Summer Blooms and More: 10 Days

Mr. Cardinal

Nasturtiums are beautiful and edible.

The female towhee, well camouflaged

A baby bunny I didn't have the heart to scare out of the garden

This past week the gardenia exploded with blooms, so many that I don't feel guilty at all about cutting them and bringing them indoors. 

Bean flowers in their tiny perfection

I didn't know squash flowers were so lovely.

The new oakleaf hydrangea "Ellen Huff" seems happy near the foundation.

The first lily to bloom in the garden this year. 

Tropical Storm Andrea dumped 4.5 inches of rain. 

10 Days in May

The last week has been all about the bluebirds. I wake up each morning happy to hear the peeping of the babies in the box outside the bedroom window. 

Most of the irises at our new house are shades of purple, blue and white, but this yellow one was a cheerful surprise in the morning sun.

Sitting on the front porch, I saw awkward flutterings and a fledgling alight on the roof, then in the holly. I believe it is a young finch, as I saw the parent finches nearby. 

I nearly cut down this rose bush last fall during one of my pruning frenzies. The cane was ungainly and leaning awkwardly, I thought, on an azalea. Ha! I am often glad when I overcome my ideas about how things should look in the garden.

Swiss chard is growing well and I expect will be our only greens in the garden soon if the heat continues. Lettuce is still a near-daily treat. 

Carpenter bees (I think) have been busy pollinating the hollies. I have been very glad to see them, given the bee crisis. The tomato plants are beginning to flower, and they will need pollinators.

This iris takes my words away. 

My husband set up the tripod on a chest in the bedroom to capture bluebird photos.

The babies are getting active in the box and beginning to poke their heads out. Each day, I hate to leave the house because I want to see them fledge. 

A rose bush that I hacked to the ground produced one perfect rose. It smells like a rose should.

Iris and Beech

Irises abound at my new house. Eggplant purple, various combinations of purple and white, and pale blue irises have emerged over the past two weeks. Some of the stems topple under their own weight and then I cut them and bring them in the house or to work, where I get to admire them all day on my desk. The latest beauty to emerge is this yellow iris. 

Last night it was a bud. This morning it glowed in the sun. By the time I returned in late afternoon, it had fallen amidst the verbenas. 

I finally hiked to the natural area where you are supposed to have a permit (shh) to see the stand of old beeches. I walked carefully through periodic patches of poison ivy to the secret beeches. I found this one, half of which has a rotten heart yet still bears fresh green leaves. I lay under it for awhile, happy, and watched the water of Reedy Creek flow. 

May Weekend: Birds, Beef and Strawberries

Sometimes the world of busyness becomes overwhelming and I get lost in my head. Do more, do faster, do better! Then I know it's time to move outdoors. 

For the first time in ages I set up the tripod to photograph birds. This year the bluebirds failed to claim their box and a titmouse family moved in. 

Last week we had a scare. The headlights of the car one evening caught the neighbor's cat perched on the top of the bluebird box. I feared a titmouse tragedy, and inspected the ground below, where one tiny white feather rested on the mulch. But the next day the titmice were busy bringing insects, as usual, and disappearing into the hole. Cautiously, I opened the box, ready to photograph the baby birds. The soft mossy nest covered only the bottom third of the box and the little birds were hiding. I was secretly relieved.

The catbirds returned in mid-April. They think the birdbath is theirs.

The garden is lush and green. Not many native plants are in bloom in this lull between spring and summer. But the penstemons catch the morning light. 

I have missed the old routines. My husband and I were finally able to go to the Carrboro farmer's market on Saturday morning and then to the Hogans' farm to buy steaks. 

I like being able to see the cows eating grass or lounging in the shade. The cows were too far from the road to get a decent photo, so I'll go straight to the meat. This grass-fed beef raised by friends is our exception to a vegetarian diet.

Magnolias are already in bloom. It's hard to be sad when smelling a magnolia.

After many weeks of talking about strawberry picking, we finally did it. I need deadlines, and the note on the website of the Whitted Bowers biodynamic farm said this weekend may be the last for strawberries if the heat keeps up. We picked 8 pounds of berries.

They taste as good as they look. I think they're the best strawberries I've ever had.

At the farmer's market, they gave out free packets of pectin for freezer jam. It was easy to make (even for the cooking-impaired).

There is an awful lot of sugar in jam. Best not to dwell on that.

The recipe said it would make 5 8-oz. jars of jam. Hmmm... We also have a ziploc filled with strawberry jam that I decided to exclude from the photo for symmetry's sake.

It would be nice to have a snappy conclusion to this post. But I must get ready to leave the house yet again for another showing. Who requests a showing on Sunday at 5 o'clock?