Hot, hot, hot Flowers in the Housebll

Summer has returned to Central Virginia after an extending vacation somewhere in the middle of the country.  Yesterday the August heat and humid came slip sliding back into town.  How can I complain, tho, when it arrived on the next to the last day of the month?  It begs the question of what September will be like, but for now I shall proceed fat, dumb and happy and assume that September will be like .... well, September. 

The next question is: "So, what's in bloom in the garden?"  Answer: "Not a heck of a lot!"  

Most of the summer flowers are looking tired and spent and the fall blooms are still lying in wait for cooler nights.  In two weeks there will be plenty of chrysanthemums and some asters, but right now everything's just waiting - mostly for rain.

Except for the zinnias!  Wonderful zinnias.  The pinks that I put in as bedding plants in May are complaining of thirst, but the seeds are another story.  There's just one small problem ... they are yellow, and red and .... oh, horrors! ... orange! 

 I do not grow orange flowers. [And, i avoid red when I can.  Yellow is ok, in very small numbers and carefully placed.]  Last year they were  two shades of pink mixed with cream, but somehow I ordered the wrong mix this year.  They are gloriously happy in the cutting garden and brought a hot, hot, hot rush of color into the house. 

The only little bit of cool I managed to bring in was this bit of heliotrope that was growing in a pot on the deck.  Add a couple of tiny dahlias and some silver-white salvia and how much cooler could I want?  [I think the heliotrope will not last long in a vase, but the fragrance is worth trying!]

With Labor Day literally just over the horizon, summer is gone, but there is so much to look forward to in the fall.  Come have a cuppa on the shady deck and let's enjoy just one more hazy, hot and humid summer afternoon.  And, we'll still smell the heliotrope.

Thanks to Jane for hosting us again this month.  Be sure to stop by her house and see what's happening there. 

Wednesday Workday

You're probably saying, "hey! not much work going on this summer!"  and you would be correct.  I can't blame the weather - it's been delightfully cooler than normal and way, way, way less humid.  In short ... great gardening weather. 

May thru July I could easily blame work - and I did - but things slowed down in August and now I really do have time to spend outside in the afternoons.  Bottom line .... I'm lazy and have enjoyed a summer-long read-a-thon.  Until Saturday.  Was walking thru the nearby big box garden center when I saw this:

A huge pile of big, colorful pots - on sale!  Seriously, $6.00 for a 22-inch pot.  Somehow two of them came home in my van.  Imagine that!

And, they found good homes.

In the front, I replaced an older, boring gray pot.  It has a rust-colored chrysanthemum and and red sedum [i think it's Sedum 'Red Carpet'], so is just coming into its good season. 

Can't wait for the hinoki grass to get larger and fill in a bit more.   Probably need to order six more to help that process along a bit.  The ones I got from White Flower Farms have done much better than the ones I got locally, so will go back to them. 

In the back, I moved the blueberry bush into a larger home.  It is finally growing well - perhaps responding the the systematic feeding that I have done this season. 

You can see below that I put about half of the sedum here to help fill in.  And, while I was in the area, I cleaned up the weeds and dead leaves and mulched.  Now, I need to level up the pot! 

There is already a nearby patch of Sedum 'John Cheepers', which is very similar in shape and size, but green, rather than red.  I think they will be happy together.

Now, if I can just keep the birds from eating all the blueberries!

There's Nothing Like a New Toy ...

to divert one's attention!

Attended my first digital photography class on Tuesday and have had my head behind the lens all week.  We had homework.  You would NOT have wanted me to not do my first homework assignment ... would you?  I knew you wouldn't.

This week we learned to do this:

and this:

There's one more thing, but I haven't done that yet.

Even if it takes me a while to get comfortable with all the things one can do manually, there is always automatic on which I can fall back.  (Ms. Eula Snelson would be proud of that sentence!)  But these are all manual.

See the bee? dead center ...

There's not much happening in the garden right now.  We're in that hot and dry phase between effusive early summer and the rebound of early fall.  Thank goodness for the cutting garden and the planters!  Everything has its role. 

Happily, I'm feeling anything but hot and dry right now.  Mind engaged and looking forward to the coming Tuesday to see what new things I can learn.  Oh, and I still need to do that last homework exercise....

Tiny Steps to the Future

A little more than a year ago I was lamenting the fact that I had 27 more months to work before retirement.  One of you - very helpfully - pointed out to me that anyone can do anything for 2 years and that it would fly by before I realized it.  She was right, of course. 

But things also change over time.  After a particularly difficult week at work I had a revelation.  While i really do love the people with whom i work, and for the most part enjoy the work i do ...  the partners for whom i work would never move ahead in hiring a replacement if I didn't do something serious. 

I sat down with one of the partners and gave her a definite date - June 1, 2015.  It's not that i am especially good at my job, it's just that i have done it a long time and they trust me.  (I have worked with one of the three partners for more than 20 years, and for another for more than ten.)  They just keep putting off the hiring process because they are concerned about finding someone they can trust.

Azalea 'Vanilla Strawberry' - August 3, 2014

I get that, but i am done.  Seriously ... June 1st  - a mere 10 months away. 

So, i now have a bad case of "Short-timer's Disease".  I am treating it, by taking small steps to get ready.

Step # 1:  One of my long-held plans was to get a better camera and learn to take better photos.  Mitchell celebrated my birthday by giving me a digital SLR camera... a lovely one.  Initially, i put it away planning to pull it out next year.  Then I realized how stupid that was.  So, Tuesday i begin a month-long class in using my wonderful camera.  I have taken off the time to attend the class and to practice. 

I hope you will be the beneficiaries of any progress i make. 

 These are my first untutored (i.e., point and shoot) photos with my new camera.  It's the Hydrangea 'Vanilla Strawberry' that I first shared about six weeks ago.  You can see that the panicles have started started changing color - from white to pink to darker pink.  I think it will darken even more.

Now I am remembering, tho, that azaleas have trouble staying pink in our acid soil.  Don't know if I need to enjoy it a lot this year, because it will be purple and white next year.  Time will tell ...