Friday Garden Report

I spent most of last night's Vice Presi dential debate coverage muttering as I sponged paint onto the living room walls...it's still a work in progress, so no photos of the finished look yet...but I did catch a few images yesterday I wanted to share with you.

During our early morning breakfast event at work, we had a bit of a sunshower, which gave us the barest glimmer of a rainbow in the northwestern sky...it was already fading by the time I had my camera ready, naturally.

But what's a rainbow, anyway, but a fleeting and intangible promise - like a kiss really - of sweetness and beauty in the future? Who doesn't love a rainbow for that.


I always think there's somethingi cool about it raining while the sun is shining...maybe its two of my favorite elements, water and fire coming together in such a spectacular and sparkly way...I really liked this photo taken under the pear tree outside my office.

After our early morning, I spent a little time in the office, mostly doing unsatisfying battle with my office computer. When it became clear I was about the headbutt the monitor, I decided to take a break for a little time at home and some banking...with a plan to return later on.

High tide was flooding Boat Creek Marsh as I drove through, and when I spotted a blue heron feeding with some gulls in the rising waters, I couldn't resist stopping for a photo or two.

I'm sorry to say the heron disagreed with my idea, and fled at the first sight of me and my camera...of course there was also an unfortunate amount of traffic driving along Bridge Road just then, so perhaps it wasn't all my fault the great bird fled.

But I was pretty pleased with this silhouette shot as it flew out of sight. Also, I loved the contrast of these white asters blooming against the background of some autumn-reddened Virginia creeper.

I took a painting break before dinner and the debates and made it to First Encounter just in time for the last rays of sunset. Actually, I didn't stay long, as there was a pretty powerful wind coming off the bay and it made me downright shivery...so much so that even the Image Stabilization feature on my camera couldn't save all but these two images.

Things are good in the Midnight Garden, and I promise I'll have some more painting photos as the weekend progresses. I hope this finds each and every one of you doing well, with fun plans for at least some part of the weekend!!

Sunday Garden Report

Through some unfortunate set of circumstances I've yet to completely comprehend, I found myself awake at 6:30 this morning. Not a bad thing, per se, unless you've stayed up until 2:00 a.m. watching the first Michael Keaton Batman movie on television.

But that's okay, there was coffee, and I had a project I wanted to tend to before heading off to a day of fun in Happy Function Land. You see, the mails brought a treat this week, from my friend The Rhet. She'd been to an iris swap recently and, aware of the minimal show of irises currently available at the Midnight Garden, put together a small sampler box of roots from her Baltimore garden and sent them winging in my direction.

They'd arrived in fine shape, if a little parched (it was a hot week to travel in a box, after all). To prevent any nasty Maryland buggies from gaining a beachhead here in Massachusetts, I set them up for an overnight soak in water, with just a capful of bleach.

This morning, they were ready to be planted and so after that all-important first cup of coffee, out we went to the border to find suitable homes for each of the new additions.

Who knows? Perhaps numbered in this bunch will be my first scented iris, or maybe one of those new-fangled re-bloomers for the 2009 season! Already I'm giddy with anticipation...

I'm especially fond of the Rhet's unconventional plant tags. I'm also quite fond of her unique handwriting, which I've known for more of my life than not at this point...but I also simply enjoy the economy of it all.

After all, once the roots are planted, the leaves should be cut right down (and were...by the way, if you've not already done so with your irises, now's a fine time of year for that...it'll tidy them up and you'll have new green leaves by August...) to push that energy down into the roots. No doubt in a week or two, new leaves will form to gather solar energy for next spring's show.

In the meantime, I have some possibilities to drool over. I love the one that says "Probably Purple", but the Polish Princess with gold, yellow and lavendar sounds pretty delightful, too! Thank you, my dear!!


These happy golden marigolds echoed the color of the cloud-obscured sun this morning, as the temperature was already climbing toward the 80s in the early hours. Humidity never really abated in the night, as our tropical wave continues.





This purple hydrangea is still a bit overgrown, but certainly flowering nicely now that I've freed it from the bonds of the rampaging bindweed.





I know I've shown off these pretty portulaca before, but just look at it. What a spectacularly perfect little flower, how could you not love it?


Of course, if I get enough protests from you who are sick to death of them (yah, it's a challenge...you wanna take me and the Nicodemon on, do you? Heh heh...), I'll stop showing them off. Maybe.



More of the bachelor's buttons continue to reveal themselves each morning. What's better than a flower you grew from seed?

There are more than a few of these delicious blue guys, but some of the other colors continue to reveal themselves, like this bright rosy pink version.

Sorry the pic is a little on the crappy side, but with the tropical humidity we are also seeing a lot of gusty winds (filed under Y for "yay, a breeze!"), which make flower photography a special challenge.

Meanwhile, in another part of the garden, another variety of sunflower has joined in the great chorus of July. Purty, ain't it?
Last evening, it was the Turkeys. Tonight, while Emily and I were on our walk around the block, we crossed paths with a family of gray ducks. Again, a momma with six young ones, no longer babies, but still not quite the size of their parent. They herded together at the sight of us and waddled off through the hedge of someone's yard.

I didn't have my camera with me. I think you'll understand that wrangling eighty pounds of Herself as well as managing bags of poo is really quite enough, without having to juggle pricey electronic equipment, too. I went back with the camera when our walk was through, but they were gone.

