Wordless Wednesday (another baby sighting)
Tag Archives: summer
Shasta Daisy and Orange Cone flower
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| Leucanthemum |
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| Echinacea (‘Julia’) |
A couple of new blooms in the new flowerbed. I think my new favorite is the orange cone flower. I just picked it up at the Garden Center I work at. Can’t wait till it fills out!
Last Summer’s Monarch
Getting a little cabin fever, so I’m going to share one of last summers pictures.
(Come on Spring!)
Everything’s Coming Up Flowers
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| Annabell Hydrangea ~ Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ |
Summer’s in full swing now and so is the garden…
So here’s a few more blooms for you to enjoy.
Happy Summer!
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| Marigolds (Tagetes sp.) |
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| False Sunflower, Heliopsis |
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| Spider Web Hens and Chicks (Sempervivum arachnoideu) go here for post with this plant |
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| Munstead Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) |
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| Blanket Flower, Gaillardia ‘Arizona Sun’ |
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| Joe Pye Weed, Eupatorium purpureum ~ pre-bloom |
Ah, Sweet Daisies
Daisies
by: Rose Terry Cooke (1827-1892)
Fair and peaceful daisies,
Smiling in the grass,
Who hath sung your praises?
Poets by you pass,
And I alone am left to celebrate your mass.
In the summer morning,
Through the fields ye shine,
Joyfully adorning
Earth with grace divine,
And pour, from sunny hearts, fresh gladness into mine.
Lying in the meadows,
Like the milky way,
From nocturnal shadows
Glad to fall away,
And live a happy life in the wide light of day.
Bees about you humming
Pile their yellow store,
Winds in whispers coming
Teach you love’s sweet lore,
For your reluctant lips still worshipping the more.
Birds with music laden
Shower their songs on you;
And the rustic maiden,
Standing in the dew,
By your alternate leaves tells if her love be true.
Little stars of glory!
From your amber eyes
No inconstant story
Of her love should rise!
And yet “He loves me not!” is oft the sad surprise.
Crowds of milk-white blossoms!
Noon’s concentred beams
Glowing in your bosoms;
So, by living streams
In heaven, I think the light of flowers immortal gleams.
When your date is over,
Peacefully ye fade,
With the fragrant clover
And sweet grasses laid,
In odors for a pall beneath the orchard shade.
Happy, happy daisies!
Would I were like you,
Pure from human praises,
Fresh with morning dew,
And ever in my heart to heaven’s clear sunshine true!
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| Daisy Lou |
“Hay! Was that about me?”
Signal
Retired signal from the Illinois Railway Museum, Union IL.
Last Evening in September
Good Bye Summer…. sigh
Baby Toes Flower Bud?
I have this little pot of Baby Toes that has spent the later part of the summer on my back porch table. It’s had plenty of filtered sunlight and warm humid conditions (well at least until recently) and probably a little more water than it needs with all rain we’ve been having….
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Fenestraria rhopalophylla subsp. aurantiaca |
Recently I’ve noticed some new growth.
I thought, “Oh good, it’s thickening up”,
but these new sprouts kept getting longer and longer,
finally forming what looks like a flower bud at the end of one stalk.
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| alien pod…..? |
I’m curious and excited now, to see the flower~
similar to an aster, in size and shape,
it’s rays in colors from white to yellow to orange,
with a yellow center. It will be my first in real life and not a picture.
Has anyone grown one of these? Have you ever had if flower for you?
As for the rest of the garden, it’s winding down.
I froze a bunch of tomatoes, peppers and green beans, gathered zucchini, kale and swiss chard, ate most of the strawberries and raspberries before they made it into the house… okay, I did share a few of them with the family… and I even gave Annie a few green beans as a reward for not devouring the garden this year.
The flowerbed is still going though, with it’s fall lineup coming in now.
The Zinnias are going strong… though the only colors are hot pink and red… but that’s okay. They are beautiful anyway.
I had read that Nasturiums helped repel squash borer from Zucchini plants, a problem I’ve had in the past, so I had planted a few around mine this year. Well the Zucchini took over as usual and I thought the Nasturtiums had died out from lack out light.
