Dry at last!

It's been raining and raining in my garden this June -- my plants are wet down deep, and many of them are leaning in odd ways. All the water has encouraged their growth ... and the growth of the weeds that also decorate my garden. But today, the sun came out, the breeze sprang up, and things began to dry out. It feels quite excellent.

I am sitting outside after supper tonight ... It is that late afternoon time that my photographer daughter calls the "sweet light." Rays of sun slant across the small patio where I am sitting. The wind chime sends a gentle "bong" into the air every now and then, and something nearby smells sweet. A tiny wren sings amazingly loud over my head. To my left, lemon yellow daylilies dazzle. Straight ahead, an oak-leaf hydrangea is blooming like crazy for the first time in its first five years. Just beyond it, butterfly bushes not yet in bloom guard the bigger patio, and I hear a frog "barking" in our pond. To my right is the "big" garden, filled now with white daisies, hot pink "punk rocker" bee balm, purple spikes of liatris, yarrow, phlox getting ready to bloom, and more daylilies. Beyond the flowers are the vegetable boxes that I can't see filled with tomatoes, squash, green beans, peppers, and potatoes that I've grown before, plus beets, onions, leeks, and cabbage that I have not. I look forward to the harvest.

I could never have dreamed of this garden eight years ago. I'll tell you how I moved from plain grass to this yard filled with wildlife, color, scents, and diversity in subsequent entries.