This is it for the sunflowers. I promise. And it's not that they are all that spectacular. They don't even really look like sunflowers. But it was my first attempt at them. And I noticed this morning that I have a patch of them. On our deck. In a pot. That's probably why they're pretty small.
But they're still cool. And that there's a bunch of them in bloom at once and I haven't killed them, well, that makes them even cooler.
Those little nubs hopefully will soon be this. I say hopefully because there have been a total of 9 little nubs. But only 3 are left. And I'm sure it has something to do with my lack of attention to them. Come on little nubs, hang in there for us.
An odd thing here. The pink rose bush, which usually blooms for about 3 weeks in May and early June, had a bloom, in August. I don't recall this ever happening. So when something this odd happens, do we take it as, eh, how weird, or do we try find out if there is some deeper meaning behind it? What's the message from the universe in this little pink rose?
This year I decided to try some sunflowers. These are Evening Sun variety, although because of their size they look more like Gerbera Daisies to me. I had some regular yellow sunflowers but only two bloomed and they were tiny. I think the size is all relative to the fact that they are in a pot and don't have a lot of room to grow. Nonetheless, I like these and today they will be cut to come inside and adorn the house.
Finally, a decent rain.
Some wildflowers ... potted:) Does that make them not so wild? I don't know but I love these flowers and I think because their nature is to be wild, they aren't suffering terribly from the heat, although when I do miss a watering they let me know.
This is one of the photos I shot in RAW format. It seems incredibly sharp to me and I don't know if that's because it was shot RAW or if it's because I opened it on the sweet 27" super iMac at work rather than the puny 13" Macbook and I can simply see better. I've heard various things about shooting RAW vs Jpeg and I just need to learn and experiment more.
Here we've got a future something. What, I'm not sure. A few months ago a friend gave me some seedlings for cucumbers, peas and carrots. I don't think this is cucumber because there is another viney kind of plant that has smaller flowers and I think that is the cucumber. So now I don't know what this is. It looks like it's probably squash. If I'm lucky and the garden doesn't despise and resent me too much for not watering it often enough, maybe I'll find out.
So just a few more days to catch up:) I have some great photos from the weekend. I just have to figure some things out. Like how to open them! I tried something new, shooting RAW. And I need some sort of plug-in update or a converter so I can open the photos. And of course, I'm strapped for time already anyway. Hopefully tomorrow. I'm anxious to see the photos!!
I'm just catching up from a weekend away. As hard as it is to disconnect, it's even harder to reconnect. And in thinking about that I'm thinking about a weekly computer diet. No computer, no blog, no Facebook, no Caring Bridge, nothing online or computer related for one solid day every week. I think it might do me some good:)
I haven't posted many photos from the garden this year mostly because the garden has been kind of lame. And I am mostly responsible for it's lameness. Since hubby has been out of commission, the poor garden has relied on me for watering, weeding and general maintenance and upkeep. And I just don't have the time it needs. Sadly, the people must come first, then the cats, then the plants, then the gardens. You don't realize what's involved with something until you actually have to do it. Shawn would water the gardens daily, plant new flowers and maintain everything every year. Luckily, he is able to do this in the back yard with the potted plants and flowers. And of course, that's where things are thriving.
These are the morning glories ascending to well, their glory. Last year our morning glories were slaughtered. But this year, they are safely within our fence. No barbarian weed wacker operators can get to them. In a few weeks, the backyard will be graced with beautiful purple blooms every morning until it frosts.
This is a new flower in the garden. It's a Tigridias and only lasts one day, at least in 100 degree weather. I planted these bulbs in late Spring and then put the card that had the picture, name and description in a cubby and forgot all about it. So we had no idea what these were, what they would like or when they would bloom. Nice little surprise:)
Sometimes it's all about the angle.
The Archway of Grace.
This climbing rosebush is simply magnificent. I don't remember exactly when we got this rosebush. It might have been a birthday present for me and my guess would be that it's been here for about 7 to 8 years, maybe a little less. At some point when it started climbing Shawn had the idea for it to span the gateway to our backyard. Well, here we are, this year, and I just can't get enough photos of this amazing beauty.
One more breezy day and the trees around the house will be naked. Here's a few last leaves hanging on, not wanting to let go. Maybe it's time ... to let go.
