A Garden in the Narrowlands

Life In The Garden

There's been no lack of sunshine this week...a nice counter to the gray weekend. There's no denying the rain has had its impact this year--I've never seen this pink beebalm so tall, or blooming as prolifically as it suddenly is this week.

Yesterday was a beautiful morning, sunny but not too hot...a perfect time to address some "management issues" in the garden. You know, path mowing, edging, deadheading...(imagining how easy it must be for Superman to prune high tree branches--what I wouldn't give for some heat vision!)...and finally tidying up the very messy garden shed.
Throughout the morning, a pair of Monarch butterflies dashed and darted through the air, looping and swooping through and over the garden beds. What fun they have in the garden!

This rudbeckia variety has much more compact blossoms than its floppier wild cousins, but it puts more of those blooms out all at once. Who can say which is better?

Here, the butterfly weed lures in its namesake, as one of the Monarchs lands for a tasty lunch.

The monarch butterfly is apparently the celebrity of the bug world. Just one glimpse of a camera lens, and off they fly. So this picture seemed a bit of an accomplishment.

Sunny snapdragons front an ever-increasing assortment of phlox.

This squirrel was clearly disappointed to arrive on the porch after the tufted titmice had made off with the peanuts I'd set out.

The season's regular rains have encouraged many dayflower plants (a distant relative of spiderwort), which feature the tiny blue wildflower pictured here snuggling with an orange marigold.

Rainy Weekend

A sunny-colored snapdragon fills in for the god Appollo and his cloud-obscured golden chariot.

This butterfly rests on wet oregano leaves, pretending to be a flower.

Found this little frog in the bottom of a four-foot pickle bucket this evening. He'd apparently jumped in, but then found the angle of exit a little too high and steep. I introduced him to our little pond, and I'm sure he'll make his way from there.

Our hydrangeas are so amazing this summer--they could be posing for garden catalogs.

The back garden is almost too lush, with everything growing thick together. The paths could use another mowing, but it all looks sort of...voluptuous...and so who am I to tamper with that?

The veronica are filling out their tall slender blossoms, as they mingle with coreopsis, calendula and oregano at the garden's entrance.

The view from under the rudbeckia.



Another untamed arrangement here. Looking through fountain grass, the autumn sedum heads are forming, with bee balm, coreopsis, lavendar, cosmos and white and pink oregano all visible in the jungle behind.

Here, the Prairie Eyes rudbeckia pose with pink and purple phlox, sunshine colored snapdragons and other assorted greens too numerous to name.

Another look at heavenly hydrangeas.

Sometimes, it's the gray, unremarkable day that ends well.

Heat Wave

Although the heat of the past few days kept me mostly out of the garden (except to do a little watering in the morning), there's no denying the the flowers have been enjoying the summer's extreme conditions.

Here's a trio of black-eyed susan who've come into bloom recently, their colors matching the Hot Theme for the week.

A dragonfly takes a break from flight to decide which oregano plant to visit. I don't remember seeing so many of these blue guys last year.

This wild pink thistle burst into bloom just yesterday.

Several veronica plants also began blooming this week, their cooler colors trying their best to balance against the heat.

The tickseed sent up a new flower into the bright sunshine yesterday. Most of us, though, found relief in cooler places like swimming pools, beaches and in front of a variety of fans or air conditioners...or watching movies that featured snow.

This hot red beebalm continues to hold center stage in the back garden, but there's always room for cosmos, Saint John's wort and oregano, too!

After an evening punctuated by distant lightning and rumbling thunder, a pretty intense lightning storm barreled across Eastham around 12:40 a.m, briefly knocking out power. (Sure, I could've gotten better pictures...but who wants to stand out in a field with a wet electronic device in hand as a storm approaches?)

The storm took our heat and humidity with it as it whipped out to sea, and this morning is a terrific relief after the last few days. We're also hearing today about the strengthening of tropical storm Beryl just south of us. Ah, Summer...always something to hold your attention.

This first white morning glory opened this morning, mirroring the change in temperatures with its simplicity of color.

Fun in the Sun

I've never grown hollyhocks before, only admired them from afar and in catalogs. They are quite enjoyable, with their big showy flowers and sky-reaching stalks.

As loud and bright as the red blossom is, the pink is more delicate and calm...but every bit as fantastic. I now hope I'll have hollyhocks every year after this one.

The heat and humidity began its return engagement today, and they say our region will build into a real heat wave as the weekend progresses. I'm all for it (which I think is always a good attitude to have about weather you have no control over); it's July, after all.

