Iowa Garden Pictures

I have been visiting relatives in Iowa for the past five days. 

As a respite from nursing home visits, I would frequently take a few minutes to enjoy my mother's flowers and my father's vegetable garden, which persist as a reminder of better times.

Tall violet flowers and short red flowers adorn the side of the garage.  (Sadly, my knowledge of botany does not extend past vague descriptions of tall versus short and simplistic guesses at colors.)  Also, it appears that a brazen, yellow-blossomed zucchini plant has crashed the party.

Green beans, beloved by the local rabbit population, are protected by wire fencing.  My father also planted most of the tomatoes inside the fencing, perhaps as a defense against larcenous neighbors.

Zucchini, white squash, and cucumbers are planted outside the fence and apparently are viewed with disdain by herbaceous predators, cotton-tailed or otherwise.