On an unrelated note, a few of you have encouraged me to be kind and treat myself as I travel this path away from the Cigarettes (day three went well, thanks!) and I wanted to let you know about one of those treats. I've recently discovered the Green Machine, one of the juice smoothies from the folks at www.nakedjuice.com at one of our local convenience stores.

At $2.99 a bottle, it's not cheap, but it's still half what I was spending on a pack of cigarettes and so much tastier. As an added bonus, it's got spirulina, which for some reason I just love. It makes me feel all good inside. Plus, it's green!

Here's the windblown garden as I returned from my half-hearted search for the ducks. It's looking a bit overgrown just now, since the edging needs to be done, the grass is ready for mowing and plenty of the allyssum are ready for deadheading. But the dianthus are beginning a second flush of blooming and with the bachelor buttons coming on strong and the cleome taking center stage, it's still quite a lot of fun.
In the foreground (at the base of the closest sunflower stalk) is a nearly invisible blue-green cloud of thistle foliage, which is simply covered with flower buds that'll be opening into little purply-pink blossoms sometime this week, too.

Thursday's Thoughts

Well, okay. There's always a new day, and before getting this one started, I'll offer my thanks to Joe for his forward-looking comment and Cooper for his thoughtful post, both of which worked in concert to talk me down off the idea of fomenting an Earth Day revolution with my Great Big Hoe in hand. Revolution's great, but who can spare the time from the garden?

Oh, and just in case we have nearly played out this dear planet of ours and need to look elsewhere, this article offers some ideas of what we might expect of flora on alien planets!

As the trees begin to flower and leaf out, things are looking great out in the garden. But as I've been reviewing things lately, I noticed that a few little slips of weed seedlings and minor grasses were beginning to appear...and that's the best time to get rid of them.

So, with the full day off before me, I tended to the garden up close and personal-like, taking my little hand rake and loosening up the soil, blending the various layers I added in raising the bed this spring, whilst teasing out the little invaders.

Here's that foxglove plant I mentioned the other day.

The project was a good chance to give each transplant a close study, to remove old foliage and in a few cases, to actually dig up and replant a few who'd been done a dis-service in the haste of last fall's planting.

It was another incredible day, with freshening breezes and temps climbing into the low seventies. Birds sang everywhere and my mind was free to sort through whatever it needs to in the quiet. Today, though, I seemed to have music on my mind, considering the idea of theme songs and I cycled through a few different tunes as I worked. Whenever I'm doing this sort of work, it's always "Wick", the song from Secret Garden that sticks itself in my head.

Those are some of the peonies in this image, those fancy looking red stalks. There are four or five of those and they have all survived the move nicely, if their early growth is an indication.

Because it was such a great day, my sunflower seedlings enjoyed the day outside, getting better accustomed to the conditions they'll be enjoying soon. They seemed to love it. Meanwhile, last night I planted a tray of cleome seeds, and tonight added a tray of morning glories (which I soaked overnight before planting), so the next class of seedlings should be coming along shortly.

This tulip, though sporting chewed leaves, looks like it will be blooming for us by the weekend.

Because it was a pretty warm day, and it was windy and my work was turning over a lot of fresh soil, I was a little concerned about drying. So as I finished each fence section of the garden, I stopped to hand-water of each plant. It took most of the day, but the whole border looked really great by this evening.

I should've used some sunscreen today, though for the kind of work I was doing, it always gives the dirt a little something more to cling to. Plus, I didn't imagine I'd need it, being fairly well-covered up. But just the same, I can feel a little sunburny-ness on my forearms and my face. I'm not a tanner. Usually I burn and fade, instead. I'll try to remember to be more careful. Maybe I need a hat.

As I was watching the bunny sitting in the yard across the way, gazing hungrily at the garden this evening, I was kinda pleased to notice that some of our neighbors slowed down to check out the border as they drove by. It's always nice to be noticed...and since they seem to be seasonal residents, the sudden appearance of a garden where there had been none must have been a little bit of a surprise.

Oh, this is funny. So I knew we had this great bird population, so I've made an effort to establish two new birdbath areas at our place this week...and I've been eager to watch them enjoy the new facilities. So imagine my surprise when the small group of house sparrows who hang out in the bushes came flying down to take dirt baths in the new garden bed around the birdbath.

I got a little film of them, too. Now that whole area is full of little sparrow dents!


I'm happy to say that other birds have been enjoying the birdbath, though, like this cowbird who had a nice pampering visit tonight.

(As you can see, with a little trial and error, I'm finding that the telescope can be a helpful way to watch the birds without scaring them off from their routines.)

Runaway Sun

An Autumn Garden

Beautiful day today, even if the temperature is hovering in the low 50s. It was downright chilly tonight, as we had some pretty gusty breezes sweep over us after the day's rain.

I did some garden work this morning, beginning the business of dismantling. The rocks are the biggest deal, so I'm starting with those and have gotten four or five wheelbarrow loads of those carted up toward the driveway. With a nice assortment of blooms still going strong, it makes the work a little bittersweet.

There's a thinner quality to the October sunlight, especially with the cooler temperatures, but that does make the work a little easier. And the light's great for photos, too!

I liked this particular convergence of blooms. There's a nice pink cosmos front and center (sort of), with white boltonia down below, and a happy cluster of helianthus in the background.

We've got 61 degrees this morning, and plenty of clouds remaining from last night's overnight storms. Every now and then the sun slips through the clouds and makes everything glow.

September Sunset

The sinking sun, as seen from atop a dune at First Encounter Beach, Eastham, around 6:30 p.m.