Here's an untamed assortment of shasta daisies, oregano and daylilies.

With the sunshine so bright and a clear forecast ahead, I knew there'd be some nice sunset action tonight, and so I headed down to see about capturing a few of those classic Cape Cod Bay moments. I love photographing sunsets out here, or even just watching them. They're like snowflakes: no two are exactly alike.

Sunset fun at First Encounter Beach, Eastham, MA, around 8:00 p.m. a

It Droppeth Gently From Heaven...

Heavy rains last night, with thunderstorms bypassing us here in Eastham, but audibly so. This morning saw only the mildest drizzle...not enough to stop this first zucchini blossom.

Not far from the zucchini, twin stalks of yucca would stand about seven feet tall or so, if they weren't leaning so heavily with giant wet bell blossoms.

Just under the tiny St. John's Wort blossoms, a spider shelters from the rain, awaiting the morning's assorted pollinators.



The rain turned into a renewed theme for the day, with heavy showers throughout the afternoon.

The sun returned just about five o'clock this afternoon and it was a pretty terrific evening. Here the tallest stalk of bee balm towers above its neighbors in the back garden.

Another pair of yucca stalks are weighed down with flowers. These two are crossing swords to block the path down into the meadow.

With the rain-fed pond taking more ground on a fairly regular basis, the frogs are having a field day at our place.

Rudbeckia and oregano.

Summer Days

And the days of summer drift by. Not having posted in a day or two, there's a surfeit of images, so I'll start with this bouquet and greetings for Feliz Anniversario to our friend Jozi!

I'm excited to find this favorite discovery from last summer returned. This tiny little perennial put up a single stalk last summer, but this year has five others like this one waiting to bloom. I've been stumped so far in identifying this one...I wonder if its some old form of veronica (that only occurs to me because, across the path, some different blue veronicas are preparing to bloom).

I've introduced an old railroad spike into the ground between the hydrangeas, in hopes that an iron infusion will deepen the blue of their flowers in the future. Meanwhile, their multi-toned blossoms do make a great back-up for this orange asiatic lily.

In the back garden, a first pink hollyhock blossom.

The infinite oregano has begun blooming this week, and its bringing out the bees in force. It's pretty fascinating to watch them all so hard at work.

The verbena flowers are also attracting attention, like this eager little moth. He was fun to photograph, since he kept hopping around from flowerhead to flowerhead.

I never expected I might actually capture a shot this clear of him in flight...which isn't really that clear, but I guess it does give you some sense of how fast those wings flutter.

There's butterfly weed in bloom everywhere in the back garden, as well.

Finally, the yellow snapdragons begin their show.

And the purple agastache is joining in, too.
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This flower has the furry stems and foliage of rudbeckia, but might be (based on some of the empty seed packets I've hung on to...) some variety of sunflower. Anyway, the flower's quite cool.

Down by the ever-rising shore of the pond, I found this cluster of flowers of some kind. They're interesting to look at, a little alien in nature. I'm guessing they're some kind of fungus, but I'll be happy to hear from anyone who knows more than me on the subject.

Not far away, I also discovered this blue dragonfly.

A Pollinator's Paradise

Today we'll start with a closer look at the two hydrangeas by the kitchen door. We've apparently got some variable soil conditions, since these two plants are giving us a color range from deep blue to violet to pink. It's a great show.

Here's a blossom head that sums up the whole color range.

Our first fruit on one of the "Big Bertha" pepper plants.

A honeybee rummages through the blossoms of creeping thyme.

An orange-tailed wasp (or is this a hornet...i just don't know...is there an entymologist in the house?)visits a new rudbeckia flower.

A busy bumblebee on the milkweed.

A new Black-eyed Susan bud.

Meanwhile, a pair of my expatriot asiatic lilies outside the Old Jailhouse Tavern in Orleans have come into bloom this weekend.

The lily leaf beetles have been spotted here, but don't appear to have done much damage. Thank goodness--I just love these orange lilies!!

Oh, Those Golden Rays...

Ahhh...here's that sunny day we've been wishing for. By nine-fifteen, it's already 72 degrees and getting more lovely by the moment. A red beebalm flower is the highlight here, but you can also see two distant stalks of yucca preparing to flower.

Our forecast for the Cape and Islands suggests we might actually see two days in a row of this sort of golden day, before returning to that "rainy day feeling" again on Sunday.  So enjoy it while you can!!

