Summer Flowers

Mid-August…some schools here in central Ohio start tomorrow! Yikes! 1. Where did summer go, and 2. Who ever thought of starting school in the middle of August??? Don’t those administrators and school boards have children of their own??!! Don’t they know they’re “robbing” our children of carefree summer days??!!

The burning bushes are starting to turn ever so slightly, and I see the landscape crew gathering brown, dry leaves. But not in our garden!! Oh, no…not here! Our neighbor emailed us a week or two ago, observing that the leaves on their birch were turning, and my response was that the word “fall” would not be heard around here, even as our own birch starts its annual demise. Boohoo… I’m keeping my head safely planted in the sand.

Our flowers are still happy, and so I wanted to share them with you, as summer’s last hurrah. I may (or may not) have a fall tablescape for you next week—it depends on my ability to cope with the fact, my friends. Blogging is a bit like retail, isn’t it? We need to get our posts out early enough for them to be of value and inspiration to our readers, so in that vein I may be able to do a fall post—the sacrifices I make….We’ll see. (I LOVE summer, remember??)

Besides capturing the beauty and textures of the garden, I also love to photograph the light-and-shadow play in the garden. The metal wheel at the right edge is the wheel to our antique hand plow that I’ve dragged around from house to house for easily 20 years. You can see the beautiful handles on it here, where I photographed our Chickadee Baby Love’s tussie mussie.The hostas in the garden are new this year—a gift from my friend and hairdresser! Don’t you love perennials that bring back memories of people who shared them with you?

This nook is primarily red, white, and blue until August, when the purple coneflowers join in and start to prepare us for the change in seasons. Summer is red, white, and blue, until it’s time for a change in the “theme.”

The red…

The blue, and the white.

I love how coneflowers brighten the landscape with wild abandon.

And then, of course, my beloved PeeGee hydrangeas burst forth in their soothing white. One day they’re buds, the next, it seems, they’re in full bloom. We held our Baby Love’s baptismal reception here at our home in mid-August when the hydrangeas were at their peak, so every year they remind me of that happy day.

Ummm…do you see dry leaves??? I don’t!! What leaves??

Which is more beautiful? The one yet to burst, or the one almost there? It’s hard to decide.

And guess who else likes the PeeGee hydrangeas?

This is the second year for this Endless Summer hydrangea, and she grew “demurely” this summer. I have high hopes for her next summer, now that I moved her to a sunnier spot, but I am thankful that she gave us blooms in time for the little tea party we had after Baby Love’s piano recital (that’s another post!).

She IS lovely, isn’t she?

These are last year’s geraniums! And they came from cuttings from the year before (you can see my post about rooting cuttings here). I was so crazy about this Calliope Red geranium that I didn’t want to run the risk of not finding it again, so we took the plants to our office over the winter, and they survived (though a little leggy by spring). We’ll certainly do that again this year—that way we get nice big plants early! They sure are happy in the berry cart, aren’t they?

So, Mary, Mary (not) quite contrary, how did your garden grow this year? We had so much rain in the spring and early summer that ours took a while to “catch,” but then, in the end, some of them took off and gave us a good show. I hope yours did too. Enjoy what’s left of summer!! The snow will fly in these here parts all too soon!!

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NOTE: Some of the items I use in my posts are in my Etsy shop, but many are not. If you see something you like and wonder if it’s available for sale, email me at coral5252@gmail.com and let’s talk!

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Zuni