Seems as though poor August is all but a holding period - a no-man's land of gardening, of dormancy, where we all just wait for Summer to do its worst and be done with it so that we can come to September and begin dreaming for the Fall. Well, that's not entirely true, but it does seem that most of the folks I talk to or read about are tired of the summer and tired of the heat.
Not so for me! Yes, it has been hot, though not as hot as it could have been. Yes, I haven't taken nearly as much time outside as I would have wanted to. But there has been adequate rain, and there is plenty happening in the garden.
Growing okra for the first time ever though, I have marvelled at how we have been able to harvest pods, quite literally, by the hour. And I never thought of okra as being such an ornamental, dainty, beautiful plant. But it so is.
The seven plants we grew this summer produced abundantly enough for us to have a steady supply of okra once a week. Next summer, 3 more plants will assure enough to give away to a friend or two, as the real and true virtues of gardeners are to be found in their spirit of sharing.
Speaking of sharing, we have, this past year, discovered how very much indeed we can enjoy the bounty of the natural world through our senses. Feast your eyes upon the most recent sojourner in this garden - one of three hummingbirds who seems to have called this place home, for the time being. In the background are the dwarf okra plants, and in the foreground, are beans and the yellow pear tomato who has braved the entire summer and is fully seven feet tall now with no sign of stopping. But this little friend loves her/his little perch:
And darts between the sugar syrup feeder and the tomato tree branch supports time and time again.
Being still, and screened by the bean vines scarcely 3 feet away, how thrilling it was to behold this happy little creature. Now I know what these hummingbirds who stay around our garden sound like - and hear them all the time. Once, bending down to pick some thyme for an evening meal, I not only heard but felt the incredible buzz of their wings as one swooped past me, above my head.
Such riches can't ever be bought.
Sunchoke flowers and plants tower above us, well on their way past the roof of the house.
A bumblebee visits the eggplant flowers on this Wednesday morning.
Here, an anole rests on the spent stalks of the blue Agapanthus in the front garden.
The very first Echinacea coneflower has blossomed in the front. Little does this flower know how incredibly beautiful, precious, and transient s/he is.
And the tiny front garden bed is awash with colour from salvias blue and red, buddleia, pentas, malviviscus, rudbeckias, one single coneflower (can you spot it?) and pink gauras.
Not so for me! Yes, it has been hot, though not as hot as it could have been. Yes, I haven't taken nearly as much time outside as I would have wanted to. But there has been adequate rain, and there is plenty happening in the garden.
Growing okra for the first time ever though, I have marvelled at how we have been able to harvest pods, quite literally, by the hour. And I never thought of okra as being such an ornamental, dainty, beautiful plant. But it so is.
The seven plants we grew this summer produced abundantly enough for us to have a steady supply of okra once a week. Next summer, 3 more plants will assure enough to give away to a friend or two, as the real and true virtues of gardeners are to be found in their spirit of sharing.
Speaking of sharing, we have, this past year, discovered how very much indeed we can enjoy the bounty of the natural world through our senses. Feast your eyes upon the most recent sojourner in this garden - one of three hummingbirds who seems to have called this place home, for the time being. In the background are the dwarf okra plants, and in the foreground, are beans and the yellow pear tomato who has braved the entire summer and is fully seven feet tall now with no sign of stopping. But this little friend loves her/his little perch:
And darts between the sugar syrup feeder and the tomato tree branch supports time and time again.
Being still, and screened by the bean vines scarcely 3 feet away, how thrilling it was to behold this happy little creature. Now I know what these hummingbirds who stay around our garden sound like - and hear them all the time. Once, bending down to pick some thyme for an evening meal, I not only heard but felt the incredible buzz of their wings as one swooped past me, above my head.Such riches can't ever be bought.
Sunchoke flowers and plants tower above us, well on their way past the roof of the house.A bumblebee visits the eggplant flowers on this Wednesday morning.
Here, an anole rests on the spent stalks of the blue Agapanthus in the front garden.
The very first Echinacea coneflower has blossomed in the front. Little does this flower know how incredibly beautiful, precious, and transient s/he is.
And the tiny front garden bed is awash with colour from salvias blue and red, buddleia, pentas, malviviscus, rudbeckias, one single coneflower (can you spot it?) and pink gauras.