Flower Friday : : Lavatera

I love the way the lavatera looks against the sky with the sun shining through its petals. They grow on waving, long slender stalks which makes catching a picture in focus a challenge when the afternoon breeze comes up.

I was going to continue my veggie streak with a picture of the flowers on the squash vine which has come up under the tomatoes and keeps trying to climb out of the box and along the ground. We have no idea how it got there or what kind of squash it is. I'm putting a picture in extras in case anybody  can identify it.

We do have a few zucchini plants. It's force of habit, I think. It doesn't have a lot of flavor, and is very cheap in the market, but It is impossible to kill a zucchini no matter where you live.  If you turn your back on it it will become blimp sized....

Recipes for how to cook zucchini a zillion different ways abound, probably because it is so bland .  We bought a 'spiralizer' specifically to turn  zucchini into pasta like noodles. It's a good way to use up lots of kinds of vegetables, but it takes so long to set it up that I don't get it out very often.

I've seen beautiful baskets filled with zucchini and summer squash placed on counters in public places in hopes that people will help themselves. They usually don't because they have their own basketful at home! I heard on a gardening program on the radio that August 8 is "Leave a Giant Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Porch and Run Away Day'....

Not such an easy feat in our neighborhood....