The Difference a Day Makes

Making birdhouses on Wednesday

and

waking up Friday morning.

That's April!

Good thing the next day

made the meditating frog happier.

 

What a Difference a Week Makes!

Blooms! Blooms! Blooms!

and some hardscape

My 2021 garden is coming alive. I can't wait for another season of the sequence of blooming and waning that is the garden as a symbol of nature and the cycle of all life.

After Easter Gardening

Daffodils on the south side 

of my neighbor's house are blooming.

Mine on the east side

are ready to bloom.

The poppy leaves are looking

wonderfully green but won't

bloom for many weeks.

The peony sprouts are showing

but have a long time until bloom.

The garden seems to be late this year.

We've had a week of nearly mid-spring type 

weather, so maybe we are just impatient.  

The local nursery experts

say we'll be back to normal early spring

with lower overnight temperatures

 for the next few weeks.

May 15 is the last frost in our area.

Hard to wait!

Just searching for color...

 

Spring 2021 A Year of Covid Behind Us

First up, a new look for the

front porch planter Reid gave me

last September.

Pansies, of course!

A year ago, the 

tete-a-tete daffodils

were starting to bloom.

This year, they are just

peeking above the mulch.

It has been a tough winter.

This year, the tulips are 

well ahead of the daffodils.

The daylilies are 

pushing up the 

mulch also.

On the warm, south side 

of the house against

the bright white wall,

shrubby perennials are

beginning to bud: Russian 

sage, asters and 
Montauk daisies.

The daylilies and salvia

are showing green leaves.

The possibilities of spring!

And the weeds, of course...

 

October Hues

 

It was so lovely

in the afternoon. 

I decided to 

sit and read on the

patio with the mums

in view right over

the pages of my book.

I had seen a Monarch

in the asters at the 

side of the house

earlier.

So, when I took 

a break from 

reading, I headed

up the hill at the 

side of the house.

 

Only to find this.

Such a sad event

to come upon

on a perfect day!

The male Monarch did

not move.

I don't know where his

journey began,

but it ended here

in Connecticut,

much short of

his destination in

Mexico.

Cusp of Fall in the Garden

We've had the house and deck

power washed.  Then the patio pavers 

were relaid to level it out for chairs.

We've used the deck and patio

several times this summer

social distancing with friends

and family during Covid-19.

The stone walk to the patio

had to be raised to match

the new level of the pavers.

We did it ourselves!

I like the combination of pavers,

local stone, landscape and pea gravel 

with the mulched plantings.

The only true fall-blooming plants

are the liriope or lilyturf, a

groundcover near the faucet.

and the Black-eyed Susans.

The marigolds are at their

peak now too.

The annual butterfly weed

is dispersing its seeds

like a milkweed plant.

A neighbor gave me a

hint to increase bloom right now

on the cusp of fall as 

the blooms in the garden decrease.

She uses 1 tablespoon of Epsom salts

in a gallon of water and sprays

everything blooming or not.

I tried it and got great results.

The fuchsia in the hanging 

basket revived.

The zinnias bloomed

despite the slug damage.

And the balloon flowers

popped up again.

The dahlias in their

pots rebounded too.

I didn't spray the huge

butterfly bush. I haven't

seen many butterflies 

recently, but the fat-bottomed

bees are prevalent.

Oh, no! Are we on the cusp of

deck repair now.  This bee is also called

carpenter bee because it burrows into

wood structures...

 

Post Hurricane, Pre-Fall

The hurricane this week created quite a mess in town with hundreds of trees and branches down and streets blocked. My garden survived with not much mess to pick up.  Some oak leaves, a few bent and almost broken branches of butterfly bush and perennial sunflower were the only casualties I found to clean up.

But as I worked, I felt a strange coolness in the breeze of a sunny day in the 80s. The feel of fall could be arriving now that it is mid-August? I looked around to see some color still prevailing above the green and (now I noticed) brownish leaves of the plants.

The very last day lily...

The insects were busy. As I mentioned, it was in the 80s, temperature-wise. The sun above was in a deep blue sky dotted with white, puffy clouds. A perfect summer day.

How quickly the peak passes!