The front yard garden is a tad overgrown and a bit ragged, as much from the last of the Summer heat as from cold overnight weather.
The hostas have been munched on by deers and rabbits. Even so, the elephant ear hostas are still pretty and I admire them each day when I leave for work.
My 2020 backyard garden was started with the best of intentions and grew quite nicely until the backyard mulberry tree leafed out and began to shade the garden patch. The mulberry needs to be trimmed - cut down, probably - but that messy chore fell victim to the pandemic. If T and I don’t cut it back this Winter, I will hire a tree service to come out and do it come next Spring. Its presence meant that the zinnias took longer than I like to wait for flowers to bloom. But there are enough now to start off a bouquet and that is a most welcome treat as school is underway.
The summer’s heat has begun to take a toll on my hosta plants, an August development that I am accustomed to. But there is still beauty to be seen in the vivid colors of these leaves.
Even as they begin to fade, they make me happy.
I’m fighting a bit of a battle with the backyard wildlife when it comes to harvesting my tomatoes, which the squirrels like to snack on nearly as much as we do. I am able to harvest some of them and I am fond of the squirrels so I long ago made peace with the wildlife dining element of gardening in my yard.
There is a purple zinnia to admire (and more blooms are on the way).
There are some jalapeños coming along nicely.
More tomato blooms are set on.
My daily stroll out here reminds me of the value of patience, a reminder that I need always but especially in this year of all years.
My first zinnia of the Summer season is a deep purple.
I don’t recall having planted such a deep shade of purple before and I think it’s lovely. This is the only bloom for now but enough for a bouquet are on their way. That’s happy!
Come the warm weather season, impatiens and begonias are my kryptonite. In May, I stroll by these flowers in garden shops and I can never pass by without putting a few more in my cart. I never try to talk myself out of them and I always come home with more than I planned. I fill every pot and planter that I have and then spread them out on the front porch and back deck so that wherever I go there are flowers to greet me.
That’s happy!
Things are coming along nicely and I sense warm tomato sandwiches and zinnia bouquets in my future.
Summer always satisfies.
There is a splendid hydrangea bush next to the gate in my backyard and I enjoy watching the leaves emerge each Spring. Most years, I don’t get flowers. I’ve read about pruning and fertilization until I am nearly blind and I remain rather confused about what it means to trim the old growth (or even whether my hydrangea is the sort that expects its old growth to be trimmed in order to bloom.) Thus it is that blooms are rare on this hydrangea.
But when they do emerge, they are unfailingly splendid.
A gardening friend reports to me that it’s a good year for hydrangeas and perhaps that explains my blooms. That’s better explanation than my confused pruning efforts and offers hope for lovely blooms come next Summer.
I am immersed in prepping my Civics and Citizenship class and rather than sit at my desk, I’ve taken operations outside whenever possible. So it was that Sunday found me working on the back deck in the afternoon, after spending much of my morning on the front porch.
Staycation is the name of the game this Summer and while I will miss the adventure of seeing someplace new, I am grateful for the blessings of this back deck, where I can enjoy the sunshine and the shade and even fit in a bit of a nap.
What a difference two weeks makes; especially two weeks of warm weather. There are tomato blooms aplenty and on a few plants, actual tomatoes!
It was hard to make a picture but there are jalapeños just set on. The basil is starting to look happy, and the zinnia seedlings are strong.
An afternoon of weeding is clearly in order but things are looking most splendid here in my garden.
That’s happy!
Plants are staked and soaking in the sunlight. As usual in the early stages of a garden, weeding is constant priority.
But there are tomato blooms and zinnia seedlings and things are coming along nicely.
This week the peonies got to work making a splendid show of themselves alongside the rhododendron and the pot of pink begonias.
I love these showy, blousy flowers.
T gave me this plant more than five years ago and each June, it turns out a few more blossoms.
This week, as I contemplate our ugly, racist history, as our president is non-stop idiot, the worldwide toll of COVID-19 grows larger by the hour, and I contemplate a summer of anxious social distancing, I am grateful for the blessings of these beautiful flowers.
This flowerbed has been splendid for all of May and as the azaleas moved past peak bloom, some slender, tall iris flowers began to emerge.
I watched with care as I didn’t want to miss the chance to admire the flowers that emerged.
The hostas are freshly verdant.
There is jewel weed growing wild in the last of the open spots in the soil and I like it. It will stay until I fill this space in the flowerbed, likely with some vinca later this summer. The arrival of consistent warm weather has been a nice. It’s starting to feel that despite the fact that we are still working from home and social distancing, things are beginning to shift toward whatever we will call this still-living-with-a-pandemic kind of normal.
In the midst of the uncertainty and anxiety, I peak over the side of my front porch and the view is lovely, a gardener’s reminder to be patient and on the lookout for unexpected joy.
