Overwhelming flowers....

Just can't keep up with the stuff that is blooming this year. First plums we have had in 2 years. Not  as many as then , but enough to make a plum chutney. Didn't expect to be canning anything, but can't pass up the plums. They are juicy and more juicy than anything you will find.

 Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds......they love the verbeena. I kind of wish I had planted more of it. Yes, more.....

 My favourite lily. Dark purple....behind it is the Curry  and the tall stuff towering over everything is the Verbascum.

 About 6 feet high.....reaches for the sun. Wild sort of thing.

 And then there's the birdbath, surrounded by so many flowers, lady's mantles, cats, that it is almost completely buried.

 The hot orange geraniums have finally popped, opposite pink ones. Smokey spends part of his evenings lying on the cool pavement, splayed  for all the birds to see.

Today's gathering of sweet peas. I'm finding that there are a lot of short stemmed plants, so hard to get long enough sweet peas for cutting. I'm hoing to gather as many of the seed pods as possible at the end of the season.

 And the Buddleia....it is darker than last year.....bigger, fuller. I've had to cut it back a little since it is sending out huge shoots all ovr the place.

 And then there's Spencer, Smokey's buddy. Sleeping in a bun on the pavement . Oh to be a cat. Content to curl up on cement and purr at the world....

ROSES and SWEET PEAS

Coral Roses..........the roses just keep blooming and blooming. Hurray for fertilizer. Hurray for sun.

 Bloom...bloom.....

        Hot pink.............Hot coral...............

Then there's the sweet peas.............a bunch every day....or two....or three...

 

                                                   Peace rose..........bloom....bloom....bloom.

 Small hot pink roses............

                                                  Mottled sweet peas............very different.

                                                                     pale one............

                    Sunflowers and peace roses................

  More hot pink. Usually they stop blooming. But they just don't stop.

 Masses of them..........bloom.....bloom......

                                                                bloom.............

                                                              Love the white.

   Summer days................................beautiful sunsets........................bloom....bloom.....

                                             Love this shot.........peace roses in the sunset....

BLOOMING GOOD TIME...

      "I love tranquil solitude and such society as is quiet, wise and good." (Percy B. Shelley)
I think he was talking about the cool shady space that is the bench under the grapes. When I DO sit down, it is there......

 Buddleia.....huge this year....dark blue. More blue than other years. Has to be the fertilizer I threw all over. It is planted by the stairs, and I've had to cut it back so people can get by.

              Purple Lilies. Huge this year. Last year they just withered away in the wet. I think I like these lilies best....a photo doesn't really do them justice.They are more like mottled eggplant..

 Didn't give fertilizer to the ferns. But they're HUGE anyways...have had to cut them back so the Heads can breathe.

 "Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put into this world to rise above." (Katherine Hepburn)
 Love Katherine Hepburn. Not sure what she would say if she saw my greenhouse.....everything is HUGE this year..

The  Rhodochiton is behaving itself exactly as it should..overflowing and purple bells all over.

 "Sowe Carrets in your Gardens, and humbly praise God for them, as for a singular and great blessing." (Richard Gardinar b 1533..english writer)

 And the tickseed is  poofing up everywhere. This poor Head looks like he is snorting the yellow flowers.............

 "The gardener does not love to talk, he makes me keep the gravel walk; and when he puts his tools away; he locks the door and takes the key...." (R. L. Stevenson)

....And of course, then there's Spencer. He and his brother, Smokey,  come to visit every day to supervise. What could be better? 
      "Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want."
                                          (J. W. Krutch, 1893-1970, American naturalist)

SWEET PEAS...ad infinitum...

 Don't really need to say much.....sweet peas are my favourite of all. They are royal flowers.First discovered by the Earl of Spencer , way back when, in Spain. Then brought back to England.

 Those packets of seeds you buy at the local hardware store, the packets labelled "Royal Spencer Mix"....well, that's Princess Diana's family.

     They are a flower of remembrance. No wonder their scent is so heady and intoxicating.

 When you walk by you can smell their perfume....it's soft and warm.

 I planted TONS of sweet peas this year, to be sure of a good crop. I may go nuts trying to pick them, but it will be worth it.

 The more you pick, the more sweet peas will bloom. If you leave them on their vines too long they turn into seed pods. Kind of like a movie I know............

 I have them blooming in the sun, blooming in pots, shade, more sun, more shade......

 In vast, messy groups that are interesting to navigate when picking . Mostly
"knee-hi" varieties, in clumps. The traditional ones I scattered in hanging baskets and near large sunflowers so they could climb.

   And they keep on coming..........and coming..............  

 Can't get enough of them. Never want to be tired of seeing them or their scent.

THE BENCH

 If that bench could speak . Almost didn't get a bench for  under the grapevines.

  It is a great place to be. Spencer  , our neighbour's sweet cat, likes to get attention from whichever person just happens to be sitting there. Today, it was Dale.

 The deer come into the back yard off and on. Smetimes they will run their faces on the edge of the bench.  Usually, the deer are more concerned with eating the flowers.

 And thinking this place is some sort of park.

 And getting tooooooo close to one another.

 That's when one retreats from the bench and hides in the house. The deer have sharp hooves that make a resounding " thunk" when they stamp the ground.

 Sweet peas grow up around the bench.

 Grey cat. Poor grey cat.......he's disappeared.His owners must miss him.  He used to hide beside the bench and  watch birds.

 And there's always the deer. Eating the flowers. Eating the plums. The one time I forgot to spray with Bobbexx.......remembered later .

 And the knee hi sweet peas popping up on their vines. All around the bench. My favourite place to perch when I have the time. Especially after the deer have left the garden....