Last week we had to go back to Michigan for a few days because of orthodontic appointments. Only fourteen days left!! I can't wait to get the braces off, and luckily I get them off before my birthday.
But that's beside the point of this post.
When we were in Michigan I took several pictures of the house to bring back to the city so that my dad could see how the house was doing while we were gone. It looks amazing, nearly all the front landscaping is filled in, the ground cover leaving no soil visible and the bushes growing at an amazing rate, nearly a foot for some of them.
So with out further adieu…

The lavender has gotten so arge that you can't see the bushes behind it. In a year or so the bushes will out grow the lavender though.

The echinacea growing beside the driveway. I wasn't sure that it was going to survive last but it did! And beautifully.

One of my mom's favorites, Black Eyed Susans. They see to like the soil where they are, amazingly. 

The Bee balm (a.k.a Sweet Leaf, Monarda dydima) that is spreading wildly in the front yard and the humming bird that just happened to fly right next to me as I was taking the pictures. Lucky!!

More humming bird!!

The thyme. It has grown so much this spring and summer. It has kept up with the growth rate of the vinca (our other ground cover) and taken over several large areas. It smells incredible!

These flowers were a surprise. They weren't supposed to come back this year, they're annuals that we planted the spring of '09. But we left the dried plant in until late spring '10 so it must have seeded itself.

More echinacea!! A few more years and I can make tea out of it! Have to wait until the roots mature. 

See? Completely covered. It looks really good. 

The lavender in full bloom :) The fragrance is amazing, spreading through the front yard. 

There are so many bee, honey bees, hovering over the tiny flowers of the lavender. It sounds like a bee hive when we walk passed. 

The hydrangea have nearly blocked the compost pile from view. And all the other green is mint, though it looks a little scraggly, it gives off a refreshing fragrance. 

Hydrangea and Mint. 

Ajisai.

The pine trees have grown at least a foot each, towering over us as we walked around the yard. And the pine cones are getting considerably larger; crystal clear, sticky sap coating them. 

And lastly, the lavender, mint and bee balm that my mom helped my harvest. Usually it's a little early to harvest mint but I was afraid that if I waited any longer it would all be taken over by a fungus so took what was prudent. The lavender is ready to pick as soon as the flowers are just about to bloom, that's the best time. 

The picture is a little blurry but this is the bee balm. It looks a lot like the mint but the smell is very distinct. It's smells spicy and yet cooling. This is for my mom's tinnitus (ringing in the ear). Hopefully this is enough to cure her. Picking bee balm is a little tricky since I'm in Chicago, the window for harvesting is when the flowers are in full bloom (not withering even a little) which is around June 21 (summer solstice) and a few weeks after that. But luckily we got some. Most of the flowers were not blooming yet though. 

Maybe next return to Michigan I can harvest s a little more!

じゃね。