I HAVE SUNSHINE.
I’m over the moon – or should that be over the sun? about this. See, our summer is officially over. Over over over. Even though for me, having grown up in Florida, August is supposed to be the hottest month, and the best month to have a birthday (no school! no annoying classroom acknowledgements of said birthday! Sun and life verdant and nothing but books and the woods to play in). Mentally, I’m not ready for autumn at alllllll. So! Sunshine and heat today and tomorrow, back to rain on Sunday – total misnomer this week it seems.
Anyhoo! I’m in the sun, sports bra and shorts, and quite merry from all the beer I’ve imbibed since I got home at the ‘expected’ time: that is, if I only work until 5. iDJ had my favorite camp chair already set up in the sunny spot out back and a beer on the countertop ready to be cracked open. Aw, I’m easy to please! And I’m happy he knows it.
He’s also been busy taking brilliant photos of my flowers grown from seed. Which makes me think of something I saw this week on FB – some guy still trying to say that appreciation of flowers is not a masculine enough occupation, in his estimation. Um. Why would adoring the beautiful female form be any different than realising the majesty of a flower? What-ev-ah. *hand wave*
It could be that hubby only loves my flowers because I grew them, but he has his favorites for sure. He put this one up on FB and said ‘I love these!’
My cornflowers, this year in both blue and white.
I think I’ll have to grow these every year, just for him, as he adores them and is just amazed by their color and proliferation:
The California Poppy! They kind of collapsed at ground level, but are still blooming like mad. Not sure if was the horrible compost we bought that made a lot of plants rot at ground level, but I lost a good few plant-babies to that this year. Sad. But…there’s still life!
This is a planter I made up of larkspur and rudbeckia. It’s on our kitchen windowsill because the slugs killed about a dozen rudbeckia before I put it up so high. The larkspur is juuuust blooming, the rudbeckia is taking forever! I thought maybe they would open last weekend but nooooo, and they are still just thinking about it hard. I’m not really sure what they will be like, but if they are yellow or orange like they seem to be thinking of being, I bet hubby will love em. I tend toward purple myself, but I think he likes the warmer colours. I hope the blooms last for ages, since they are so slow to ‘cook.’
Lastly, our cosmos is finally starting to bloom! Last year our next-door neighbor told me that it made her sort of sad to see me growing them, in a good way, because she is from South Africa and they grow wild there. Last year I had ‘candystripe’ and this year I grew a mix. The photo he took today of one of the first blooms is just amazing, hope you like it as much as I do.
I have more photos… Oh yes. I’m trying not to overload here! But… I can’t exactly explain why I love plants so much. I always have, but never really got to try my hand (hand? It’s called green thumbs in the US, green fingers here in Ireland! I have green fingers and toes, it seems, yay!) until I was in my late 20’s. Perhaps it is so simple that I connect with the life, so visible, so joyous, revelling in sun and water like I do myself. I cannot imagine my life without plants any more than I could without cats.
heretherebespiders 
That last photo is beautiful! Great shot!
And those cornflowers are beautiful too!
I wish I had a garden!
You are sooo quick! I posted and went for a pee and ‘bloop’! I had to recharge the toy so just getting around to replying 🙂 I should send you some cornflower seeds! I have plenty, and they are so easy – and all in pots!
I am quick, I know! 8)
Ooh, If you want to of course!
Not sure if they will survive, our venus fly traps recently died. 😦
Wonderful riot of colour. A lot of people have been complaining about plants rotting at ground level this year. Sounds like the constant rain might have done for yours. Never mind, you’ve got colour, even if it is autumn 😉
Really? I hadn’t heard that. Of course it always rains a lot here, it’s the west of Ireland!
Ah, perhaps you have a point! Always a good idea to mix your compost with some local earth and grit and stones – might lighten the mix and help keep the roots less water laden?
It must have been Tuesday. He was wearing his cornflower blue tie! (I couldn’t resist the fight club reference) I LOVE that you have green fingers and toes. You just wouldn’t be you without ivy growing all over your name in my minds eye. You are magical. LOVING the pics and the stories, especially how you brought a little “home” to your neighbor. Plants, bringing people together!
BOOYAH! Perfect 😉 But, am I ivy, really? How great. I’d take that as a compliment any day 🙂 Maybe I’ve got a new nickname?
In regard to Rudbeckia, I live in central Texas. It is 2:59 pm afternoon, 101 plus degrees. These rudbeckia flowers are the very first to start growing in the sand here, early spring. I have lots and lots of them, all around the place, up front, out back, all around. They start blooming pretty soon and keep going for a couple of months. By then they are over waist high, and their stems are a dark, stickery and very substantial, hard to break flower stem. It’s almost impossible to run a mower over them at this stage, so i just let them all re-seed for next year. Saves me the mowing, and the bright yellow flowers are such a cheer! Good luck with yours, I think they probably have become lazy, as they have it just too good at your place! haha Take care, great post! Cissy
Hi Cissy! I’d heard that I need to watch out for rudbeckia self-seeding and taking over, from a friend in the DC area. I’ve yet to decide if I’ll let it do so! I put one in the actual ground surrounded by slug-pellets – its the happiest plant of them all, so wet there. We only have a manual rotary mower so no chance of us taking out a ‘good’ plant by accident. Yet 🙂
Howdy Miss Ivy! haha – just wanted to tell you that my new young protege’ Steve, professed organic garden and chef, suggested I gather the very last flower heads, when they look very fried, and save them as seed in case there is a particular area here that I wish to “enhance.” He says that a very fancy B&B outside Austin grows rudbeckia as a front display garden, and he points out that they re-seed the same area heavily, and the resulting display has these yellow daisies thick and eye-catching, I think they are very “country.” I sent you a reg. email, hope it made it. Take care, Cissy in Texas
Glorious post (we are still 99 degrees here – those particular flowers wouldn’t stand a chance!)
There’s something nice about pictures of windows and plants – they always suggest stories.
The cornflower is so striking – but that last shot: winner!
Here in Virginia, Rudbekia (or black-eyed Susan) is unkillable and proliferant. It has all but devoured my back forty; I have to plead with peope to come dig some up if they want it.. The blooms have a curious quality of reflecting every possible bit of light far after the sun has dropped; they almost glow in the twilight.
I like blue flowers best too, though. I haven’t had much luck with them. The lady who sold me the house grew blue allium, but it ducked out on me the very first year.
Is it black-eyed Susan? I did not know that. Well, we will see if Himself likes it enough to let it go native here, too.
Sad to say my window box no longer looks like it does here – the wind threw the whole box to the ground and a lot of the rudbeckia were snapped off 😦
Love the cosmos pic. Tell me, do your cornflowers shut up shop about 11am and not reopen until next morning?
Nope. They open and stay that way until they start to dry and die off. The blue ones look really nice dry, the white not so much.
Huh. Mine must be faulty.
Do they only get morning sun, perhaps?
Well, it starts in the morning, and then it goes on until it’s night time. (It’s in Slovenia, in case you’re wondering. Not Belfast, no way, nuh-uh.)
Ah! Maybe too hot, then?
I love the pictures, especially the cornflower. I’ve grown tons of dandelion this year, creating a carpet of yellow and then poof it’s gone.
Ha! You grew the only thing I’ve intentionally tried to eradicate… Cornflowers are really easy! They get tall and blow over for me, but by the time I notice they are heading skyward again so I leave em be.
love the cosmos photo
Thank you very much!