Summer Miscellany

 

Hi everyone. Today is the first day it has been too hot for me and Mo to stay out for long on the deck.  Not sure why it felt dreadful, not that hot, 85, and only 60% humidity. Brilliant sun and no breeze, I guess. I'm  grateful for the new AC installed in the bedroom, here where I work at my little computer desk.

Mo is not a cuddly doggy but he is always as close to me as he can get.

[This post was delayed because I have had no internet and / or no electricity for the past few days!]

When I was outside I did take pics of my ''micro prairie" , the cosmos/ coreopsis/ and the tiny blue mystery weed.

I've been working on ID-ing the little blue mystery plant, w the help of Mel and Bovey Belle. I got out all my seed packets for the past 3 or 4 years. These two containers are now  my wildflower garden or as I saw on IG some call it a micro prairie. So cute.

Blue Gilia?

Nope! This year what I am seeing is Lacy Phacelia.

I don't empty this pot each year. I clear it and fertilize, may add new layer of soil if needed. So the seeds germinate somewhat randomly. Not always the year I sowed them. I think some of the wildflower seeds need repeated hard freezes to germinate.

One packet said Blue Gilia, but both Mel and BB suggested Lacy Phacelia and this week as the plants flower and form seeds the characteristic curled shaped of that flower's seed pods  is appearing. It is listed on this seed pack, from last year.

Blue Gilia from another seed source.

And again the Lacy Phacelia. hmmmm.

The Dollar Store seed packet mentions neither.

This year's flower I am definitely calling the Lacy Phacelia. Don't you love that name! Sounds like a Southern belle in Gone with the Wind. [is that old classic banned now?]

And many of the  packs list Chinese forgetmenots! These are supposed to be American prairie or meadow seeds. Why the Chinese FMN and are they the same as I used to love on visits to Ohio, where the rocky lake [filled quarry?]banks had the only wild FMN I have seen. [no, Chinese FMNs are natives of Tibet [like Mo!]  and not true forgetmenots, says Google.]

Meanwhile Borage wins the prize for the best blue. Not showy, a simple herb or medicinal. But the color!

And was so happy to see a new chrome orange/ tangerine ''coreopsis", only to discover, on an old seed pack that it is a tangerine cosmos.

All the meadow and prairie seed packets say Attract Pollinators/ bees/ honey bees. My little microcosm has never had a honey bee, perhaps they do not live here. I see a lot of small insects that we called sweat bees, as kids. They are attracted to sweaty humans and they bite. Also yellow jacket wasps, some white [cabbage?] butterflies, gnats and aphids. Last year I saw bumble bees but none so far this summer.

The Zinnies and Maris are doing great and always make me smile.

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I've been curtailing Mo's walks somewhat especially due to burning pavement for some favored routes. This area is shaded later in the day, so we walk there often. Mo is not so pleased, he prefers the walk to the beach bench and on around the neighborhood instead.

Earlier this week he went for  a brief sleep away visit, to my friends who have the cool grassy yard. 

And air conditioning.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Some flowers we see: BIG zinnias. Teacup size, waist high.

Late bloom blue hydrangeas. A nice fill in.

Gorgeous lavender Hosta bells.

I was always taught that Hosta should not bloom, ugly and takes away from the foliage. But it seems in recent years there's been an effort to make them beautiful. So delicate yet profuse. The variegated leaves are lovely too.

I didn't sew this past week. Just cleaning, cooking, mending. When I was pressing the Blue Mystery flower for my nature journal, I found in the pressing book a hilarious and very un-addressed/ undone Goals for Summer List:

_Walk a bit further each day, even if painful.

_Walk Mo to beach bench . [only check mark item]☑️

_Do the beginner mobility exercises w Justin Agustin here on IG every day or as suggested. [for some reason, I can't DO things I see on a screen---goes too fast.  Julie blogger friend does You Tube tutorials often; learns so much. I just can't.]

_Sew more/ scroll less. 🤣🤣🤣

_Sew words on Marsh quilt.

sigh. Well summer is only half over, right!?

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love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

The other evening we had the first rainbow of this summer. It was pale but always brings such joy.

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Close ups of Hollyhocks runner for Bovey Belle.