Peanut Festival Weekend in Americus - photos by Caitlyn

Our dear friends, Bob and Ruth, brought their granddaughter, Caitlyn, to the Americus Garden Inn this weekend for them to enjoy the Plains Peanut Festival. They were here about a year and a half ago and we were excited to see them again. I tried a new recipe for their first breakfast, what I called an oatmeal cookie muffin. (I will post the recipe in the very near future.) I watched Caitlyn take the first photo of many and before they left this morning I asked if I could share her photos on my blog. All of these photos were taken by Caitlyn. This is a great photo of the main course I prepared Friday morning.

After watching the video "Briars in the Cotton Patch" by Faith Fuller, they decided to visit Koinonia, right here in Americus. They had an enjoyable visit including lunch.

Saturday, they attended the Plains Peanut Festival and met Mr. Peanut.

Mr. Peanut sure is tall!

Since there were no photos of Caitlyn at the Peanut Festival, here is an interesting self-portrait.

Did I mention that Caitlyn is a very talented artist?
A hibiscus in the garden.
Some black-eyed susans

An interesting view of the northwest corner of the Americus Garden Inn.
Some very colorful lantana

The Confederate rose is enormous but no flowers yet.

Several photos of the koi pond

A great photo of the sky

Another one

The tulip poplar has just turned yellow, seemingly overnight.

A fallen leaf

I was just wondering when autumn was coming to Americus. It looks like it started just in time for Caitlyn to catch it in her photos.

Thank you, Caitlyn, for allowing me to share your photos. Thank you Bob and Ruth for bringing Caitlyn to Americus.

I forgot to mention that Caitlyn is only 13 years old. She already has an incredible eye for detail, I am sure you agree.

Thanks for your visit to the Americus Garden Inn.

Hot and Sticky in Americus

It has been ridiculously hot here and I have not been outside much. However, the cats brought us this beautiful dragonfly.The red rocket crepe myrtles are absolutely beautiful right now. Obviously, they like this weather.

There are several banana spiders that have taken residence around the pond. The next few photos are of the spiders and their webs. Can you find the spiders? Hint: they are yellow and black and they tend to be in the part of the web with the zigzag design...

Can you see the intricacy of this web and the spider within?

How about this one? Remember to click on the photos to enlarge!

A side view of one of the spider webs really shows how intricately they are designed and how large they are.

Several years ago, there was a banana spider in one of our trees with a web so large and strong that a bird got caught in the web. We will relocate these spiders when their webs get too large...

To finish for today, a few flower photos:

black-eyed susans near the parking area

and a couple of water lilies in bloom in the pond.

Since I started this post, it has begun to thunder outside. Hopefully, the rain will cool things off a little. Thanks for visiting.

June 1st in the Garden

What a busy weekend it was! Although there is lots to do, I wanted to take a stroll with you through the garden. It has been raining the past few days and everything is growing like crazy.Looking towards the koi pond, the vitex tree is on the left, sago palms in front, and the canna lilies in the far back.
The bee balm just started to open. Last year, the hummingbirds adored these flowers.

In context, the bee balm neighbors the pink echinacea which is loved by butterflies.

On the side of the house, the oakleaf hydrangea has turned from white to pink. The plum tree beside it is loaded with fruit. I'll post those photos soon.

The white crepe myrtle trees all over Americus are in full bloom. Downtown is beautiful as the crepe myrtles line the streets. The pink crepe myrtles are just starting to open.

Through the stone arch in the front of the house, the pink echinacea is filling out the space along with some wild gladiolas.

In the side yard, the orange canna lilies ridiculously tall and the red have just started to bloom profusely.

These are the Mexican petunias. The flowers open in the morning and drop off towards the afternoon.

The hydrangeas are so happy that we have had all this rain. We have had really hot weather and they do not tolerate the heat unless they have lots of water.

My absolute favorite variety of black-eyed susans.

These daylilies showed up amongst the Happy Returns daylilies, which are pure yellow. I hope these continue to bloom all summer like the others.

The miniature gardenias have responded to the rain with lots of flowers.

This was truly a surprise! One of the saucer magnolias is blooming, again.

I'm ending today's tour with "little business" daylilies. Speaking of which, I'd better get back to work.

All of these photos were taken this morning right after our guests had breakfast. Thanks for sharing a few minutes of your day with me. Come stay with us at the Americus Garden Inn Bed & Breakfast to enjoy the garden for yourself. You can check availability online or call us at 229-931-0122 for reservations. Hope to see you soon.

It Feels Like Summer Already in Americus

It's hard to believe it's only May 22. Here in Americus, the school year has ended and the temperature, in the shade on the porch, is over 90 degrees. This morning our first course for breakfast was double chocolate almond scones. I think this is my most requested recipe as they are "melt in your mouth" delicious.
Our guests had a fresh fruit medley of kiwi, strawberries and freshly picked blueberries. The main course was a salsa omelet with cornmeal buttermilk pancakes made with stoneground organic cornmeal and nonfat buttermilk, of course.

One of our cats brought home this new friend to play with. It's a good thing they are not allowed in the house!

Some black-eyed susans making their debut in the side yard.

The first of the red cannas started blooming today.

The cannas are taking over the entire bed and we need to start weeding them out, soon."Fried banana" hosta is a variety that thrives in sun and is doing beautifully next to the Black Elephant Ears. I'll take some photos of them when they are a little larger.

The first lantana flowers from the back garden are a pink variety.

This butterfly was feasting on the pink echinacea. In this photo, you can really see the antenna.

Here, you can see its proboscis inserted into the flower.

Thanks for visiting the Americus Garden Inn today.