Sunday, September 19, 2010

"Hummingbird don't fly away"

The weather report makes me thirsty - hot and dry through the week and into the weekend - after many days of similar conditions.  The garden is longing for a long slow soaking rain, and so am I.   But I'm amazed at how well most of the plants have held up this summer.   Looking out from the deck in the late afternoon everything looks fairly green and healthy.




Up on the deck, in a container, I found this bright bloom on the dahlia.

I planted these in the spring from one of those kits with the container, soil, and tubers that I found on clearance at Lowe's.  All summer long I've watered and watched the foliage grow - but no buds until last week.  This is the first bloom to appear and it was worth waiting for.  You can see that the foliage was appetizing to some kind of chewing pest.
Also up on the deck, the gerbera daisy has been sending up multiple blooms - while the plant in the ground has hardly bloomed at all.  I love the shades of pink in this one.

The New England aster, purchased at the Master Gardeners' plant sale in the spring began blooming this week.
The highlight of my afternoon in the garden wasn't a bloom, though, it was the hummingbird enjoying the hot lips salvia.



13 comments:

Melissa said...

That last picture is amazing! Thank you again for helping out so much on such short notice. John Harper is still asking where "papa and papa" are...I think that means you and the "real" Papa

Gary said...

Hi Ginny,
Thanks for sharing your garden. It does indeed look very well kept, and from what you say about all the dry weather, very lush! The hummingbird is lovely, I wish we got them over here, we just get hummingbird moths...and then only rarely! Gary

BernieH said...

Your back yard does look quite lush and green despite the weather conditions. We're in the middle of our supposed 'dry' season and we've just had over 70 mm of rain today! So strange ... fingers crossed you get some useful rain soon.
Love the colour of the Dahlia ... and that's a great shot of the hummingbird!

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

I love that afternoon view of your gardens. Everything looks lush and lovely. What a treat to get that hummingbird picture.

FlowerLady

Chloe m said...

Your garden is beautiful!

Love your Dahlia photo!

Karen said...

Your garden looks so lovely despite the lack of rain, which goes to show you are a fantastic gardener!

The hummingbird must really appreciate your garden, without you he/she would be without flowers to dine upon. I hope you receive some gentle, soaking rains soon.

Victoria said...

Beautiful post..gorgeous hummingbird..magical!

tina said...

Hi Ginny, So glad your garden is still green and lush. Mine is suffering though the hardy fall bloomers are holding on. So frustrating not having rain.

Can't believe how many swallowtail cats you have! Awesome. The garden shed-that would be so fun to find and to bring back to life. Have fun doing it.

Floridagirl said...

Ooh, what a beautiful hummingbird capture! She looks so sweet!

♥Frann♥ said...

wow...i fell in love with ur blog...so beautiful,and your pictures,so lovely.Congrats!!

One said...

That is a wonderful shot of the humming bird amongst red flowers. Beautiful garden, beautiful photos.

bacon seed said...

Wow Ginny! Your garden is so beautiful and peaceful ! I saw a hummingbird yesterday, but I didn't have anything he liked so he quickly moved on. Guess I need to plant some red salvia :)

Casa Mariposa said...

I've been trying all summer to get a photo of a hummingbird! She looks pretty content with all those red flowers! Pretty garden. :0)