Father's Day

Another beautiful day to enjoy. My leg muscles had finished their protests about Saturday's long bike ride by morning and I worked in the office for a while.

I had a nice long visit in the garden later on, when I took these pics. The "new" carnation is blooming great, as you can see above...nicely coordinating its colors with the nearby African daisies (osteospermum).

Just love this view of the these tall peonies, with the field of foxglove behind them.

This sweet william is unique among its fellows. Usually, all the flower heads are the same...but this one's flowers come in one of two choices, making some nice patterns as additional flowers open on each stalk.

Another of the assorted calendula joins the show here. What a perfect little flower. At the moment, these guys are only about five inches tall, but as the season goes on, they do get a bit taller and usually put out more flowers, with regular deadheading.

Last year I welcomed a small penstemon plant to the garden, though it never bloomed. This week these tube-like blossoms opened up, and in two different colors. Nice colors, too, which go nicely with the adjacent magenta dianthus, and the soon-to-open calendula on the other side.

Most of the dianthus I'm photographing this year was planted only this spring. But here's a clump of red, which I planted three years ago when I we first moved in. Nice to have this for reference, so I can more easily imagine what this year's plants will look when they are all creating these carpets of color!

Another look at that red velvet dianthus, which is paired with some of its white cousin. Lurking in the background are some yellow marigolds (which should begin thriving more now that I've set out some beer traps for the slugs who've been sliming them).

Well, since I still can't figure out how to let you smell the peonies on the internet (ah, but they are perfuming the whole yard now!), I can at least take you inside one.

Here's another of those fancy picotee cosmos...what a sight. And across the way, this first gazania was blooming in the late day sun, at the feet of one of the new rose bushes.


In another part of the forest, the giant bellflowers have begun to inflate themselves. It seems there are not so many of them this year, though, so I will have to spend some time weeding around them, and opening up some extra space for them to spread around...since the wild strawberries seem to be a bit aggressive in that corner of the garden.


I just love this week of June every year. These wild white roses are legion on the Cape, their seeds easily spread from yard to yard, through wild fields, along roadsides. While lots of folks complain about them being an invasive species, you just gotta love the plant that helps to scent the entire Cape with its delightful perfume.

Before I wrap this up tonight, I just want to wish a very Happy Father's Day to all of you, but most especially, to my Dad (who may be happy to know that I can still smell the heliotrope, despite the roses and peonies)!!