The rudbeckia that began opening two days ago has now revealed itself as a double blossom...for twice as much fun. Here it is accompanied by a few oregano flower buds (lower left)

Two more of the centauri flowers begin their show.

A patch of daisies on the shady side of the garden bed.

A pair of calendula blossoms welcomes the sun.

And now for something completely different: the first of many butterfly weed (asclepsia, I think...no guarantees on the spelling) has come into bloom. If the flower structure looks familiar, you might recognize the form from its cousin, the milkweed.

By the kitchen door, the last of the asiatic lilies prepares to bloom, with hydrangeas and ladybell bellflowers singing back-up.

A closer look at those blue hydrangeas. They are, I think, just gorgeous this time of year, as their flowerheads begin to open, each day a little closer to perfection.

"When at last I took the time to look into the heart of a flower, it opened up a whole new world...as if a window had opened to let in the sun." -- Princess Grace of Monaco (1929-1982)

Rainy Day Thoughts

We had another night of mostly rain, with some early morning heavy downpours to put a bit of a damper on the day. Such a relaxing sound, though, listening to the rain battering on the roof, shshing off the leaves, the occasional raindrop striking some metal object or other in the garden, ringing a bell each time it does. Frankly, it would've been nicer to stay snuggled in bed with coffee and comic books, but that wasn't the plan for the day. The rain stopped, too, giving me a few minutes for a quick garden walkabout before work.

Over the course of the day, the sun even came out a few times...but it never seemed to last for very long. We're certainly due a few more sunny hours, I think. I bet I could find a whole lot of people who'd agree with me at any of the Christmas Tree Shops.  Fortunately, there seems to always be something bright in the garden to stand-in for the Sun.

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There seems to be a promising forecast for the weekend. A few more golden rays to balance all the rain would be sweet...and it'll give me a chance to do some path mowing and trimming and dead-heading.

Muggy Morning

Another hydrangea comes into bloom against the back corner of the house, with an assortment of bright asiatic lilies arrayed before it. I love these orange lilies, but with such saturated color, they are difficult subjects to photograph.

We have so many trees around our place that I only thought it was humid this morning. I didn't quite realize it was raining lightly until I walked out to the back garden to do some watering. On the way, I found foreshadowing in this lovely rudbeckia blooming in our now-squidgy and sodden meadow.

In the back garden, this green-eyed rudbeckia "Prairie Eyes" is growing terrificly in this, its second year (last year it was almost consumed by the infinite oregano), and began opening its first blossoms this morning.

Across the path from the green-eyed beauties, a cousin of that other rudbeckia plant (this one was transplanted from the meadow last season) began opening as well.

Another perfect daylily today.

Here's another one of those old spiny roses in bloom, with a few more buds still to go. My eagle-eyed pal Lili recently tipped me off to having spotted its species in an online catalogue of heritage roses. It is, at least, a moss rose. Now I can do a little more research and see what I ought to know about them.

Just to confuse the issue a little, here's a lovely little portulaca blossom, against a patch of thyme in bloom.

What confusion, you ask? The portulaca, you may recall, is known also as the moss rose. Of course, the portulaca exists on a completely different scale than those roses, so any confusion is probably just a matter of semantics...a moss rose by any other name, blah blah blah...at best.

Some of the earlier flowerheads of the verbena bonariensis weren't up to the rain's attention (you can see them scattered about the adjoining hollyhock leaf), but so far they just seems to keep on blooming. I LOVE that in a plant.

Today's Cape Cod Times featured some bad news for Cape and Islands gardeners: the greater occurence of the Lone Star tick to our area. Watch for the white spot on its back, and don't forget the Deep Woods OFF spray. Seems like yet another harbinger of the imaginary global warming...just like those imaginary Portuguese man-o-war jellyfish stinging folks off the south coast.

On a happier note, this red snapdragon stages a return engagement from last year's planting, cavorting happily with a pair of calendula blossoms in the understory of the garden.

Meanwhile, in the front garden, the pineapple lilies are putting on quite an entertaining show.

Here's a glimpse of the pond this morning, dimpled with rain. The pickerel rush is blooming this week, but the blue flower fades at a distance.

Late afternoon found the sun returned to the Cape, and with it, swarms of happy horny dragonflies darting (and mating) over the surface of the pond.

It seems one of the laws of nature is that, where there are big juicy dragonflies, you'll also...eventually...find big hungry bullfrogs.

And of course there's also the other law of nature, about where there's rain you'll find mushrooms.