Duchess of Albany Makes her Debut

The cousin reunion/work session was a great success. Four 2nd cousins from Arizona, Washington, Texas, Denver, and a husband from Colorado Springs all arrived Friday afternoon with the goal of updating a family genealogy that dates back 400 years to the Mayflower and the Revolutionary War. We told stories, puzzled over pictures, scanned documents and photos, and finally realized that we had only scratched the surface, that we would have to meet yet again and probably again. So while I focused all last week on cleaning and cooking , the garden went untended. Instead of weeding, I ironed and starched dust ruffles for beds, pillow cases, and sheet cuffs, shopped for groceries, cooked and made sure the house was ready for guests.  It was a pretty amazing week-end. But I missed my garden and things did happen while I was otherwise occupied.

I am sure you have all experienced the wait--the long wait: I planted Clematis Texensis "Duchess of Albany" at the end of the summer last year, so it was a long wait for this beautiful bell shaped blossom--all winter, through spring, and half a summer. My other clematis bloom earlier in the spring and I wanted one to bloom later, and here she is:

Another fav: The plant is a bit sickly--. so it won't bloom as it should; I love the delicate star shaped blackberry lily. The blooms look almost like orchids.

I have a love affair with sunflowers. I only planted one variety this year, the teddy bear. Only one seed germinated and is growing and yet to bloom, butI have a lot of wild or feral, or volunteer sunflowers that are an assortment of hybrids all over the Garden Spot. You will be meeting them as they open their sunny faces.  I have a nice assortment of odd balls growing, and one that lady bugs particularly like.

 Ever play peek-a-boo with a sunflower?  She is rather shy hiding behind her enormous leaves.

Another fav: echinacea. 

 These daisies will soon reach their peak and have to be cut back and perhaps bloom yet again.

The garden looks good, better this year. The Broccoli has bolted, though. 

 And my beautiful water lilies are doing so well, given that they are crowded in a horse tank. I blogged about them early this spring when we divided them. And now look at them, a couple are blooming. I was quite pleased to see the pink one, for I had given my pink one to our neighbor and had forgotten that I had divided the original. We need to build our water garden!

Another long wait for this beauty: Crocosmiaflora Lucifer

Baby Western King Birds just ready to fledge, which they must have done while I was  in the basement sorting musty old documents.

And finally, what visit to the garden would be complete with a beautiful butterfly?