August On Lake Huron in Michigan

At San Salvatore it's raining today, a nice pleasant kind of rain wherein all the plants get what they need. Before it started raining I went again to nearby Lexington for their annual art fair. Pleasant trip and a nice experience in a touristy village. I have tried to make new friends here - unsuccessfully. I do reach out to people I think might be nice to know. I hope that the reason I'm ignored is that they already have all the friends they need. 

It is what it is.

I've been ordered by my dermatologists to avoid the sun which means I must do my gardening and garden walking early in the morning and/or late in the afternoon. I miss puttering in the garden outside. Some recent shots - clicking on photos will enlarge them.

Some long landscape shots. I love these best because these photos are simply and sweetly a riot of plants and flowers blending together as if they were a painting, a living and everchanging painting. Looking carefully at my gardens you'll see some unusual companions. There are rhubarb plants throughout the garden. And blue, white and purple Vinca minor. And Lily of the valley. and several varieties of Brunnera. Et Cetera. Why, you might ask. Because, even though some are "aliens" and should be actively discouraged, deer and rabbits do not like them. I believe that having these bad tasting plants mixed in with more palatable ones protects the tastier plants from deer and rabbits. I don't really know if that's true, but it seems, so far, to be working. Clicking on photos will enlarge them.

This year instead of interspersing the Dahlia tubers among the perennials, I planted them all together near the back of the north garden. Easier to care for there. I don't cut apart the tubers and plant them. I just dig a hole and plant last year's entire underground tuberous plant. It's just a lot easier. Surprisingly a few of last years dahlia tubers that I had left where they were actually survived the winter and started to grow and are now flowering. The secret? I know that the tubers are tender and will die if frozen but I think they must have been below the freeze line and therefore survived. Most of my Dahlias are the burgundy shades. They are really loved by the bees and they are strong plants. They also have mutated so, although I started with 'single" flowers, I now have some streaked with white and some semi-doubble and some truly double. "Life's a bowl of chocolates." Regardless - the dahlias this year: - 

And some daylilies. Kind of bittersweetly? I have one daylily from Jim Langhamar that he called Autumn Orange. It is the last daylily to flower and it continues until late in the fall - but it always makes me kind of sad - winter's coming. And, it has started to flower now.

Langhamar's Autumn Orange

Volunteer Sunflower

For Jon

For Tracy

The Hummingbirds have successfully fledged their babies and they are now competing for nectar (aka sugar water here). There were at least two families fledged this summer.