Demanding an audience

As a photographer of limited skill and talent, I know there are scenes in my garden that I'll never be able to fully capture with my camera.  And even the most skilled and talented photographers can't capture all of the elements - the scent, the sound, the feel of the air.  So why is it that when I encounter one of those scenes - one that stops me in my tracks, makes my heart beat fast, causes me to whisper an awe-filled "thank you" - my very next impulse is to go get the camera?  

Surely I want to preserve the moment for myself - the photos, after all, will remind me of the smells and the sounds and the awe.  But it's more than that.  I know it's more because the next thing I want to do is show someone the photos I've taken.  I want to share the experience.

Is this universally true of gardeners - that we all want to share our gardens?

This time of year there is so much I want to share!

This little wren had to wrestle some of those twigs inside the bird house.

The Shasta Daisies must be the cheeriest flowers in the garden.

Red Yarrow, from our local Master Gardeners Plant Sale

I thought the asters bloomed in the fall, but not this variety.

I planted a pair of these daisy gardenias beside our sweet dog Bear's grave.
A sweet flower for a sweet dog.

Coneflower.

I love them when they're opening up.

Snow Fountains Gaura - a favorite of the bees.

Blue Salvia - the bees love this one, too.
Can you see the bee in the photo?

Hosta blooms attract the bees, too.

"Ditch" lilies

August beauty gardenia

My favorite shots of the hydrangeas are the close-ups.

"Gardening, I told myself, is the  most sociable of hobbies.  The very nature of one's field of activities demands an audience.  No one wants flowers to blush unseen or waste their sweetness."

Barbara Cheney - The Atlantic Monthly, June 1936

Growing old with grace

Yet, getting old is a natural process where things are slowing down, and you'll 

begin to see that the sparkle in your heart and the twinkle in your eyes 

make you beautiful in a way that's not achievable in youth.

(from great inspirational quotes)

Nature is my inspiration for growing old with grace.

GBBD - A world where it was always June

"I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June."

- L. M. Montgomery

If we lived in a world where it was always June it would be like living where 

every day was Christmas  - so much excitement that we'd soon be worn out from it.  

Like too much candy, it would lose its sweetness.  

But we don't live where it's always June and in fact, June is speeding by much too fast! 

 Keeping up with what's blooming is hard work, especially when the blooms come and 

go each day as the daylilies do.

 I wrote about the hydrangeas in bloom in my last post, but when I downloaded photos tonight 

I found this image that I couldn't resist sharing.

The bee balm has been blooming for a week or so and was so beautiful when the blooms were fresh.

 They're a little worn looking now, but the bees don't care.

One of my favorites, and one that will bloom all summer, is the coreopsis.

The Sunny Border Blue Speedwell and the Becky Towe Phlox just began to bloom this week. 

They, too, should bloom through the summer.

Two elegant calla lily blooms remind me of my daughter's wedding, when she carried them in her bouquet.

 And the bright red and orange blooms of the lantana will soon be beckoning the butterflies - I hope!

There are more photos of more blooms, but maybe that would be like too much candy.  

I'll save some for later.  But I want to close with this photo of a volunteer sunflower.  

Doesn't it look like it's getting ready to take off and fly away into the sun?

Head on over to May Dreams Gardens to see what's blooming in other gardens on 

this Garden Bloggers Bloom Day! 

Lighting up the garden

One of the highlights of Spring for me is watching the hydrangeas begin to leaf out and then bud.

 I eagerly await early June when the blooms appear.  

I love them in all seasons but winter, admiring them right up until the 

first hard frost turns them nearly black.   

My hydrangea bed started with a single discounted plant that struggled a couple of seasons

in a spot that was too hot and too dry.  I moved it and added another - a plant from the florist - 

one that was meant to be enjoyed and then discarded. 

 Since that time I've added several other lace caps and some mop heads as well.  

I don't know the names of any of them, but I don't really care.  

I do know that I love the way they light up the garden.

"It no sooner comes than it is gone."

"I feel a little fluttered in my thoughts, as if I might be too late. 

Each season is but an infinitesimal point. It no sooner comes than it is gone." 

- Henry David Thoreau, Journal, June 6, 1857

Spring in the garden has overwhelmed me this year. It's almost as though it's been happening on fast forward, as in a speeded up time-lapse video.  The New Dawn rose was a riot of blooms and suddenly most of those petals are on the ground.  The amaryllis buds appeared overnight - multiples of them - and just as quickly all but two have bloomed and faded.  The clematis vine grew to cover the trellis with blooms and yet now the vine is bare.  The azaleas are covered in faded dried blooms, and the irises are spent.  I forgot to mark these misfit purple and white irises that need to be moved and now have no idea which they were (though maybe this photo will help).

And such is life, isn't it?  Sometimes the moments are crammed so full that we just can't soak it all in the way we'd like - and then those moments are past.  We want to freeze time - and we try to do just that with our photographs.
In the midst of this Spring rush I was given a gift - a sunny morning just after a soft rain had fallen when I had a few minutes without a task list or a place to be.  The angle of the light, the birds, the blooms, the fragrance in my garden - the combination of all of those elements made it feel as though I'd stepped into another world - a fairyland almost.   Time slowed for those few minutes, and the raindrops made everything seem fresh and new.

Though the height of Spring has passed, the void left by those faded blooms is quickly being filled by summer favorites.  Daylily and hydrangea blooms began appearing this week, and already the Sunburst gaillardia is in full bloom. 

The hummingbirds seem to be here to stay and the hot lips salvia is providing them with plenty of nectar.

Verbena on a stick will continue reaching for the sky.  Lantana and zinnia blooms will attract the butterflies and the one bloom on the Creme Brulee Coreopsis will turn into many.  The pastel shades of Spring will be replaced by the hot colors of summer.  And life will slow down a little. . . .I hope.