Showing posts with label lilac. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lilac. Show all posts

Monday, May 19, 2008

Monday Things



The circle of life spins on. As the apple blossoms around back of the house burst into bloom, the orange tulips out front are finding ways to surprise as their beauty fades.

I think they are even lovelier as this yellow streaking becomes more prominent.

Another lovely day here on the Cape, though it was pretty windy out there in the sunshine. It took a number of shots to finally capture the right one of these lilacs. I found them in my friend Patience's yard, blooming just in time for her birthday tomorrow!

And the Purple Beat goes on.



The sunny but turbulent day brought some fantastic looking clouds to our blue sky this afternoon, drawing me down to the Rock Harbor Boat Launch for a nice clear look at them after work.

I didn't spot the Ferdinand cloud until I got home and looked at the pictures, though! Do you see him?


Meanwhile, back home in the garden, look at this cluster of Foxglove plants, keeping pace, height-wise with the nearby daylilies.

I'm excited that this is such a nice healthy plant, since I'm looking forward to it seeding itself around in this new garden, as it did back in Eastham. You just can't have too much digitalis.


Meanwhile, the morning glories in my bedroom window are growing ever larger, and should be finding themselves planted outside within the week. I'll need to get some string trellaces up for them post-haste, too, since they look more than ready to start climbing and twining!

Here's Emily appearing to be a good girl, as she encourages me to head out on our nightly stroll around the block.

She was patient enough as I put dinner together (that was about food, after all--tonight, chicken tenderloins baked with sweet potatoes and green beans, topped with a little cheddar cheese). But that seemed to wear a little thin when I turned my attention to cleaning the catbox. I'm sure she'd have appreciated the urgency there more, if she was sharing a bedroom with it, as I do. I love our gray dude, but sometimes he can be a stinky little guy.

Perhaps you're already thinking something's up, and if I mention that Em's poo this evening was a little less firm than it perhaps ought to have been, you might think ("Greg doesn't talk about this stuff...") you've been transported to another blog, perhaps the one by Tornwordo.

OK, so you caught me, it was all just a subtle little tribute to Mr. T. as he celebrates his third anniversary of bringing Crows that Stick to the internet each morning to go along with your morning coffee. Over at SC, things scatological and stinky are more likely! I'm sorry I haven't been visiting over there all three of those years, but there's always something interesting, amusing or otherwise thought-provoking.(And this kills me.)

The clouds are part of the celebration, too. Happy Three, Torn!

When we got home from that walk, I discovered there was indeed oriole frolicking going on in the apple tree. Miz O feasted her way through assorted sweet and tasty blossoms, while her boyfriend sang protectively from a branch a few feet above her.

Perhaps you are admiring the gauzey, almost Victorian painting quality of this photo...and maybe you are wondering what my secret is. And now I am forced to admit that you, too, can take such lovely photos, if the angle of the sun is right...and you don't wash your kitchen windows. (Despite the successful result here, I'll try to get those wiped clean sometime soon!)

And as we bring the day to a close, the Full Corn Planting Moon rises in the southeast. Gentlemen and ladies (and other ladies, and less gentle men), start your shovels and get out there and plant something!!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Morning, Garden


This cardinal was facing east and singing on the morning sun as I enjoyed my first coffee out on the back porch this morning. I think he was perched on more or less the same branch I saw the oriole yesterday.

It's great that the season's getting to that transitional point when sitting outside with the first cup is comfortably possible. I so greatly prefer the cardinal's song to the Today show or the Weather Channel.

I thought I'd share a glimpse of the future with you today, now that the morning glory seedlings are getting a little bigger. There are seven of this class doing very well.

Something (probably feline) happened to the eighth one, but I'm not making much of an Agatha Christie moment out of it. Especially since a fresh batch of them should be sprouting shortly.

Although they were slow to do too much of anything (they were planted a day before the morning glories), you can see there's now also a nice crop of cleome seedlings coming along (you know, I believe they are the purple-flowered version, come to think of it).

They are just about the size where I ought to be thinking about thinning them, but since I expect to plant them out in a week or so, I'll take a chance that they'll continue to co-exist just fine in the small space for the nonce.

I brought the second mug of coffee out to the front yard with me, so I could give the garden a nice soak while continuing to work on rejoining the Waking World for another day.

We had a luncheon on the work schedule today and there was banking to be done on the way in, so I needed to get out and about relatively early...but there was still time for a bit of a prowl along the garden border...from whence cometh today's Floral Moment of Zen.


I'm a little sad to say I won't have the purple of our own lilacs to share with you this year. They are blooming now, but that doesn't include our sad little shrub, who'd grown a little gawky in the shady spot it languished in the past few years. This one will need a little tough love, now it's got a full-sun spot in which to flourish.

In the weeks ahead, my plan is to take out the two oldest and thickest branches in the center which are my height, and then prune down the remaining branches just a little...which should get some side branching happening over the summer, which might bloom next year (lilac only does so on old wood...don't laugh, i'm serious...).

Fear not, I'll be looking for some lovely lilacs to photograph for you this weekend, as they are coming into their prime around here...and I do enjoy spending time in their company.

Meanwhile, I was a little astonished to see that this clump of carnation is already showing a pair of flower shoots and signs of budding.

Behold, the power of the sun!