Visiting Home

I am visiting home today. I have been touring the garden slowly with my eyes wide open, like I am in a strange land on high alert.

Five days away is a long time in a garden. I must pay attention. There have been visitors. Things have happened.

The Oakleaf Hydrangea has burst into bloom.

Its scent is only slight due to the cool air and wind.

Oakleaf hydrangea

The last of the poppy blooms are a favorite with the bees this morning.

The Verbena bonariensis is tall and lovely. It has such geometric stems.

Verbena bonariensis

The Black Knight buddleia has started to bloom.

Black Knight buddleia

I spied the first Four O’ Clock flower.

Some critters have moved things and dug holes and left waste. Nothing dramatic so far.

I am glad to visit home, but it is not the same as being home. That will have to wait. I am needed more elsewhere.

FLOW

P.S. WORDPRESS just informed me that I started this site 8 YEARS AGO TODAY! WOW

The Magic Marble

The title of this post was supposed to be “Will the Magic Come Back?” My question was answered while I prepped for this post.

Rose gave me a tiny fairy door and shrub for Mother’s Day. I used to do fairy blog posts, but have not done one in a long time. It has felt like the magic had left.

I lost my daddy you see. I have to be an adult now. I still talk to him. Sometimes when strange things happen I ask out loud “Was that you Daddy?” Of course, he does not answer.

This week I cleaned out some drawers at their house. There was a bag of marbles in Daddy’s dresser. The old kind with stripes. I put the bag back. I thought it odd that Daddy kept marbles in his top drawer.

Today, in my garden I found a striped marble in the place I had just prepped for the blog post “Will the Magic Come Back?”

I did not see the marble before. Maybe it was unearthed as I watered the stones to clean them for photographs for this post.

I would like to believe that the fairies and my Daddy were answering my question. YES! The magic is back.

You believe whatever you want.

FLOW

The Deer and the Daylilies

When we first moved here, there were no deer. I am not sure when they showed up, but it was not a happy time. I love seeing them, but I do not love feeding them.

They love daylilies and so do I. I love to see them and they love to eat them.

‘Dixie Boy’ daylily

One summer the deer ate them before I got to see them. I was on vacation in June. When we returned there were hundreds of shortened stalks where blooms should have been.

When the dayliles first appear in the spring, their leaves are tender and green. They must also be tasty. That is when the fence rings get placed around each plant. That solves the problem for a month or so because the deer do not like to stick their heads down in the ring.

In late May the stalks with buds start to emerge above the leaves and above the fence rings.

That is the time I must bring out the green poles to stick in the ground beside each fence ring. Then raise each ring to hang on the pole above the leaves and around the buds and blooms.

I have also tried a new deer repellent product this year.

It contains peppermint, garlic and rotten eggs. Yummy!

It seems to have worked. I will refresh the old bags with peppermint oil in hopes that they will continue to deter the deer.

This is way too much work for maintaining flowers. I would not have knowingly planted deer food if the deer had been here first. My flowers were here first, so I feel obligated to protect them. I do not feel obligated to feed wildlife. My training as a biologist is against that.

I will report on the Whemoalus Deer Repellent’s effectiveness in the coming months.

FLOW (working too hard for her flowers.)

Home to see Sarah

I was glad I made it home to see Sarah. She is one of my favorites of all time.

‘Sarah Bernhardt’ peony

I was relieved that I did not miss seeing her in that lovely pink she is known for.

Whenever I see anything fluffy and soothingly pink I think of her.

She is famous for her beauty and performance.

It is hard to notice anything else when Sarah is performing.

I am so glad I got home while she was still fresh and delightfully gorgeous.

Sarah Bernhardt will always be a favored star in my show.

FLOW

Foxglove Love

If you like surprises, you may want to add some foxglove to your gardens.

Foxglove/ Digitalis purpurea

Not only do they self-seed to change location and change color, they also change shape.

If you have added numerous varieties to your garden the surprises will occur every spring.

As the lovely plants bloom and set seed, their DNA mixes to produces new combinations.

Every spring is a color crap shoot. This spring I have some new shapes.

I also have a new white with spots that are almost invisible.

This is one of the many reasons I love foxglove, besides those spots.

FLOWER

His Poppies Remind Me to Paint

Our artist friend gave us these seeds. I will always think of Bill when they bloom.

His lovely paintings cover our walls. I regret not learning from him.

I was busy with two small children and building a house and a career.

I think about things like that now.

I test the value of what I have chosen to do and what I have been forced postponed.

These poppies remind me to paint.

My female heroes from the past were artist: Marianne North, Beatrix Potter, Margaret Mee, Mary Delaney, and Maria Merian.

I will pack my paint pens this week. I will paint a few plant-marker stones if it rains.

I will remember Bill Troutman and his talent, as I paint while his poppies bloom.

FLOWER

Magnolia Time

If I had not come home yesterday and taken my camera out into the gardens, I would have missed the Magnolia blooms.

Magnolias do not wait. They do not linger until noticed. They bloom and brown in their own time.

I did come home. I did take my camera out in the afternoon.

The blooms are brown this evening.

Beware of wasted time and missed opportunities.

FLOW

Taco Supreme is a Dream

I would not have picked this iris. It was part of a Cooley collection.

It is not fussy or needy. Nor is it a bully.

It does its job of growing and blooming without any help from me.

I appreciate that very much.

The colors change in different light.

Bright sun seems to produce a glare in photos.

It is lovely in any light to the eye.

I love these colors together. Taco Supreme is a dream.

FLOW