May Winds Down

As the revels of the Merrie Monthe begin to wind down, there's still plenty going on in the garden. For example, that iris in front of the house turns out to look like this!

Delightful, hmmm?

There's plenty of promise for the future, too, as just about every plant begins climbing toward the sky. A few of them now have visible flower stalks rising, like this clump of foxglove.

These are buds of an early yellow daylily, that's popped up out of clump of thistle, clover and coreopsis. Looks like we'll have a blossom to greet June pretty early on.

There's also this rudbeckia to look forward to. If I'm not mistaken, this might be the one with the rusty orange flowers. It might actually be closer to the coneflower family, in fact. But it is always a crowd-pleaser. There's a bunch of stalks coming up there.


Two different clumps of lychnis are also beginning to send stalks up in the air.

I guess that proves I'm a garden geek, when I can see those very first leaves that are just different enough from the basal leaves for me to recognize what's going on...and to get a little thrill from the sight of it.

Speaking of sights to see, I was drawn out of our yard and down the street this morning, as I realized that the wisteria which seemed so blue the other day has clearly "purpled up" after a couple of days in the sunshine.

Their scent really smacked me across the face as I got closer. It's sort of rich and sweet, a little dusty and cloying perhaps, activated no doubt by the sun's warmth. It almost gives you the impression that it means to draw you in to some sweet doom(or at least serious entanglement, knowing the enthusiasm with which wisteria winds...), like the Witch's poison poppies outside the Emerald City.

Oh, but what a way to go.

Today's weather really was terrific here, with bright sunshine that brought us up nearly to 70 degrees. Of course there's still a breeze, which keeps things comfortable...even if it does make flower photography a little more of a challenge.


Yesterday, I made a visit to the nursery and decided to try out a bottle of this "Liquid Fence", which is meant to be an all-natural deterrent to bunnies and deer. And I expect it may do quite nicely...since it's more than a little rank.

No surprise there, as the primary ingredient is "putrefacted egg solids". Supposedly the scent fades upon drying...but remains strong enough on some level to keep the Nibblers away. I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, I couldn't be more pleased with the Easter cactus, which is blooming very nicely inside. I had long expected the flowers would be the same or very similar to those of the Christmas cactus, just at a different time of year. But I'm really enjoying how different these are...and the color!!

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!!

The Color Purple

September Surprise

With so little water in the garden season this year ('til last week), I'd sort of given up for lost the morning glory seeds I planted earlier this summer. To prove me wrong, two of them burst into beautiful bloom early this morning. Who doesn't love such a surprise on a Monday morning? 

Dusky phlox. 

Busy bumbler visits agastache spire. 

Meanwhile...Hydrangeas!!

 


An assortment of large hydrangeas are coming into their own in the old gardens around the house.

 

Tiny bellflowers. 

A lovely purple columbine has appeared by Emily's outside waterbowl.