July Bouquets--Indoors and Outdoors

Full Moon in Full Flower

Here's that moon coming up over the ridge in July:

and the interior of a balloon flower can be just as eerily beautiful:

Oh, the mystery of nature!



July's Full Moon

We had the most beautiful full moon rise over the ridge of the Salmon River State Forest beyond Bear Swamp the past three nights.  It was yellow-orange and moved across the sky quickly after sunset.  The fireflies were also out, lighting its way through the dark sky from our view high above the rock ledge on which our house sits. It is definitely high summer.

In the garden, the border is full and the blooms wave in the great breezes we've had in the past few days.

The daylily Hemerocallis 'Mini Pearl' is blooming.  It is a coral, apricot color with a peach, melon blush.  The petals are loosely ruffled and the tips recurved.  It's a dwarf variety, so the blooms are smaller, but keep coming as long as it is watered deeply in dry spells.

The Panicle Hydrangea or Tree Hydrangea Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight' is now blooming also.  The bloom color begins as pale lime green, but changes to white and later, in fall, to pink.  I fed it blood meal last year to strengthen its stems, but they still fall over with the weight of the blooms, especially when wet from rain.

A neighbor gave me a young sunflower plant from her garden. The birds at her bird feeder gave it to her!  I put in the soil a few weeks ago and it, too, has bloomed.

The Big Sky 'Harvest Moon' Echinacea purpurea hybrid is blooming in the border with the others: 'Sunrise', 'Summer Sky', and 'Sunset'.  They have designer colors, large blooms, and a wonderful fragrance.  The butterflies and the goldfinches love them.  I love to see the goldfinces land on them as they wait for the bird bath or the feeder. I've tried all week to snap a photo but they are very sensitive to any movement, even through the window of the house.

Daytime full moons and fireflies!

New, Free Plant

I planted the free plant given out during the Old Home Days Parade from our local garden center, Paul and Sandy's Too.  It is a Tourenia fournieri (Duchess series). I didn't know anything about it.  I found some information on the Learn2Grow and Gardening Pro web sites.   I also found that it was a top ten plant in the flower trials at Virginia Tech Agricultural Experiment Station in 2004. It's also called the "Florida pansy" and it looks like it pops up everywhere in following years--just like our Connecticut pansies can.

I placed it in a rectangular planter that had a bare spot. I was waiting for a perennial thyme to reappear, but it hasn't.  So now the corner of the planter will be home to this Torenia. We shall see what it will do over the next two months, prime growing time!  And next year, too...

Perfect Summer Day

I walked out to the garden this morning to find many butterflies on the cone flowers and butterfly bush. I didn't have my camera, but my grandson, who is visiting, brought it to me. I caught this butterfly flashing his colors in the sunlight.

Time to split the irises --and I have a generous planting in this third year of my garden. I clipped back the catmints and yarrows and chrysanthemums this past week. I always think of the last clipping on the Fourth of July, but a neighbor clips her fall bloomers again in early August. I think I will try the extra clipping this year to see if the result is thicker stems, bushy foliage, and profuse flowering. It's hard to be thinking ahead to autumn when summer is so perfect now--but it's coming, although there are no signs of autumn at all on a day like this.

Japanese Rock Gardens

My grandson is visiting this week. We've been to the lake for a morning walk and along the river for an evening meal, but last night's stop at a Japanese rock garden at dusk was as refreshing as the water in these hot temperatures.

The fluid lines of the border and the raked gravel, the mossy islands, and the unique placement of the upright stone draws you to the other side to look closer and then with a different perspective through the hewn hole.  What we saw through the porthole was the crescent moon!



Summertime, Summertime, Sum-Sum-Summertime

Well, it's official!  The daisies are blooming and the butterfly bush just popped out also.  So grab a chair and sit among the blooms.

The perennial sunflower is prolific with blooms.

The coneflowers are fully blooming and ready to take off like rockets.  This photo shows many stages of their bloom "taking off."

I've been changing the bird bath water each day to give the birds fresh water and to keep the mosquitoes away.  We supposedly have more mosquitoes than ever this summer.







West Nile Virus Found

More Mosquitoes Than Usual This Year

Ticks Are Also Plentiful

July 01, 2011|BY WILLIAM WEIR, bweir@courant.com, The Hartford Courant

The state's first case of West Nile virus has been found, state officials announced Friday. Also, there are three times as many mosquitoes this year as there were at this point in 2010.
Mosquitoes trapped inBridgeport on June 21 tested positive for West Nile in testing conducted late Thursday, officials said.