Monday, June 21, 2010

June 21, 2010

The First Day of Summer

Woke at 5 a.m. to pouring rain - Caspar and I both back to bed!

At seven the rain had stopped, - a few brights spots in the sky, and since then it has been dry and overcast, with gusts of wind bending the trees and stirring the flowers in the garden.

The fourteen day forecast predicts temperature below normal, and the little icons at the top hardly ever show a bright sun, - just various degrees of clouds and showers.

But the gardens have flourished in this cool rainy spring - they have grown tall and luxuriant, - the poppies especially have been like great orange bowls hiding their dark silken tassels in the depths.


June has not been merry and bright, but it has been kind to the garden.....


Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity.  John Ruskin


To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat
Beverly Nichols

Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words.  They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of their character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning.
Lydia M. Child


There is an appointed time for everything, and there is a time for every event under heaven - a time to give birth, and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2




On this June day the buds in my garden are almost as enchanting as the open flowers.
Things in bud bring, in the heat of a June noontide, the recollection of the loveliest days of the year - those days of May when all is suggested, nothing yet fulfilled.
Francis King


The flower offered of itself and eloquently spoke of Gods in languages of rainbows, perfumes and secret silence,  Phillip Pulfrey


Gardening imparts an organic perspective on the passage of time.
William Cowper


I'm glad I am alive, to see and feel
The full deliciousness of this bright day,
That's like a heart with nothing to conceal;
The young leaves scarcely tremblin; the blue-grey
Rimming the cloudless ether far away.....



A profusion of pink roses bending ragged in the rain speaks to me of all gentleness and its enduring
William Carlos Williams



O Day after day we can't help growing older.  Year after year spring can't help seeming younger.
Come let's enjoy our winecup today, Nor pity the flowers fallen.
Wang Wei, on Parting with Spring





Give me at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed. - Walt Whitman














Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes and the grass grows by itself.
The Gospel according to Zen



Flowers are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out values all the utilities of the world.
Emerson



When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. - Marcus Aurelius


And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays.
James Russell Lowell



The garden, like the labyrinth, requires a going in and a coming out.


Happiness?  The color of it must be spring green, impossible  to describe until I see a just-hatched lizard sunning on a stone.  That color, the glowing green lizard skin, repeats in every new lea.... The regenerative power of nature explodes in every weed, stalk, branch.  Working in the mild sun I feel the green fuse of my body, too.  Surges of energy, kaleidoscopic sunlight through the leaves, the soft breeze that makes me want to say the word 'zephyr' - this mindless simplicity can be called happiness.
Frances Mayes, Bella Tuscany

And this is the garden in the midst of June - I have put my knitting aside and closed my eyes to the dust that shimmers in the sunlight and the making of stews and the baking of pies.

Life is delightful, and the morning hours in the garden pass quickly, in enchanted moments,  - even those devoted to the delicate weed removal from tender young annuals that will be charming in August.  I throw aside my gloves and get lost in that wonderful  green energy.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The garden at the beginning of June....


A very liquid May has resulted in the garden rejoicing that its thirst has been quenched
and it has burst forth with gladness!

The Iris are magnificent, - strait and true, - spendid flags proclaiming the coming of summer.

And the peonies are lush and full blown, with satiny petals and lovely perfume.





In the morning the flax is awash in new heavenly blue blossoms that quiver and wave in the breeze, which today has been quite strong.  Causing them more to bend and bow rather than quiver and quake.


The climbing roses are in full bloom, except for the newly planted Blaze (2009).

The other roses are covered with buds, - especially the Prairie Princess.  I am curious to see what the Darby blossom will be, - some of the exuberant stems I am sure came from the root.



The poppies and the delphinium are in the beginning glory stages




along with the clematis. of course...



Two lovely anniversary presents grace the garden -

St. Francis of Assissi providing water for the birds from the dear Meadow people


and three pretty garden lights from my sister Dot

And now the program won't allow me to upload any more pictures so I will go and busy myself elsewhere.