A Little Fall of Rain

A gentle rain was falling as I woke this morning...light, but steadily so. Just the right kind of rain for tender seedlings and new seeds in the ground. And with watering off the schedule, I was able to turn my attention to a few housekeeping details before heading in to work.

The afternoon cleared off and seemed golden and sunny, though I really only saw that through the windows at work. Nonetheless, a warm afternoon like that was a nice follow-up to the morning's rain.

Naturally, things were clouding over again by the time I headed for home. Check out this giant bird that tried to land in front of me on Route 6 this evening.

Actually, you get bonus points if you figured out its actually a giant bird poo on the windshield. (Have a great time in Paris, Torn...)

It was almost drizzly this evening, but not enough to keep me out of the garden. The big fountain of leaves near the center of this photo is my favorite perennial, the garden heliotrope. Although it's not blooming yet, I'll still take this opportunity to wish my Dad a very Happy Birthday!!

Herbalists would chop up the roots for an effective sleep remedy, but I won't let them touch mine. The delicate flowers are so wonderfully scented, I couldn't have spring without them.

You can see one of my sunflowers peaking from behind the fence here, and there's also some daisies to the left and a snapdragon seedling to the right. But for me, the excitement is centered around those little pointy tufts of darker green in front of the heliotrope and behind the white allyssum flowers. This, I believe, is the first sign of butterfly flower, something I tried to carefully transplant from Eastham. I know it doesn't always take to moving, but it's too beautiful...and important to the butterflies...to leave all of it behind.

Here's a not entirely focussed shot on the pink columbine flowers taking shape this week. A breeze kept me from getting a clearer shot, but in the meantime, let me proudly turn your attention to another of my sunflower seedlings, easily keeping pace with this very healthy peony plant!

Oh, I spotted that wascally wabbit out in the garden border this evening. He's (perhap she's) quite large--next time I'll try to get a photo before I do any shooing, but I may have already lost the remaining carnation buds.

Meanwhile, I'm a little troubled by the fact that Spring is getting me in touch with my Inner Fudd. But I'll be working up some sort of plan that doesn't involve a shotgun before I plant the tomatoes outside.

On another front, you may remember my being a little annoyed when I recently discovered that the beautiful slender speedwell is classified as a weed.

Well, this evening, I must submit this bit of evidence to lean in favor of that ruling: this slip of speedwell is making a home high above the floor of the garden, in the joint of our old fence. Pretty impressive, huh? For now, I still find it charming.

And speaking of charming...ladies and gentlemen, what about this pink azalea?

Sunday Garden Report

Here's those orange tulips soaking up the wonderful and warm sunshine we were blessed with today.

I enjoyed taking a cup of coffee out front in the warm early light to have a nice close look at the border, to see the progress of everything.

Just about every plant out there has gotten a bit taller, or sent out a second level of leaves.

But the biggest news, for me anyway, is the appearance of the first lilies thrusting their way out of the ground.

To the right is an asiatic lily stem. I actually spotted this one in the rain the other day, but wasn't able to get a proper photo until this morning. Since it was, I suspect (I didn't take notes while I was moving everything, so I can't recall with certainty how many other lilies made the move from Eastham), part of the bag of mixed lilies I planted earlier, I won't venture a guess about it's color or habit--that's just one of the things to look forward to over the next two months.

This one below, however, I know very well. It just appeared for the first time this morning and it is the Casa Blanca lily, oriental in variety (which means it blooms a little later, the flowers are larger...and the scent is exquisite.). This is one of my favorite flowers of the whole summer, and so I had carefully made note of where I planted this one during the garden move last fall.


Elsewhere, all the peony plants are coming along nicely, the larger ones already a foot tall or better. And today, I spotted the first tiny buds on a few of them!!

For a week or so now, I've been trying to get a good shot of the bleeding heart in it's setting, to show you how large it is, and how nicely it gets along with its neighbors.

There's an understory of purple and white violets, the single white daffodil I showed you the other day, and further away are the purple blossoms of money plant. Way in the distance against the fence, is evidence that--when I refer to my Great Big Hoe--I really do mean a piece of garden equipment.


