Welcome to the Garden Spot

Although the vegetable garden has died back, the late summer flowers continue to inspire and there is abundant life in the Garden Spot. The Rudbeckia and black-eyed Susans, both seeded from last summer, still have huge blooms—and those wretched ambush bugs. The roses continue produce strong and luscious blossoms. With the cooler weather (nights at least), the roses seem less stressed. The purple pincushion, the most photographed flower in the yard, now forces one bloom at a time, seeming each the last of the season. I love taking its picture because of the amazing detail in the blossom. I wish I had planted more mums; they must go on the list for next summer, for they provide a rainbow of fall colors. I have ordered my bulbs from White Flower Farms (check out their wonderful web site) and probably not enough. Can a garden ever too many daffodils? Never. Of course, I still have abundant space that needs spring color. My husband did get the 7 sand cherry bushes that the previous owner planted in the middle of the flowerbed moved to the far side of the hay field. We are trying to create more bird habitat at the back of the property. Next, he will remove the 7 junipers that were planted for privacy along the patio. They, too, will move east to join the sand cherries.

Even as summer dies down, there are still plenty of photo opportunities in the Garden Spot. Last Sunday broke with heavy fog and dew, making the various spider webs look like finely crocheted and jeweled lace draped in the blue spruce. I have managed to get pictures of the yellow warblers that are passing through. The warblers are especially hard to photograph because they don’t come to the feeder; instead they flit through the tree leaves, rarely perching making it hard to spot them, let alone get their picture. I listen for them first then using the 300mm telephoto and getting as close as I can, if I am lucky, I will get a decent photo. I love the digital SLR camera with automatic shutter advance so that I can shoot until I get the best picture. Then I use iPhoto to crop and enhance and Picasa to size the photos for the blog.

Next project: Peanut butter/lard cakes for the winter residence.