It Finally Rained - Early Fall is Here!

It's been dry as a bone here for several weeks, people are beginning to talk of drought, and all the lawns are turning brown,  Even the tomatoes have been having a hard time.  But finally it rained the past two days, a slow all-day rain that brought much needed moisture to the garden.  I saw it in the water droplets left on the Crocosmia leaves.

For some reason the long thin leaves of the Crocosmia flowers do hold the water droplets, leaving beautiful patterns in their wake.  The drops of water show up so clearly against the green.

At the same time the temperature has dropped, and the forecast ahead shows only cooler temperatures for at least another week.  It comes as a welcome relief, bringing early fall weather for now.

The Garden in Early August, Part III

And last, but not least, one of my own favourites, the Helenium, or Sneezeweed.  It gets this name because the dried leaves were once used in snuff, designed to make the user sneeze, thereby getting rid of evil spirits!  You can have your own opinion about that.

At any rate I just love the colour.

This older picture, from our previous garden (before wheelchair), shows the flower from below, the petals illuminated by the sun.  Of course I can't get that view anymore.

Our roses have been doing remarkably well this year, all of them continuing to bloom all summer long.

The red rose has grown well, and usually sports several blooms.

On a different note, the 'towers' Mrs. F.G. invested in last year, have worked out well.  They have enough plantings that hang down to cover most of the plastic, and look like towers of small flowers.

There's now a bright orange Calla Lily that lights up the back corner of the garden.

And there are a few Daylilies still blooming.

This Queen Anne's Lace grew up and bloomed in the middle of the garden before Mrs. F.G. spotted it.

And this purple spike appeared one day, looking for all the world like Purple Loosestrife!

The Garden in Early August Part II

Moving on, there are lots more flowers I'd like to share, including this purple Verbena.  Although the individual florets are tiny, you see these tall purple flowers popping up all over the garden, and it's another favourite of the Monarchs.

This adds a lot to the garden at this time of year.  It spreads easily, attracts the butterflies, and the purple colour looks great!  You just have to like a little chaos as it grows in odd places around the garden.

The Cosmos self-seeds as well, but doesn't spread as far or frequently as the Verbena.

I've never tried to photograph the Lamb's Ears before, except for the fuzzy leaves that are there year-round.  The flower is tiny, but a pretty pink colour.

Nearby is this Liatris, or Blazing Star.  I certainly like the colour of this one.

We have a large plant of Bear's Breeches, a rather unusual plant to say the least.

Then there's the bright red Calla Lily, though I have doubts about any plant that can't survive the winter here.

Finally I can't resist posting these Gloriosa Daisies again.  They greet me, brighter than anything else in the garden, as I come the ramp down onto our patio.

The Garden in Early August Part I

While I've been posting about other things, the garden continues to grow.  New flowers are still blooming, though some are now finished or nearly so.  This morning I went out there and just sat in the sun for an hour; it was wonderful!

The brightest flower around has been the bright red Crocosmia.  It grows in several locations in the garden, including right outside my window.

I've shown you the blue Globe Thistle before.  The leaves look like a thistle, but it's not very prickly.  

Now the white Globe Thistle is blooming, and Mrs. F.G. reports that the bees were just buzzing around it.

But if there's a dominant look to the garden just now, it's these pink Echinacea or Coneflowers.  It spreads quickly, and we now have several big healthy clumps of it.  The adult Monarchs love it.

There are several other colours of it, but they do not spread.  The white ones are looking healthy this year.

And here's both a red and a yellow clump.  Surprisingly, if you grab a Coneflower with your hand, they do feel quite prickly.  Try it.

Monarch in the Garden!

It's the time of year for seeing Monarchs and we've had one flitting around the garden for a few weeks now.  So one day I went out to see if I could persuade it to sit still for a moment.  As you probably know, we let a few Milkweed grow in our garden in the hopes that a passing Monarch will lay eggs and we'll see those distinctive caterpillars.

Mrs. F.G. kept track and here is one of her youngsters.

With the magic of zoom we see a little closer view, with those distinctive white, yellow and black stripes.

When I went out to try and get a picture of the butterfly in the back garden, I had to chase it.  It kept flitting from blossom to blossom.

I got closer and closer shots, but it never did open those wings long enough for me to get a picture.

So I had to revert to an old image from a few years back.  And lest there be any confusion, Monarch caterpillars can only feed on Milkweed, but mature butterflies feed on a range of blossoms.  Obviously they really like the Coneflowers in our garden.

Back to the Garden - Daylilies First

We've been to Achy Back Farm, the Sunflower Farm, and watched the sailboats downtown while being very busy with other things too.  I've hardly had time to blog, but it's time to go back to the garden.  The daylilies have been blooming steadily, in a range of colours and forms.

One of my favourites, a deep pirple.

Getting photos from a wheelchair is often a challenge.  Flowers bloom facing the opposite direction, or behind other flowers.  Sometimes a side view is all I can get.

As you know, I like the bright ones like this red one best.

A jumble of orangey-yellow blooms.

A very pale yellow bloom, facing the right direction!

A bright yellow bloom, with very narrow petals.

Love this bright orange and red one.

And very bright yellow.

The deepest purple one we have.  And that's my report on the two-week old Daylilies.

More Sunflowers, and Zinnias

 A few more pictures of bright yellow sunflowers and multi-coloured Zinnias.  If I looked one direction as I rode the trail all the sunflowers were facing me, and if I looked the opposite I just saw the interesting back of the flowers.

A row of sunshine!

And look at the pattern on the reverse of those flowers.

There was every shade of yellow.

They provided a couple of props around the trails to make for more interesting poses.  I think I recognized this old tractor from our spring visits to the tulip fields here.  I didn't recognize the old man!

I'm afraid I'd had enough of the bumps in the trail by the time we got to the end, but it was great to see a sunflower field close to home!

As we neared the exit we arrived at the small Zinnia field.  

While the sunflowers were just at their peak, it seemed to us that the zinnias were just past theirs, though they were certainly still colourful.

Then it was out the gate, around the barn and off to home for us.