Posing for the camera

I nearly melted Saturday as I tried to get some much needed weeding done - 

but it was worth it to be in the garden when this black swallowtail visited the lantana.  

 Sunday was a good day - rain (hooray!), naps, and the birds posing for me.

I hope the weekend in your garden was restful and refreshing!

Rain is grace

Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life. 

John Updike

The rain that fell yesterday and last night did indeed feel like grace - every drop of it. 

I think the plants would agree.

"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.

Be still and be present

"Is it any wonder that our minds become so scattered?  Without intending to and often without being conscious of doing so, we are engaged in non-stop chatter that circles inside our heads.  We make judgements, stage arguments, create rationalizations and rehearse conversations in our minds hour after hour.  When so much is going on within us, we are distracted from what's going on around us, and consequently we are in danger of being more absent than present."

"We see a tree or the sky or a particular person so many times, day after day, that we forget.  We forget how amazing a tree really is, how truly spectacular the sky can be, and the unique miracle of this other being.  We lose sight of the extraordinary as it lies hidden in what we call the ordinary."

from The Art of Being a Healing Presence, by James E. Miller with Susan C. Cutshall

I've been reading this slim book almost like a devotional.  I had a realization as I read the above passages this morning.  Those who garden, who spend time intimately involved with creation, don't just see a tree, the sky, or the creatures in the garden.  They nurture them, they touch them.  Trees, the sky, flowers - they're more than just decorations in a gardener's world.  Often the heightened awareness of creation in the garden carries over to awareness of the people in our lives.  Gardening helps us quiet all of those conversations in our heads and it helps us listen - to the sounds of nature and to the needs of others.  Maybe this isn't universally true, but it is true of the gardeners I know.

After reading these passages I went out in the cool early morning light and took some pictures.  It rained before dawn this morning and raindrops lingered on the blooms and the leaves.  The sun was shining behind the trees.  I tried to "be still" and be present.

Wishing you stillness on this beautiful fall weekend.

"When God sorts out the weather and sends rain"

It is no use to grumble and complain; It's just as cheap and easy to rejoice; 

When God sorts out the weather and sends rain - Why, rain's my choice. 

James Whitcomb Riley

Rain is definitely my choice!  As I write this, the rain is falling and I'm rejoicing.  Yesterday I spent the afternoon planting some coreopsis and blanket flower in anticipation of today's rain.  It was at least 95 degrees and the gnats were relentless. The ground was dry at least a foot down.  But today I feel rewarded - and the forecast calls for more rain over the next two days. 

I always have plenty of pictures to download after a weekend working in the garden.  I'm often distracted from my work by something and have to run get the camera.  (Even though it's a small camera, it bothers me to carry it around with me in my pocket.)

The early morning sun seemed to be shining a spotlight on the verbena bonariensis.

The New England asters have burst into bloom and the mums are ready to.

I have perennial mistflower in abundance, but much of it looks ragged from powdery mildew and chewed leaves.  This one may be the only one that's blemish free - I reminds me of why I love it.

Next to the mistflower, the coleus has sprouted a bloom.  Normally I don't care for blooming coleus, but this one is pretty.  You can see that it's struggled with the dry conditions and poor soil where I have it planted.

This plant with the dainty pink bloom volunteered itself in my bed of impatiens.  Does anyone recognize it?  Is it a noxious weed in disguise?

The birdbath in  the birdbath garden is nearly hidden by the late-planted zinnias.  Tricolor Sedum and pentas are blooming, too, but the main attraction is the hot lips salvia.  The hummingbirds and bumble bees love it.  But even in the midst of the salvia, the hummingbird enjoys a drink from the feeder from time to time.

At the end of the birdbath garden, the fireworks clematis and snow fountains guara continue to bloom, though not as vigorously as they did earlier in the season.

With the rain the temperature has dropped.  I'm sitting by the open window listening to the rainfall, enjoying the cool air, and feeling thankful. 

Rain on the roof

I do hope the weather forecast is right - I would love to be caught for hours waitiing out the sun!

	Sunday Cloudy. Showers likely...mainly in the afternoon. Not as warm with highs in the upper 70s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60 percent. » ZIP Code Detail
	Sunday Night Widespread showers. Lows in the mid 60s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80 percent.
	Monday Cloudy. Showers likely in the morning...then a chance of showers with isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs around 80. Chance of rain 60 percent. » ZIP Code Detail
	Monday Night Cloudy with isolated thunderstorms. Widespread showers...mainly after midnight. Lows in the upper 60s. Chance of rain 80 percent.
	Tuesday Mostly cloudy. Showers likely...mainly in the morning. Highs in the lower 80s. Chance of rain 70 percent.
	Tuesday Night Partly cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the lower 60s. Chance of rain 40 percent.
	Wednesday and Wednesday Night Mostly cloudy. Highs in the lower 80s. Lows in the lower 60s.
	Thursday and Thursday Night Partly cloudy. Highs in the lower 80s. Lows in the mid 60s.
	Friday Mostly cloudy. A chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 80s. Chance of rain 30 percent.