Happy 4th of July

Wishing everyone a happy holiday weekend!

It’s hot!

You know it’s hot when a lizard tries to take a nap on a block of ice! :)

I had a large block of ice to dispose of the other day, and since it has been so very hot and dry here lately, I put it near a clump of coneflowers in one of my flower beds — to let it melt and seep into the soil. A few minutes later, I had to go in and get my camera after I noticed this lizard literally clinging to the cold surface. He sat there for a long time and even tried to climb up on the ice. He lounged there for a half hour! lol He moved off the ice several times, taking a break from the cold, but he stayed within inches of it and returned again and again until it melted away.

Click on the photos to view larger versions.

The lizard resting against the ice

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Enjoying the cold

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Taking a break nearby

Happy Summer

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon;
to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.
-Henry James

Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.
-Sam Keen

What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that it’s fresh young beauty will ever fade.
-Gertrude Jekyll

Then followed that beautiful season… Summer….
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light;
and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Happy Summer!

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Dance of the butterflies

I’m not sure they were actually dancing :-), but it sure looked that way when this cluster of butterflies fluttered around my yard most of the day today. At times there were up to a dozen or more all flying together, sipping from my flowers, landing in the grass and in the edge of the woods. I couldn’t resist taking dozens of photos of these beautiful yellow and black swallowtails.

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Click on any photo to enlarge.

Random flowers and planting

My Blaze Climber is blooming around an arched gate at the entrance to my front yard.

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Native evergreen ivy, also known as mountain laurel, is starting to bloom. I don’t know what’s prettiest, their bright pink buds or their white and mauve colored flowers. When in bloom, I think this is one of our prettiest native shrubs. Click any photo to view a larger version.

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Wildflowers are blooming in abundance in the woods all around the house, including the dwarf irises still blooming with their bright lavender and purple flowers. The woods are getting thicker and thicker now, and I notice something new in bloom almost daily while I’m out walking. The dark burgundy trilliums are nearing the end of their bloom now, and are such a dark burgundy that they almost look black against all the bright shades of green. Everywhere, I see tiny white flowers of all kinds, including the blackberry bushes with their bright white flowers at the edges of the woods and roadsides in this area.

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I’ve gone back to the garden center twice now. I cannot resist buying when I see all the pretty flowers everywhere now. With everything I’ve bought, plus the dozens of plants I grew from seed indoors, I’ve had a lot of planting and yard work to do lately. I have planted numerous containers and beds for the past week, and there are very few bare spots left anywhere in my yard.

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Tulip Poplar flowers are falling everywhere now. It seems there’s always something falling from the many poplar trees here, but their flowers are kind of pretty.

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I absolutely love these African Daisies. I bought several pots of them, and have planted them in containers and here and there throughout the rock wall beds. I think the purple ones are one of the prettiest flowers I’ve seen.

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The azaleas, including the flame azaleas, are mostly done blooming now, but a couple of the brightest pink ones in the shade at the edge of the woods are still bright and pretty. I also have two large evergreen azaleas to look forward to. They are just starting to show color. These always bloom later than the deciduous varieties here.

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I planted two large hanging baskets for my front porch, one with the fuchsia I bought the other day and just got the other one planted yesterday with New Guinea Impatiens. The fuchsia seems to be thriving, so far. I have two hanging baskets in the Secret Garden, also with impatiens, and one at the lamp post bed with a purple Wave petunia, and another red wave petunia at my front porch steps.

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I still have a few things left to plant and a couple of empty large containers around the pool, but for the most part, my flower beds and containers are full.. until I go back to the garden center. :) It’s so hard to resist, isn’t it?

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Click any photo to view a larger version.