink of cold water. 
2. Second, I chopped and quartered 6 green peppers and 4 large spanish onions.
3. Third, I combined the tomatoes, green peppers, onions and ladled them into clean/sterile quart jars - adding 1 tsp of salt to each jar.  
4. For the last step I processed them for 10 minutes at 5lbs pressure in my pressure cooker.

What a beautiful line up! Yum!  I'm enjoying the aroma of stewed tomatoes and the colourful jars as they cool on our kitchen counter.    

I have to figure out some good ways to use these.   The figs are abundant this summer! Any suggestions for me?  I would like to hear from you.

In spite of the watering restrictions we still have extravagant hosta blooms.

Even though we've experienced unusually dry weather the star gazer lilies are out in full bloom.  We were glad to see some rain this weekend.

These flowers are just outside of my studio door.   The large orange orchid cactis blooms elegantly every spring.  As with a lot of my plants it was given to my husband and I by a good friend  before he  died a few years ago.  It's wonderful how the  the gift of a plant  carry  memories that  live on long after their donor is gone.  Below are the orchid cactis on my porch and beyond is the pink climbing roses.

Hidden among some fir trees on a trail at the back of our property are some clematis.  Nice surprise!!

Lovely place to read a book in the afternoon surrounded by the beautiful clematis.

I was pleased this morning to see the delicate "Lily of the Valley" blooms.    They seem to love it beneath a giant cedar tree.  The plant was given to me a few years ago by a very dear friend, Ann, who has now passed away.  I wrote a poem a few years ago about the flower and will share it with you.
..."A Walk Through the Garden and I am reminded of Ann....
The spring maiden wears patterns of light mixed with rain.
Warmed soil gently nudges rich growth once again.
A dress stitched in yellows, greens, purples and reds,
a peacock camelia flaunting her rosy pink head.
And there almost hidden on the dark forest floor
are clustered white pearls wrapped in soft green velour.
Lilies of the valley shine quiet and sure.
They stir memories of Ann.

It's Dogwood and Rhododendron season.  I love to see the beautiful creamy white Dogwoods in bloom in the forest that surrounds our property.  Try as I might I haven't been able to successfully grow one on our property, until this spring.  It seems that there is one growing among the Fir trees next to my husband's shop.  Not realizing what it was,  I almost trimmed it back thinking that it was growing too far out over our driveway.   Thank goodness I didn't get to it.   The blooms are glorious!

This is one of the hundred rhododendron plants.   The blooms are beautiful.

The garlic is growing well.  Harvesting is in August.

The herb garden is all cleaned up and in the corner is baby dill and parsley beside the lemon mint herb.