To my delight, I found them poking out from under the giant leaves this afternoon.
These are the ‘Alaska’ mix. I love their variegated leaves. Did you know you can eat them? They have a very peppery taste and you can add them to salads, though I usually don’t eat them.
I’m just content to watch them grow.
Oh, and as of yet, no sign of squash borers.
Oh, and as of yet, no sign of squash borers.
Here’s a few more flowers
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| cleome or spider flower |
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| Rudbeckia ~ black eyed susans |
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| Asters |
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| sedum or stone crop or what my father in-law calls them, “no kill ’ems!” |
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| Rudbeckia close up |
This is a cardinal vine flower growing on my Humming bird and Finch station.
I try to grow them every year for my tiny friends, saving the seeds for each new season.
They are drawn to them like a magnet.
(I have yet to get a good clear picture of the little buggers!)
I try to grow them every year for my tiny friends, saving the seeds for each new season.
They are drawn to them like a magnet.
(I have yet to get a good clear picture of the little buggers!)
The station is just a Sheppard’s hook positioned in between a tiny flowerbed and my three hundred pound pet granite boulder.
Yes, I said “Pet Boulder”.
The boulder was dug out of the ground fifteen years ago when the city completely tore out our old street and gave us a new one. I had my oldest son, then 13, and his friend roll it into our yard with a hand truck (of which is still a little bent), and it’s been a part of our landscape ever since.
It’s been relocated a few times since. You should hear the groans from my family when I say~ “Hey, I’ve been thinking, the ‘Rock’ might look nicer over here…”
And here’s what my pictures of humming birds look like. “see that little tiny white speck to the right of the feeder? That’s a humming bird!”
I’m so jealous of everyone elses hummer pictures!
Speaking of humming birds, if you can’t find your humming bird food at the store anymore ’cause the “Season” has switched to “holiday stuff”, here is a recipe I use to make my own syrup.
1 part plain white table sugar to
4 parts boiling water. ( 1 cup of sugar to 4 cups water).
Bring the water to a rolling boil in a sauce pan and add the sugar and stir until it’s dissolved and remove from heat. Let cool completely before filling feeders. Don’t add any red food coloring. They don’t need it~ the feeders have enough red on them to attract the birds and there has been studies done showing that the #40 red dye is carcinogenic, or cancer causing. The FDA has approved small amounts per body weight in humans- but imagine the amount a tiny humming bird drinks every day. These guys drain my feeders (5 of them) in week! There’s been found a higher instance of ulcers, tumors and chick loss in Hummers that drink the dyed food. Do them a favor~ keep their food clear and healthy for them!
And if your feeder doesn’t have any red, tie a red ribbon or a red artificial flower to it. The red attracts them and soon they’ll be using the feeder. I tried it- it really works!
Alas, Though I hate to admit it, summer’s coming to an end. Where did it go again? Always too fast.
Maybe I’ll take Sissy’s approach and just ignore the cooling days and lengthening nights… that sounds good.
Sunday Driving
This Sunday our drive took us north for a visit with a good friend.
The day was bright and beautiful.
Sunny blue sky dotted with lazy summer clouds.
Not too hot and not too cool.
Just a perfect day.
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Central Illinios is typically a flat place, full of corn and soybeans
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With a few rolling hills here and there, just to keep it interesting.
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We drove most of the way on 251, a nice stretch of highway that used to be a main north and south route before interstate 39 was built.
Anyway, besides the endless sea of corn and beans,
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There is also the wind farms
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dotting the landscape here and there
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We didn’t stop and stand under any this time. It was enough to just look at them today
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…And a Rainbow at the End
To celebrate the first day of summer, we had muggy weather, strong storms,
a deluge of rain, lighting and even a tornado south east of us…
At the end of it, we got a rainbow…
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…and a beautiful sunset!
Happy first day of spring!
( at the the time of this post, I don’t know how bad the tornado was )
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Lil's Garden Tour 