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My flower gardens are a wonder to the eye this season. I am not sure if it is because they had so much snow for protection or if it is a reward for making it through the awful, long winter.
The lilies are standing so straight and tall — extremely proud of themselves. I plant flowers very close together so each section of the gardens appears as a bouquet of mixed flowers.
The daisies keep company with the bee balm and lilies. In my opinion, one cannot have too many lilies of any sort, or peonies.
Because June was so cool and not humid this year, when I hung my peonies up in the flower shed to dry them they turned out near perfect.
I didn’t know peonies could be dried this way until a couple years ago. If picked just before they fully open and hung upside down, they dry and can be used for various displays in the house.
I dry Artemisia, too. It makes an awesome wreath along with Russian sage.
The hydrangeas are starting to burst with color. Try as I will, I cannot seem to give my Niko blue enough acid rich fertilizer to keep it blue. It turns a wonderful shade of lavender and then to rose. I will take whatever I can get, because I know winter will come again.
I, too, feel as if I bloom during summer months. There is so much to do and so little time to do it in. I have decided to look at my life as not too busy but very full.
A full life, just what is that? It is spending a sunny summer day making bird baths with your best friends. We had instructions from a magazine on how to use big leaves for the mold. We chose hosta, rhubarb and jack in
the pulpit leaves for our molds.
Living on farms, we had all mixed cement before, and during this project, we learned just the right consistency we needed to hold the shape of our leaves.
Thanks to Arlene’s artistic painting skills and vast supply of paint, our color choices are limitless.
Who would have thought that the veins of a rhubarb leaf were that detailed? Or that a huge hosta leaf makes a perfect shape when molded with cement.
My granddaughters want to try this, too, so one day when they are here, we will mix up just a little bit of cement (I want them to know how to mix cement, too). I will help them make their own birdbaths. I am curious as to how theirs will be painted. I think a lot of pinks and purples will be used.
My girls and I spent some time one morning picking berries. I didn’t realize one could make soup out of berries, but my 6-year-old granddaughter proceeded to mix her blackberries and raspberries together with her lovely, berry-stained hands and had what she called soup. Personally, I would have put it on my ice cream, but to each their own.
We took the time (I always try and make time when with them — life is too short) to weave lovely Queen Anne’s lace into our hair. We felt very special. My 7-year-old granddaughter then told me a story about how she thinks Queen Anne’s lace got its name. I cannot remember her entire version but it has something to do with a prince and castle.
Each day I try to take the time to really look at the flower gardens. There is a small row of old fashioned hollyhocks that reseeded themselves on the edge of the hay field by the house. I asked my husband not to cut them off when he mowed the hay field. Now they are blooming, and each I time I see them bursting in their shades of pink, wine and mauve it is like a wondrous surprise — one of those surprises that you don’t expect to see. They can be the best kind.
I hope your summer this far has been full, not busy, and that you, too, enjoy the surprises waiting us each day.
Linda Fort lives on a farm near Ridgeway. In addition to staying active in the community, she’s enjoying grandparenthood. “There’s a reason they call it ‘grand.’”
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