One Word Wednesday - SUMMER

And Then The World Exploded!

***Oh my!! This post was slated for mid-May but was never posted.  Here it is now!***

This year the newly sprouted green leaves struck me as if I had never seen them before!

 May announced the rebirth of the earth in my part of the world in an explosive way.  One day there is almost nothing and then there comes an explosion of green - a rapid fire succession of growth.

My garden survived the harsh winter with few casualties and I am blessed with an abundance of plants and birds.

 Soon enough we will have to begin the arduous task of trimming the shrubs that threaten to overtake the yard but right now we are just sitting back enjoying this embarrassment of riches.

 June, July and August will bring an explosion of flowers of every color in the rainbow.  But right now there is mostly just a myriad of greens - surely a sight for winter weary eyes!

Painted Fern

More fern at attention!

Lady's Mantle - adorned with morning dew

Dead Nettle - my favorite ground cover

Astilbe

Hosta nestled under the cherry tree

Wild Geranium

Columbine

Bugleweed

Epimedium

Cinnamon Fern in all its glory

Solomon's Seal

Witch Hazel

Wild Columbine

Live-Forever

A new variety of day-lily 

Columbine leaves

New growth on an Andromeda

Penstemon

Coreopsis

A shy wild Iris

During the renovation of our home the past several months, I felt very lucky that one of the rooms we could use was the sunroom which faces my garden.  It has enabled me to keep my sanity and most of my serenity in the midst of chaos.  

With any luck at all, I will have my home back in another month or so!   In the meantime, I will find refuge in the green wonderland behind the house.

Back In The Garden

Today we were finally able to get our hands dirty in the garden.  It was glorious!  After such a harsh and relentless winter, it felt so good to touch the warming earth.

As I cleaned out the beds and clipped back the plants in need of a haircut, I couldn't help but notice how marvelously the earth rejuvenates itself every spring.

In spite of a wicked cold winter, the perennials and shrubs and trees were sending out the shoots of new life.  The Weeping Cherry, a bit late this year, is ready to pop when the temperature goes up a little more.

And who could possibly frown once they have been greeted by the sweetest yellow daffodils in the world - a sight for winter eyes, if ever there was one.

Last week there wasn't a single sign of the peonies but low and behold, they are a foot tall this week!  Isn't that amazing.

If a garden is the metaphor for our life cycle as humans, then there is surely much to be hopeful about and there is no better time to celebrate that than in the spring.  Just look at how this hosta is rising up from the dead leaf mold of last autumn's debris.  Easter, indeed!

After an afternoon of stretching and bending, I sat down to rest for a few minutes.  (One of the perks of being in our age group is lots of time to rest and smell the flowers, or in my case, photograph them)  

I spotted the moon - the day moon - just creeping over the  top of the cherry tree.  For some reason this gave me great pleasure.

Later I noticed this fellow helping himself to the tender new leaves just sprouting on this oak.  He is our resident acrobat, the one who keeps us entertained all winter.

The newly planted herb garden seems to have wintered over nicely.  All of the perennial herbs have returned and
are starting to grow although none of them were ready for a close-up today.

Already I am planning to move a few things, add a tree and  I'm figuring out where and when to plant annual herbs and flowers.

Take Away for Today 

 Spring gardening rejuvenates my body, mind and my soul.

Midsummer's Daydream

Rik Emmett Midsummer's Daydream - music for garden dreaming.

   The days have been warm and sunny, the nights cool and breezy.  The summer has been good to us.  Perfect weather for getting outside in the garden to work, then dawdle, then work a bit more.

Coreopsis

 I was wandering around early one morning when I realized that, in summer, my garden is all about attracting the birds and the bees and the butterflies.

African Blue Basil

The bees love my basil and I've planted several varieties for them to enjoy since I keep picking the flowers off the sweet basil so there will be an abundance of it for pesto making in late August.

The purple coneflowers in the back round pull in the American Goldfinches. All summer they stop by to check on the progress of the seed pods.  Then in the fall they keep coming to eat until they have exhausted the supply of seeds.

My 'Carefree Rose' holds court in the center of the herb garden, and is finally acclimated to the move.  And ready for a close-up this morning!

Just as he was purported to do in life, Francis stands so still that the birds often land on his head to rest.  He is almost hidden in the lobelia, but the doves and the cardinals know where he is.

The sunny garden has been handed over to the hummingbirds and butterflies.  There is sage, monarda, honeysuckle, lantana, butterfly bush and trumpet vine along with the lobelia to lure them into my world.

Bee Balm or Monarda

Trumpet Vine

 And of course, what hummingbird garden is complete without this aggressive climber - a trumpet vine.

Cuphea

Last year we discovered this plant, an annual called the 'cigar plant' or cuphea while we were hunting for herbs at the Peconic River Herb Farm.  The hummingbirds were crazy for it at the farm.  So, of course, we HAD to get some this year.  I'm delighted to report that we've had a male hummingbird visiting us at least twice a day for the past two weeks and he visits every nectar plant in the garden before moving on!

Coleus - center stage in the shade

I have fallen in love with coleus For the shadier garden spots.  It is an easy-going annual that can add a real pop of color in mid-summer when the shade plants are mostly green.  The best part of coleus is this.  I can take cuttings at the end of summer, root it, grow it in the sunroom all winter, then move it outside to live in the ground all summer.

Two varieties of Coleus - there are so many to choose from

 I am also spending a bit of time each day harvesting and drying herbs and flowers for use all winter.  Iam collecting chamomile, calendula and St. John's Wort flowers to make a lovely skin cream once I have enough flowers.  More on that another time.  And I pull weeds for an hour or two every now and then.
But mostly what I do is stop to smell the roses, write in my garden journal and
indulge in midsummer daydreaming!

My treehouse

Finally, when the mosquitoes arrive, it is time to retreat to my own private treehouse.  I was trying to get a bug's eye view of the sky with the bee balm in the picture, when I suddenly noticed my sunroom in the back round.  Nice view looking in or out!

I hope you find a garden for daydreaming..... today and everyday.