Don't let the cat out of the box!

... I mean bag!

Elphie is hilarious.

And here's Ginger, also up to no good. She enticed Nikki into giving her a spoonful of what was left of Nikki's mint chocolate chip ice cream. What a spoiled brat!

And now outside. Here's my latest Red Rum, all dewy from today's rain.

These Wave Petunias are OUT OF CONTROL.

Look! They're climbing a tree!!

And who knew my little lupine was going to make a comeback? I certainly didn't. I would have pruned it down if I'd known.

Look at that little thing. So cute.

Little Italy, with a branch of Russian sage in the foreground.

Siloam Reds.

I took this picture to show how tall the dahlias are getting. They're just to the right of the lilies, and right behind the lysimachia. (You can also see how tall the glads are getting, on the right.)

As requested, here's the entire lily garden, but as I said, they're not all in bloom at the same time. Wouldn't it be great if they were??

Strutter's Ball is fantastic. I love it!

Get a load of that color! Mmm!

YAMS! You Are My Sunshine is one of my faves now.

And get a load of these peaches!!

There are so many of them.

This one's probably the biggest of the group, but they're all pretty good size!

This is my new winter hardy hibiscus, Luna Pink Swirl. Unfortunately, she's the same color as the grass.

Here's my little rosebush, Comte de Chambord.

I couldn't get it to focus right, but isn't it cute?

Dan wreaked all this destruction the other day with his new hedge clippers. :)

My purty hostas. I just love the little lavender bells.

So nice!

Look at this wee small cat, dozing off! :)

You Are My Sunshine!

Welcome, pretty lily! Isn't it gorgeous?

And here's another Siloam Double Classic bloom.

And heeeeere's Strutter's Ball! Sorry it was so dark -- obviously it was nighttime.

Little Italy was going crazy.

So purty.

The Russian Sage and Gaillardia are looking good.

Red Rum!

Siloam Red in the light.

Mona Lisa!

Bordeaux, looking gorgeous and branching out very far.

The little Lemon Zest petunias are just so happy!

Our neighbor brought over her new kitten for us to meet. Her name is Sable, and she's adorable. She's kind of like a Weeble... her balance and equilibrium are all messed up because she was born backwards, according to our neighbor.

She's squirmy!

But she sure is cute.

She's sniffin' my toes.

Here are Dan and me at a restaurant today, having lunch with some friends. :)

I couldn't believe the size of these hanging baskets. Wild!

And speaking of hanging, as in hanging out, here's Elphie in a bucket. She just loves being inside things.

Some new babies!

And by babies I of course mean flowers. I'm still so sad that gerbera daisies are annuals. I just love them. These are the "festival" variety -- red and apricot.

These Ultra Rose petunias are definitely filling in the windowbox.

I think it's time to give up the ghost on this poor cyclamen. I just couldn't make it happy. :(

Elphaba has been up on this shelf a lot lately. She's such a little demon.

These guys are crabapple seedlings from Dan's uncle. We're hoping they get big and strong.

I really really like these begonias. They're so pretty!

I think this is a lily, but the stalk looks so dark. I've got my fingers crossed that I didn't let a weed get huge and take over.

In other news, we finally figured out where to put the windchime! Merry Christmas to me! :) Thanks, Mom and Dad!

This little guy is a new addition: a Japanese iris named Imperial Magic. Isn't he beautiful?

I also got one named Pink Lady (I didn't have any pink irises!), but she isn't blooming right now.

This sprout is coming up back in the corner by the windchime, columbine, gaillardia, etc. Not entirely sure what it's going to be.

Speaking of!

The Russian sage is really pretty too.

I love the texture of the sedums so much, so I thought I'd try for some close-ups. This is the serrated variety.

And here's the Kerry sedum.

They're just little paddles. I love them. :)

And the close-ups just kind of continued. Here are my precious little violas. :)

Wee yellow trumpets.

This one came out really well. My little Sarah Bernhardt peony.

I'm pretty sure this dianthus is just called Pink Picotee.

And my Granny dianthus. On both of these dianthus pictures you can see sooo many buds!

And speaking of buds, look at Stella!

I tried several close-ups, but bleeding hearts are so hard to get focused. This one of the white turned out pretty well. :)

My creeping phlox.

The very happy Shastas.