Sunflower Vase
It’s time to use my sunflower pocket vase, filled with assorted sunflowers, of course!
A look at my main garden below with its sunflower ‘trees.’ It always amazes me how fast these grow from tiny seeds to more than 10 feet tall.
Goldenrod (Solidago sp.) has begun to bloom, a sign I interpret as the point where we begin to slide from mid-summer towards autumn. The seasonal cycles continue unabated, ‘time and tide wait for no man’ or woman, for that matter. Bittersweet as it is, I must accept it. Thankfully, there are yet many weeks of glorious summer weather ahead of us to enjoy.
As the title suggests, I’ve made my arrangement this week mostly of native plants. Soft-pink Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium maculatum) has been blooming for a week or two, another great late-season pollinator plant, along with Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus), all greedily visited by bees and butterflies. American Goldfinches have already started plucking seeds from the latter two, their cheerful twittering filling the air.
The only non-native are Hosta blossoms added to provide a bit of contrasting purple color.
Sweet peas
For the past month, I have enjoyed huge bouquets of Sweet Peas (Lathyrus odoratus) brought into the house, the heady perfume nearly making me swoon. I’ve been religious about cutting all the blooms from the vines in order to promote further flower production and it has been most effective. The heat and lack of good rain seems to be having its effect in slowing them down, so I expect there won’t be many more vases. It has been a good run, so I share today’s pickings with you here. I only wish I could add a ‘Scratch and Sniff’ to the post!
I’m joining other gardeners from around the world, sharing arrangements from their gardens, at Rambling in the Garden‘s In A Vase on Monday.
It has been six years since I started this blog and in reflecting back over that time, life has brought many changes, including my reasons for blogging.
Initially, I thought I’d blog about gardening and nature. I envisioned my posts being informative about different plants, sharing my gardens and walks around the land I call home. Of course, I soon learned that social media is a two-way street and at least half of blogging is meeting and following other bloggers that share similar interests.
Being human, we can’t help but be drawn into the world of others, building relationships over time, some blossoming into friendships. Eventually, the amount of time I spent in my Reader far outweighed the time spent writing posts. Some days, I felt that I shouldn’t ‘waste’ my time, but I felt compelled to see what everyone was posting. Call it FOMO, but I didn’t want to miss some important event that was happening in your lives. Hooked, I cared about you and your ups and downs, and offering support and encouragement became my purpose. I love reading your blogs, learning new things, seeing your part of the world and point of view as well as seeing your creative work– your putting yourself ‘out there’ so bravely– you’re beautiful!
I wouldn’t call it digital addiction, but it is close. Occasionally, I thought of taking the site down, but then one of you would comment about how much you loved my posts and I would recommit myself. It’s one thing to spend a snowy or rainy day blogging, but when other areas of my life demanded my attention, I felt torn. Does anyone else feel this way?
Ideally, I would like to head back to posting more and reading less, but I wonder if I could realistically do it? I would love to hear how you handle this in your own blogging.
Lastly, I’d like to hear how you feel about my current content– what works, what doesn’t and what you would like to see more of in terms of photos, writing and subjects. I know your time is precious, so I sincerely appreciate you following me, your likes and especially your comments. You’re amazing!
We’ve really been enjoying our large, main garden this summer. We eat our meals on the deck that overlooks it, so we get plenty of time to appreciate its beauty. The left side is mostly annuals and the right is largely perennial.
Above left, mounds of white Spider Flower (Cleome hassleriana) back a row of variegated ‘Alaska’ Nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus) on the left and Mealy-cup Sage (Salvia farinacea), Verbena ‘Lanai Peach’ and ‘Peachy Keen’ spreading to the right in front.
In the right-hand photo, Astilbe chinensis x taquetii line the back center with pink and white Cleome on the left and Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ on the right. In the middle, are Globe Thistle (Echinops ritro), red, orange and yellow daylilies (Hemerocallis) and Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). Along the front foreground, are Zinnias, white Nicotiana alata, Lamb’s ears (Stacys byzantina) and Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) further down.
Closer shots above show pink Cleome and double Daylily at left; and right, Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus), yellow and orange Cosmos sulphureus and white Cleome, a combination I love. Below are some portraits of flowers that are now blooming in the garden. (Click to embiggen and see as a slideshow.)
 | Eliza Waters on Morning Sun |
| Eliza Waters on Silent Sunday |
| Eliza Waters on IAVOM-Summer |
| Eliza Waters on Morning Sun |
| Eliza Waters on Morning Sun |
Photographer. Writer.
Aspiring author, amateur photographer, bird watcher, dinosaur.
a gap summer in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific
poetry by j matthew waters
Bring Nature Into Life
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Garden Thoughts from Florida's Treasure Coast
An anthology of life
Inspiring a lifestyle of balance, happiness and sustainability through wellness.
going with the flow
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What art offers is space...a certain breathing room for the spirit. — John Updike
Living in harmony with "All that is"
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Floral, Still Life and Landscape Oil Paintings
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