Celebrate Green

In celebration of Big Green Leaf Day,

 everything is green today.

Water Lily Green

Sunlit Crocosmia Green

Giant Strawberry Leaf Green

Climbing Fern Green

Bugleweed Green

Lamb's Ear Green

Yellowish Hosta Green

Variegated Hosta Green

Tiny Seedling Green

Leopard Plant Green

Banana Leaf Green

Forest Green

Green

Green

Green

Night Rain

I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of rain. After a long dry period, is there any better sound than summer rain? Knowing I just purchased and planted some new daylilies:

Bill Robinson

Edge of Your Seat

Imperial Elegance

Gentle Presence

makes the rain especially welcome. The holes were prepared before going to the grower.  Only enough daylilies to fill the  prepared holes were purchased. They were immediately planted upon returning home. Everything was accomplished by 9 a.m. before it was too hot.

More daylilies continue to bloom in my  garden.

Enchanted April

Enchanted April Close-up

Prairie Blue Eyes

Red Volunteer

Gentle Rose

Malaysian Monarch

Lost Nametag

A Misty Lavender Overlay,

hard to capture but evident here, gives Smokey Mountain Autumn its charm.

Best Kept Secret

I surprised a wild turkey in the garden this morning. She surprised me in turn. I didn't see her until she flew over the back fence before allowing me a photo op. I must put more seeds in the birdfeeder. Last year she proudly paraded her poults down the fence line.

Hosta 'Powder Blue'

I'm still planting things bought earlier this year.

Cool, Refreshing Ferns

Thelypteris kunthii or Southern Shield Fern is a deciduous favorite of mine. It has a grass green quality in the shade but also grows in the sun. It dies back with the cold and returns after the daffodils planted in the same area fade away the following season.

The daylily parade continues with

 Bella Lugosi

Ed Brown

and Wind Frills.

Right out in the open in the middle of the cul-de-sac, 

a fox suns herself.

All is well on this beautiful Sunday morning.

Echinacea purpurea/Purple Coneflower

are beginning to bloom along with cleome.

Phipps Conservatory Winter Orchid Show

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

We were talking about the steamed seafood we had on the coast. And, pow! We had a super supper served with melted butter and Baringer White Zinfandel.

In a large boiler with a lid, put small potatoes, an onion, corn on cob, sausage links, your favorite shellfish combo, add a cup of water, cook on medium heat for 20 minutes and, voila! steamed seafood feast.

Chef Roger

Life is good.

Day After Day

Hemerocallis 'Roman Toga'

 Wind Frills

Shores of Time

Daylilies

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words. Danish Proverb

Strawberry Candy

Siloam Dave McKeithen

Strutter's Ball

Behind a Wall

I own a solace shut within my heart,
A garden full of many a quaint delight
And warm with drowsy, poppied sunshine; bright,
Flaming with lilies out of whose cups dart
Shining things
With powdered wings.

Here terrace sinks to terrace, arbors close
The ends of dreaming paths; a wanton wind
Jostles the half-ripe pears, and then, unkind,
Tumbles a-slumber in a pillar rose,
With content
Grown indolent.

By night my garden is o'erhung with gems
Fixed in an onyx setting. Fireflies
Flicker their lanterns in my dazzled eyes.
In serried rows I guess the straight, stiff stems
Of hollyhocks
Against the rocks.

So far and still it is that, listening,
I hear the flowers talking in the dawn;
And where a sunken basin cuts the lawn,
Cinctured with iris, pale and glistening,
The sudden swish
Of a waking fish.

Amy Lowell

Lilium longiflorum

seem to be increasing. I like that.

The prettiest daylily blooming today is Smokey Mountain Autumn.

Happy Father's Day

Shimmering Orange Fizz

Need a Get-Away?

Let's take a fantasy flight.

Bora Bora

Last year I said I would not wait till June to open the pool.  Roger injured his back this spring and again we opened in June.  We learned more about the pool than we ever wanted to know but now the pool works better than ever. 

Life is Good


The female Summer Tanager occupies the male's spot and preens while the male goes hunting to feed hungry mouths.

Hemerocallis 'Barbara Mitchell'

Barbara Mitchell

Chosen Love

My Belle

Mountain Violet

Fairytale Pink

Baby Betsy

I'm in the garden at the crack of dawn. I'm always eager to see what is new for the day.  If anything major has to be done it must be accomplished before 9:oo a.m. while the temperature is pleasant.

Back inside for toasted French bread with blackberry preserves, maple flavored sausage/Jimmy Dean, and scrambled eggs served with a cold glass of milk and finished with a nice cup of coffee.  Did I mention hubby cooks? Life is good.