Once my review of the troops was complete, I turned my attention to the morning glory seedlings inside. As most of them are already showing their third leaf--the first true one--I wanted to carefully get them into larger pots, since I don't anticipate putting them into the ground before Memorial Day weekend. I think eight out of a possible thirteen is pretty reasonable, as indoor amateur germination goes.

To make sure I've got a great crop of them this summer, tonight I planted another twenty-four of them!!

I leave you tonight with another look at the much-discussed slender speedwell. Say what else you like about it, the tiny flowers are terrific.

It's Gettin' Hot In Here

The Midsummer Revels

A hot morning in our June garden, but there's lots to see, so sit back and be ready for a long post. Today, I'll kick things off with a more fantastic shot of the moss roses.


The first lychnis flowers are coming into bloom this week. I wonder if there's a more common name for this plant I'm not familiar with.

The official name I've found is the Latin, which is lychnis coranaria...and in search of a warmer, friendlier name, I found it also referred to as Purpurklatt(Oh, great...German...).

I'm totally entranced by these red roses on the trellace, so you know I'm going to make you look at another one today.

Here's an orange calendula blossom, getting a little shaggy looking as it nears the end of its life.

But never fear, not far away is a straw-colored variation just coming on. And these guys really do bloom like crazy over the summer, as long as you dead-head regularly.

The red snapdragons are currently ruling the central garden bed.

Here's one nestled amongst the stalks of some drumstick allium, whose flower heads are growing larger each day and beginning to split out of their onion-skin pods.

The last of the peony bushes came on this morning, with only a single blossom this year. Of course, with all the others, its sort of an embarrassment of riches!


The numerous stalks of milkweed are sporting their big flower balls now. Their colors are a bit muted, but they're pretty popular with pollinators. Actually, though, I'm a little concerned on that subject.

I've been hearing a lot about the American Honeybee and Colony Collapse Syndrome, and have been keeping my eyes especially peeled for some these guys. And so far, I'm not seeing them. I hope they'll appear with the blooming of the Oregano That Ate Eastham, as they've swarmed that in years past.

Down at the far southern end of the back garden's field is a rosebush, overgrown and probably too shaded by tall pine trees.

Despite all that, every year it puts out a few of these simple and delicate flowers. I hope to find a sunnier sight for this special plant. Can't you just imagine the plant covered in these?

Doing battle against the Oregano That Ate Eastham is this fantastic sweet william, which actually looks just a little more maroon than the red the sun was bringing out here.

Over on the edge of the grape madness is this rose, which has a double blossom that always reminds me of zinnias.

After a while, I left the back garden to explore the rest of the yard and as I wandered out to the road to snap a photo of the pond, I spied a mama duck and at least four ducklings.

She seemed to be herding them into the tall pond grass at the water's edge. I wonder if their nest is in there.


Here's a great pink sweet william from the front garden I thought you'd enjoy. So much variety in this species.

Along the driveway are some leggy single pink roses.

And right outside the front door, our Chrysler tea rose is blooming for the first time in...sweet Gaea, I think it's been like nine years!


Not far away, Mr. Lincoln has put out half of a red blossom. Considering we'd declared him dead last summer, this seemed a pretty terrific effort.

Meanwhile, in the living room window, it's been fun watching the baby catbirds in their nest(Interestingly, our actual cat seems to have no interest in these goings-on).

We try to just look in on them now and again, since both parents shoot us dirty looks when they spot us checking them out. But its fun to peek in on their progress...and to watch both parents swooping in on seemingly-endless food runs.


After work, I found myself drawn back out into the garden, where I found a catbird bathing in the new birdbath.

He was really getting into it, splashing around and having a good time, but suddenly glanced up at the sky and took flight, making room for a thirsty robin.

Once she was sated and took wing, the catbird returned from his perch in the apple tree, to splash and bask a little more.

Another gazania blossom glowed in the evening light.

There's plenty of magic in the garden this time of year, from the birds to the roses.

Tonight we also had the special effect of lightning bugs taking wing, their trademark chartreuse flashes appearing randomly around me in the air.

Here's one on a milkweed plant.

And for good measure, a three-quarter moon rose in the south.