Look at how this cute frog has similar colors/speckled patterns to the weathered wood of my garden bench! I hear these guys croaking sometimes, happy after I've watered the yard, but I rarely spy them. It's always fun to find amphibians (like the salamander earlier this year). And they eat insects, which is awesome.

In the last post I stated that there were 8 tomato plants, turns out to actually be 10. Two seedlings had gotten tangled up together, and another somehow sprouted in the pot containing my blueberry bush. (I moved these two unanticipated ones to their own containers, it's a bit crowded in my main full-sun area now.) All are doing nicely; tiny green tomatoes are starting to appear.

The challenges many tomato growers face include blossom-end rot, weather conditions that aren't ideal (such as the coastal fog locals call “June Gloom”), and the difficulty of containing sprawling vines as they grow. But I've decided that the rich flavor of a freshly picked tomato, and the satisfaction of #GrowYourOwn, are worth it all.

A friend of my neighbor/property mate Karl-Heinz has brought us another beautiful purple flower: a night sky petunia. I love how many varieties these classic cottage garden flowers can come in. I've been tempted to buy more petunias or calibrochoa, and various butterfly-attracting perennials... a garden store at this time of the year is dreamy to wander through. But I know that the height of Rose Season is about to happen in our yard, and many other of my flowering plants are having a good summer, so I will be content for now.