Garden Peeping

Good afternoon! Mo and I have admitted defeat and are spending some afternoon hours in the cool house.

It's too bad! Gorgeous, perfect summer day, but too hot for Mo.

Pugs cannot easily regulate their body temps and aren't very aware of getting overheated either. And, as I resewed my Baskets of Flowers' blue flowers, for the third time, I have to admit the sweat rolling down my face made afternoon sewing hour not much fun.

Summer comes late to the beach! It will be hot, but maybe not this hot, so we'll hope for many more productive days ahead.

Our big walks are now mornings and after dark. Of course garden peeking is a must, as everyone's gardens reach their prime about now. Below, the beach path, is ever changing, cool and shady.

Not a great year for hydrangeas, but this old-fashioned white [turns bronzey pink in Octorber] has been doing well in many gardens.

I love this unusual deep  purple periwinkle.

 More usual periwinkle colors....

This person has gone neon! So pretty.

The twining arms of the morning glories reach out at night to brush our faces. What is their secret message? Can never quite hear.

 This is the shrub with the bright purple  ''Styrofoam" berries. I've watched all summer to see what the flowers look like.

Lovely bee balm, a perennial. Next year for my deck garden?

Public spaces are pretty too. This garden mimics a prairie setting.

Blue and yellow, classic color scheme.

I was so dubious when the local gardening committee set out the beds in May, with ugly spindly single shoots, set 6" apart. But , wow! success indeed.

Our usual big dinnertime walk is now shortened to a walk across the street to water my friends' tropical pots.

[yes, they have tropicals, they couldn't resist or stick to the  landscaper's design of roses and hydrangeas, lol].

The landscaped beds are irrigated but Mo and I water the banana tree, the cannas, the New Guinea impatiens every day. I do the work, Mo supervises.

Enjoy the last days of August! Too soon we will have snow. Blog friends Lori and Kit, out west, had 40* nights already, can you imagine that.

I like snow, mommy?

PS Dragonfly Migration info here, though if you're interested there is a lot online, just Google for more.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

Zinnias in a Flowered Jar ~ And Dragonflies

Happy Friday!  Another Friday, August is drawing to an end and there's a faint hint of end of summer sadness in the air, despite the reality that summer here will linger through mid-October. I think it is the earlier sunsets, with summer's pink and lavender sky taking on a hint of apricot, now at 7.30 instead of almost 9 PM, how sad. And the angle of the sun is changing perceptibly.
Gully visited with me at the beach today. I looked him up, he's been around since 2009! if not before.

My deck garden is so wonderfully abundant! I don't think I have ever had enough blooms to actually cut a real bouquet! Until this year.

   

Zinnias and a few sunflowers in an adorable late 1800s canister. [1880-1930]

The jar is from the church flea. I buy these because I love things with words---and because they make great pencil crocks.

This new Rice container hasn't made it to the workroom. Its hand painted rosebuds and beautifully hand written contents name have kept it front and center and filled with my zinnia crop.

From Czechoslovakia, pattern is Victoria, so it was made for the English or American market. Lid is long gone.I love it. It cost 2.oo.

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The past couple days, the air has been filled with dragonflies, as they begin their annual migration. These are BIG bugs, but not scary. 4-5" wingspan? with dense chunky bodies. When one hits the window it sounds like a bird hitting the glass. These dragonflies are gentle and will not approach humans, though they will occasionally drink from Mo's big water bowl on the deck.

I had the idea that August 23 is a bit early for them to migrate [where, why? no one really knows]. I could look up the dates in my nature journal:

Or I can look on my 365 Quilt!

Ah-hah, in 2016 when I made this quilt, the migration was September 12th; Most other years noted are around the first two weeks of September, so yes, they're a bit early.
Dragonfly Migration

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At night when Mo and I go out on the deck, and look up at the planets and stars, I see endless pairs of black skimmers [similar to very large rather prehistoric looking terns], flying overhead tirelessly, from the beach colony and their babies, to the marsh for minnows and then back. The parents work all through the night.  The babies must be voracious and unlike many shorebirds, the parents feed the hatchlings for about a month. In flight they are huge and elegant, on earth they are comical, with itty bitty legs and huge toucan like beaks.

Google Images

My weekend plans are for beach days and picnics and sewing: still quilting on Bitty. Deck time with Mo, of course. My August quilt output is minimal, oh well.

What are your plans?

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.....