Summer Fireworks

Asclepias incarnata, milkweed

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What a wondrous sight when the nighttime sky is painted with moving light.  We love watching fireworks. 

Out of doors in a warm, humid summer night; listening to music; enjoying a light picnic with friends, sets the perfect mood for a fireworks show.

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Meteorological fireworks passed around us last night a few hours ahead of our Williamsburg fireworks.

Strong thunderstorms and heavy rain threatened all evening.  We stayed in and watched the shows broadcast from Washington DC and New York.

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Hydrangea, ‘Ruby Slippers’

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We enjoyed the spectacles in comfort, still listening to the distant booms of our local fireworks filling the sky in a break between showers..

The is air is filled with distant booms again tonight; low rumbles threatening from south of the James River.

Another huge thunderstorm is struggling to stretch northeastwards this evening.  It stalls at the river’s bank, contained by this beautiful river.

Another summer night fills with rain, running into creeks and falling on our spongy ground.

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Yucca grows near a new bed of Colocasia

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Yet the sun greeted us this morning, coaxing clouds of steam up from pavement and lawn.

The roses were still covered in water droplets as I trimmed back spent flowers riddled with shiny green beetles.

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The morning air shimmered to a soundtrack of hungry bees buzzing around their breakfast feast.  Bright dragonflies and damselflies swooped from shrub to shrub, pausing only seconds before taking off again.

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I made the tour of the garden, clippers and camera both close at hand.  A large bucket half filled with soapy, Borax laced  water went with me, ready to swallow those sadly eaten flowers and their still munching attackers.

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Someone ate the petals away from this Echinacea, but the bees don’t mind. The crown is still filled with rich nectar.

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Summer’s sweet fragrances filled the air: warm roses, crushed mint, sweet grass and damp soil.

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I am interested in a different sort of fireworks this morning.  

So many of mid-summer’s flowers echo the rockets and starbursts of last night’s spectacle.

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Hundreds of tiny flowers cluster together, a welcoming committee laying a buffet for their hungry visitors.

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There is power in numbers, always.  Each tiny nectar filled flower humbly takes its place somewhere in the mass of flowers.  But opening together,  their invitation is clear.

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July is the rising crescendo of each year’s floral fireworks spectacular.

Still months from the finale, the intensity of sound and smell and sight grow daily.  Such energy!  Such variety!

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We have neared the far edge of Solstice.  Our daylight will grow shorter by a second or two each day, starting tomorrow.

Soon we’ll feel that our slide back down the slope towards shorter, cooler days and longer nights.

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Crepe Myrtle begins to bloom in our garden, and will fill the garden with flowers until early September.

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But not yet.  No, we are still at the top of the wheel of the year, looking across our gardens filled with color and life.

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It is summer, and even our night time skies are painted with phosphorescent gardens of bright, neon-hued light.

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Summer, and the garden nearly bursts with pent up energy. 

As above, so below….

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Woodland Gnome 2015

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About woodlandgnome

Lifelong teacher and gardener.

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