Solstice in the Garden

Good Morning from Summer!

This morning is a carbon copy of pretty much every morning this week including the one I took these pictures on earlier this week, except that it is cooler than the rest.

Cool leaves me feeling refreshed and functional, mid-northern girl that I am.

I moved my dog sculpture, the one that I made in someone else's studio from scrap clay (hence the cracks) over by the handmade pot that we found at Walmart of all places. We are already snipping the baby Swiss Chard from it for our evening salad.

Petunias grow in another of these handmade pots that I was thrilled to find.

I look out onto Wally's garden and decided I'm overdue for a tour.

Wild lupins have seed themselves here and they provide an early shot of colour

along with the poppies that have seeded themselves into a larger grouping

They are coming along in stages which prolongs our time with them

Such an exotic flower with a prehistoric vibe, especially the seed pod

Prior to becoming a pod, the pistil still looks wondrously animated, like a sea urchin,

with the stamen appearing to waft about as if they were moving in the water

Wally has planted 2 rows of beans this year at right angles to the way he planted them last year

Fronds of healthy new growth off our evergreen shrub as we view the house, looking due north

The Harelson Apples still intact behind the garage

and the peaches too!

Maybe we'll actually get to eat some this year.

I did see that the doe that had been wandering into our yard earlier this spring has had a fawn.

She has stayed more undercover since. This is the view behind the cabin looking due south.

Just to my left a California Maple is growing just beyond the honeysuckle.

Since fencing off our yard from the deer, we have only done one pass with the lawnmower

With the honeysuckle in full bloom, this is the closest I can get

The field beyond is full of lupins, an idyllic view in early summer

Wally and I are continually grateful for the wildness out back

We have managed to salvage a few tiny grapes so far but I am doubtful about them coming to fruition as we have quite a few more birds this year, all hungry for our berries.

It was too sunny a day to capture the clematis that are already blooming but I love this shot of a clematis bud

Our lily garden along the side of the house is graced this year by some new pinks that Wally planted plus a hollyhock that someone ;) (me) seeded.

I do love to wander about the garden and sprinkle seed pods.

I turn to take one last view towards the back before I go in

and then realize that if I stand on the pile of concrete patio tiles we got 2 weeks earlier I could get this new vantage over the back hedge.

Creating calm, finding beauty, nurturing kindness