It’s mid-July. We are in the midst of dog days. After a wet spring, rainfall has been reduced to an occasional shower or two here and there. Days can be muggy and they can be hot. But not hot enough for A/C in New England….. yet! Fans really do the trick. It made me smile when I opened a congratulation letter from the electric company for electricity efficiency. Yippee!
Pinks and purples and blues of spring have faded in the area set aside for cut flowers. Now it is moving toward hotter oranges with coreopsis, asclepia, echinacea, and gaillardia. Tall ‘Hyperion’ daylilies will soon open to a lovely buttercup yellow and float over these sizzling reds and oranges.
We still have pinks and blues elsewhere. Our johnny-jump-ups will stay with us for the summer with a nice splash of color in the herb garden.
Flowers and shrubs take care of themselves now. There are chores among the ornamentals, maybe a few small weeds to pull daily but not enough to label as real work. Now we can sit back, relax on the deck, enjoy the garden, and watch our birds,
Can you find her?
or take some New England road trips like this recent one to Vermont,
and of course, we’re regulars at our incredible farmers’ market….
… as we buy from farmers while we wait for the healthy fruit to ripen on our two tomato plants. Our Celebrity tomatoes are looking great and we can see a faint glow of pink in the right light. Wishful thinking?
Late July and early August is when the Little Lime hydrangea will burst on the scene. We have an early tease of what is to come at the tip of every branch. When in full bloom, those 5 shrubs will be the focus of our small landscape and well worth the wait.
We are savoring each of these Lazy Days of Summer. The season is way too short and before we know it, we’ll be looking out at the white landscape of winter. Give me hot and humid over snow and ice any day!
Happy summer to you!
Your photos are so nice. Saw the little Hummingbird to the right of the feeder. I would not have seen her if you had not mentioned she was there. That farmers market looks great. Summer definitely is better than Winter.
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It’s funny how the hummers prefer one feeder over the others. This one is tucked into a viburnum shrub and I wonder if they can sneak in for a quick meal without being seen by other hummingbirds.
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They do have to be sneaky to stay away from the more aggressive Hummingbirds. I once had 10 large feeders in my Smoke bush. I would have 100 Hummingbirds at once, but they were all able to eat, because the aggressive birds were wasting all their time trying to chase other birds off. Was interesting to watch. Got expensive filling those feeders.
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I read the entire post, really I did. But, I got stuck on the first paragraph. 🙂 I can’t believe you don’t have your AC on. You are made of tougher stuff than I am. I bow to your fortitude. Mine is running and so are the ceiling fans. When the humidity is in the mid to upper 90% I’m not embracing an open window. I don’t complain because summer is too short, I just flip the switch and know that Eversource is smiling because my meter is running and their bottom line is improving. 🙂 Hope those tomatoes ripen and are delicious.
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Your comment made me smile. I’m not sure why I’d rather have open windows but it may be because I’m in and out so much during the day that air conditioning would make the hot outdoors feel hotter! Does that make sense? Now, with the current forecast for Saturday… 99°…. the A/C will be ON or we’ll take another road trip! 😓
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I see a bit of incoming pink in those tomatoes too! 🙂 I bet they will be delicious, nothing like homegrown tomatoes. Congrats on the energy efficiency! 🙂
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I fear the pink may be from the glow of the setting sun but it can’t be too much longer now. I’m not sure how the local farms have tomatoes so early. They say ‘not grown in greenhouses.’
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Yes, any minute now the real pink will come! 🙂 (Although sunset pink glow is nice too)
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All we get from our electric company is a stiff bill and chastisement over using more electricity than our neighbors. Your tomatoes are looking good.
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After reading your blog about whether to have lunch inside or outside at a restaurant recently, I understand your electric bill. 😂
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There is that.
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One of these days, or perhaps a few, I must experience weather off off the West Coast. I though I would experience winter in Oklahoma, but it was unusually pleasant until we left. I just missed it.
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