Summer Gardens

The heat and humidity have departed for now, so on Friday I headed outside to replace the bulbs in three of our four outdoor light fixtures, then did some gardening.  I was shocked as I rounded the corner of the house:  the Black-eyed Susans are taller than I've ever seen, the Candytuft is out-of-control, the Russian Sage is falling over, and there were weeds galore.  I cleaned up a bit, and bemoaned the fact that I've never taken the time to put edging around that garden.  I guess there's still time to do it this season.

 The Black-Eyed Susans after I cut quite a few branches to bring inside.

We used to have two Russian Sage plants here, but dug one up and moved it to the back yard.  Its purpose here is to hide the air conditioning unit.

Our beautiful Rose of Sharon at the front of the houe.  This started as a stick five years ago.  Now we have to severely cut it back every spring!

Sarah discovered this Black-Eyed Susan Vine in a catalog several years ago.  It hasn't started blooming yet, although it looks like it will soon.  The blossoms are minatures of the full-sized plants.

Sarah's garden.  She has many different plants - Sunflowers, Daisies, Bee Balm, Calendula, Cosmos, and other flowers I don't know the names of.

I forgot to check our newest garden, which is a wildflower garden.  We were very late planting it, so I'm not sure what we will get by the end of the growing season, but hopefully many of the plants will come back next spring.

I leave you with these words from Henry Ward Beecher's Star Papers: A Discourse of Flowers:  

"Flowers have an expression of countenance as much as men or animals.  Some seem to smile; some have a sad expression; some are pensive and diffident; others again are plain, honest and upright, like the broad-faced sunflower and the hollyhock."