The Color Of Summer Staying away from social media for almost two months proved very productive. I don’t mean to offend anyone who has been reading my blog or bloggers I’ve been following but I needed time to reflect, get things done and read books. I did get a lot of things done, have read more books and even started baking again. Now I’m back, … Continue reading Hibiscus
Bright And Sunny Summer is finally here and the temperature is making the point so far. We had a very cool spring which was very good for the roses and many other cool loving plants. Tomato, chili pepper and basil think otherwise. My basil are only a couple of inches tall and the chili peppers are taking their sweet time to grow. But I’m not complaining. I … Continue reading Summer
The Only Time We Compete This time of year is the only time we, the birds and us, compete for fruits in our garden. We have wild cherry, ornamental cherry, white mulberry, wild raspberry, Golden raspberry, strawberry and blueberry on the property. We gave up on the wild cherry since it’s too tall for us to harvest; the birds always get the fruit first. Our … Continue reading Summer Feast
Welcomed With Heavy Rain Today is the official first day of summer but the weather doesn’t seem to want to cooperate. Morning started much cooler than summer should start with, then the rain arrived, pouring down and accompanied by strong winds. Over all, it’s pretty wet and cool with sunshine peeking out here and there. Tomatoes looked very unhappy being blown left and right and soaking … Continue reading First Day of Summer
Still Blooming Heading toward the end of summer when not many things are blooming whether because of high temperature, humidity, pouring rain or drought, there are still some diehard flowers that never disappoint me. Garden Phlox, Black-eyed Susan, Echinacea and Alyssum just to name a few. There are also some low growing shrubs and lovely weeds, yes weeds – that is what they are categorized. … Continue reading Dependable Summer Plants (continued)
Spicebush Swallowtail Courtship Some butterflies have shown up at last. Not as many as I would like to see though. There were dozens of Eastern Tiger Swallowtails in past years, but only two or three of them this year. I’ve seen some Swallowtail caterpillars but they disappeared a couple of days after. I think the birds have been doing their job too well. A team of … Continue reading Love Is In The Air
And They Don’t Require Much Care The heat and humidity are here. In mid-summer heat I do my garden chores from shade to shade, trying to stay away from the sun. The lovely times in the garden in mid summer are the morning and early evening. The cool of the morning makes the mixed flower scents very pronounced, especially the Garden phlox and jasmine. It’s very soothing. … Continue reading Dependable Summer Plants
Yes, Looks Very Much Like Summer Today is the official first day of summer and the garden looks very much like summer. The weather is also perfect..cool, sunny, with a little breeze. Juvenile birds tag along with their parents and wait to be fed on branches near by. The chicks from the second family of Tree Swallows learn to fly by gliding around the garden. … Continue reading First Day Of Summer
Still Blooming As a request from my editor and partner in crime who helped dig the plots and mowed the lawn to plant roses that bloom more than once a year. No, I didn’t know when I started this garden that some roses bloom only once in spring. I came from a place where roses bloom all year round (the sub-tropics) so I assumed that … Continue reading Roses for a Summer Garden
A Tough Native (or phloxing around for fun) Heat and rainstorm can’t do very much damage to this native perennial. Once they’re established I merely prune them in spring so they won’t grow too tall and ‘dead-head’ them once the flower’s spent. I started growing Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata) with just a couple of them. Within a few years they proliferated all over the garden. … Continue reading Garden Phlox
Petals and Wings 