July gardens

Most perennial enthusiasts learn to balance their gardens. You have to account for height and texture and color of course. And you have to account for the period of bloom. Yes, there are flowers that can bloom for a good part of the summer, but in my experience, the perennial flowering period tends to be short. I'd say two weeks, on the average. Maybe three if you don't mind a more weathered look. So the trick is to plant different stuff for early spring, interspersed with stuff for late spring, and then for early summer, mid summer and late summer, and finally for autumn. 

But from the outset I rejected this way of planning a garden. Yes, I wanted to be sure to front load the flower fields -- get stuff in there for early spring, because we are so hungry for color then! And after that, I picked plants I liked, regardless of their bloom time. And since I like a lot of lilies, the garden definitely has a peak period when it is at its finest and that period falls on July. It's not that in the other months it is stagnant, it's just that the feeling of abundance starts right about now. Every day is exciting!

A sunny day today and I do spend time dead heading lilies, because I really like the clean lily bed look...

(the day lily has to provide a challenge to froggie: I mean, every day, it has to jump to a new bloom...)

And we eat breakfast on the porch and Ed has picked our wild blackberries so we add those to the mix of fruits...

And then I pause with all things outside, because my daughter's visiting friend is set to have a meet up with my mom (he knew her when she still lived in California) and the kids are coming along for this and I promised I'd be there to help with the whole thing. Including the picture taking.

Okay! Kids, time for you to go for your swimming lessons! I'm going to take you there! (They love their swimming lessons! Absolutely love them.)

And now I'm home again and Ed is prompting me to go outside. We are seeing the first (or second and maybe even third) mosquito so we probably have a very short window in which we can still work without the company of those horrid bugs. Fine. Let's finish with the moving of hostas.

This is how you quickly move from early morning to late afternoon. 

 For us, Thursday afternoon means that we take a trip to pick up our CSA veggie box. Today we also want to get to the farmers market just as it opens. I'm eager to purchase the newest arrivals: Wisconsin blueberries!

What? sold out in the first five minutes?? I suppose everyone is thinking of throwing them in for a red white and blue dessert for Sunday. No? Well I am. If you're lucky, the Fourth of July brings with it the tail end of strawberries and the arrival of blueberries. All you need is the cream and you're set. (I have mentioned numerous times on Ocean that for people like me who hate live, loud fireworks and who dont grill meats all that much (ever?), this holiday has few traditions I can latch onto. This year, it will again have to be in the dessert. If I can find some blueberries at the Saturday market.)

For now, I'm celebrating July 1st, bursting with new flowers. How beautiful to look outside now! How good it is to be in the thick of the growing season.