Purple Finches at the Feeder

Their muted rose and tan match the colours of sedums and hydrangeas in the garden, and the weigela leaves turning toward autumn.  I'm stuck inside nursing a head cold, but still thrilled to be able to sit and watch the colours changing through watery eyes, between sneezes ... a Monet-like blur.

Everything's Coming Up Roses

Have you ever had a day when you keep noticing the same phenomena over and over again, like a private message just for you?  I have.

Recently, I had a day in which the colour rose kept turning up…everywhere I looked.  I was awake early and saw the sun rising over the neighbour’s rooftop, rosy hues in the dawn sky.

The sunrise started me humming the tune “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.”   I smiled and noticed my insides were bubbly and light.  It was a cheery start to my day.

Later it rained (as red skies in the morning foretell) and the sedums in the garden became vibrant rosy pink in the wet.  I smiled as I noticed them.  Felt happy too.

 

As the day was ending, sun and cloud mixed.  The rain had slowed and the hydrangeas in the front garden glistened with droplets and were edged with rose.

All day long the tune ran through my head and rosy hues popped up, not just in my own yard but everywhere I went.

Ever had a day when colours displayed themselves and music sang itself to you, over and over again?

I wonder why it happens.

Photos and words are copyright © Carol Steel.  Words in red contain hyperlinks and will take you to another site with additional information, if you click on them.

What is Blooming

What is Blooming

Gardening is a constant source of humility.  It is arrogance to think that I can ever keep ahead of the weeds!

The best I can do is to appreciate the tough plants and colourful flowers and hardy shrubs that exist around the house, and to tidy the beds and yard. 

Knowing that tub with pansies and violas will always need daily watering and dead–heading, I still enjoy their bright cheery faces.

The low sedum is a persistent spreader and itself, vigorously wages battle with the weeds, sharing perky yellow with the sun.

The campanula (bellflowers) will need some love and care today to get rid of the weeds and other plants growing close by.  I love the shades of pale violet-blue in the garden, so it is worth every effort.

Our Fat Albert Blue Spruce is terrific this summer, lush and bushy, growing vigorously with all the rain we’ve had.  It holds its own now, having weathered bad winters and some kind of needle fungus last summer.  It is a reassuring sight outside the kitchen windows each morning.

We have clematis and another ancient peony in full flower.

Discoveries of what has come and what is going are always amazing!

All photos are mine.