In the Blink of an Eye

Three months have flown past since my last post ... seriously.  I have been a lazy slug.

The nicest dahlia this summer.  It's supposed to be pink - and occasionally i do get a pink bloom - but i assume it's reverted to some of its parent genes to produce this interesting blend.

It's not that nothing has happened.  There's always something happening in the garden, but it was so easy to fall into that summer lethargy of reading, evening drinks on the deck, and the doing the least work necessary in the garden.  That, and taking a class in "Perennials" is how i spent my summer. 

I have realized that in Central Virginia gardening is really a spring and fall activity.  For so much of my life i have been fitting it in around family, work and my other activities that i did not know that, even given all the time in the world, it's simply too hot and muggy all summer and too cold and damp all winter to really plan on a few hours every day in the garden. 

Ageratum 'Artist Purple' and Ecomis 'Katie' (pineapple lily) blooming in July.

Since my retirement plan was to spend nearly every morning out there, at first it was a disappointment.  Then i realized that i can stay caught up in just a morning a week for most of the summer, and have time to do other things - like be a slug.

We are now into the cooler, more comfortable days and once again i wake up anxious to get outside to see what i can get done.  I'm invigorated with new ideas and enjoying the dirt under my nails once again. 

The star of the summer veggie garden.

So, plans aplenty for the fall - and i will try to share them with you over the next couple of weeks.  No promises for posting, altho i will try to do it at least weekly.   

Got sucked in by the photo in the catalog.  This sunflower was supposed to be a deep burgundy.  Instead, it was ... brown.  Tried to cut off all the blooms before it had the chance to re-seed for next year.

On the education front, this semester I am taking "Irrigation Design and Installation" and hope to figure out a way to install a simple irrigation system in the back beds and the veggie garden.  I have no desire to dig up the whole yard to put in a "real" lawn system.  I don't care about watering the grass.  Years of cutting it "long" have given me a deeply rooted turf that pretty well takes care of itself - even in the driest of summers.  

Newly planted re-blooming azalea.  Have decided that all future azaleas will be the Encore series.  Why not have the blooms twice a year?

Instead, my goal is better water coverage for all of the perennial beds with less wasted water than I currently have with my overhead sprinklers.  Will probably not do anything until spring, but am working my way thru both a class project to design a full system and a stealth project to also design a "beds only" plan that i hope to actually implement.   

Think of a margarita on that little table in between - well, actually two.

So, have a late afternoon beverage and enjoy the sunset.