the garden

June 15th

There are stars in the garden
and they will soon morph into
blossoms

June 12th

i've been home from the island for two weeks
and i was thrilled to come home and find the garden
looking so fine after a true spring May
which everyone called "cold"
of course
but it was what our May used to be
cool and frequently rainy.
i spent a lot of time the first week
working and photographing in the garden
but then last week turned into the
week out of hell
hot and steamy.
In a word from my adolescence: Gross!

After three magnificent thunderstorms in as many days
our weather has returned to more seasonable June balmyness
and i have awakened and feel like posting again.

i love watching the progression of Clematis integrifolia flowers
as they emerge from two lovely leaves closed like praying hands

Day 1
The bud peaks out from between the leaves

Day 2
i come outside early in the morning
and the exquisite bud has emerged fully

Day 3
It has begun its curling phase

Day 4
The flower is now fully open
with its swirling skirt of dancing petals
while the second bud begins to emerge nearby

September 19th

Here in the northern edge of the MidAtlantic states
many of the marvelous and very popular tropical and sub-tropical plants
begin flowering in late August, and
if there is not an early, hard frost
keep on flowering for most of September and October
like Abutilon, sometimes called "Flowering Maple"
(which can keep on growing and flowering indoors).
This is one i photographed at Greenwood
called 'Vesuvius'