Of Hummingbirds and Flowers ... and Water.

THIS WEEKEND was one with wonderful weather and work in the garden. Lots and lots and lots of work. Everywhere I looked there was a vacant space in the garden (which the Mister likes and I don't care for) and I envisioned planting some flowers - finally! - that would bloom throughout the summer. Perennials are wonderful, but in our garden there is not too much for July and August. So voila! A trunk full of fresh pickings from New Leaf Greenhouse. Enough to add some color but not pack the place so there would be room for walking into the garden to weed. Ouch! My back!
I chose a ligularia for a shady spot in the garden. When I saw this gigantic plant with its lacy-edged leaves, I thought it could be a powerhouse punch under one of the shade trees. Dahlias will give some color to the edge of the flower beds in the back yard, without overwhelming anything else. and some geraniums, larkspur and campanula - the last two to grow tall and stand out in the front yard flowerbed.
The orange poppies are flowering around the red rhododendron, splashed with two yellow tulips - just like last year. I didn't want to post almost the same exact photo as last year so I played around with the photo editor colors and got this weird shot. Strange garden, huh? I felt a little cruel taking the orange from the poppies and turning the yellow tulips reddish, but, eh! What's a little fun between garden and gardener?
On another note there was a hummingbird trapped in the sunroom. We opened all the doors and windows and I was hoping the draft would lure him/her out. We finally left it alone and went about our business and pretty soon he/she was gone. It was difficult to listen to its little head hitting the glass ceiling!
There was more that happened this weekend. The usual busy round of chores and obligations, but that never seems to end.
A couple more pics of flowers and then I am out of here. Sorry my page isn't getting refreshed as often as it should. I am losing some valuable writing time, putting down my memories - femminismo

It's Very, Very Late All of a Sudden!

GEE, you run a few errands, buy a few plants, cook dinner, play with paint, haul a few wheelbarrows of dirt, take a few pictures, dig in a couple of plants and water them and all of a sudden it's 10 o'clock! What next? Probably roosters crowing real soon.
Well, it's self-portrait Wednesday and I see Judy Wise has been busy. Not everyone has such photogenic feet however, although mine are cleaner now, after a shower, than they were in the dirt earlier. (Our grandmother wouldn't let us get into bed with dirty feet! Lessons learned when young stay with you.)
Today our little trailer, that's been patiently waiting to be made into a pretty home-away-from-home, got a bath. Now we need to paint it. I am trying to coax the Mister into turquoise with some flowers. Tell me what you think, but realize I got tired of "painting" in Photoshop. Here you have the before and after. Perhaps it's too colorful. It's probably going to be sitting up on the property. The Mister wants to paint it camouflage, but that seems too terrible to me. Maybe a nice fern green with some small white trilliums around the base? Hmm. We might be getting somewhere.
The moon came up tonight and when I was finished planting my flowers - after a brilliant sunset of all sorts of purples and pinks in the sky - it had reached the top of the sky and finally broken through the haze and clouds. I like the moon when you can almost see the other half of it - if you look long and hard enough. It is like reaching a sort of meditative state.
Here are some apricot rhody flowers. It was hard to get the color right. I aimed overhead at the sky for a light reading and then took the photo. I think I tricked the camera into not letting in a lot of light and washing out the color. Bye for now. See you on the flip side - femminismo