Double Delight, Frederic Mistral and Chrysanthemums Welcome September With Me

It's becoming a lovely Autumn.

Double Delight is glorious this September.

The fragrances of Double Delight and Frederic Mistral please me to no end.

Frederic Mistral manages a few fluffy blooms.

My little chrysanthemum bed is awakening.

Chrysanthemum plants that I have raised from cuttings explode all over the yard on this glorious September morning.

This is such a lovely time of year.

Further Flowery Reading ...

Here are links to a few of my recently published articles for you to enjoy!

Clematis H. F. Young growing up through a climbing miniature Jeane la Joie rose.

Ground Cover Plants for Under Roses

How to Combine Roses and Clematis

Ideas for Outdoor Planters

Use of Rosemary Bushes in Landscaping

Baby Blanket rose.

Life and Light in the Summer Garden

Water, nectar and pollen welcome beneficial insects to our high-desert garden.

The monsoon rains skirt around us with few exceptions, leaving the surrounding area gasping in dust. I and the hose supply our garden and its dependent creatures with a steady, though expensive, supply of necessary moisture in our verdant little pocket.  

Somewhere, a batch of honey will be flavored with David Austin's Heritage rose.

David Austin's Ambridge Rose is a generous host for this most-welcome ladybug.

And so, the busy hum and buzz of life carries on. A host of beneficial insects, like happy children blissfully unaware of the efforts their elders make for their comfort and survival, return my efforts with a healthy, life-filled garden.

A rapidly blowing Buck rose Quietness bloom makes a cushy pollen depot for a foraging bee. Wouldn't you just love to curl up in such a spot?

A painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) on a purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) opens her wings to the moist, late-afternoon air.

A male sweat bee (Agapostemon sp.)  shows off his dandy cloths and a shapely, pollen-heavy leg.

Bright yellow bumblebees (Bombus spp.) decorate the garden beds with baubles of fuzzy flying color.

I find pleasure in providing the venue for a vibrant microcosm where bees, butterflies and an astounding array of living creatures find forage and shelter.  

 (You may click to enlarge the above photos.)


 Visit my garden insectary articles elsewhere on the Web:


A Garden Haven for Beneficial Insects

The Best Herbs to Grow for Attracting Honey Bees

Vines for Bees

June Has Arrived

Clematis x jackmanii among the Virginia  creeper offers a shy welcome to the back garden. A baby Japanese maple 'Garnet' peeks around the corner, and  two mature Quietness rose bushes unabashedly brighten the back fence.

The wind and dust have settled, and the garden breathes relief. June opens with its usual smiling dress of freshness and bright verdure. 

Yellow and white miniature roses seem to dance in their Osteospermum jucundum 'Purple Mountain' skirt. These cold-tolerant African daisies are cheery, carefree early-summer bloomers.

My innocent anticipation of roses, color and light under a dreamy blue sky stirs with little regard to an alternate reality involving rapacious grasshoppers and greedy weeds. I wander among the roses as a restless, awakening dreamer would stretch in the dawning comfort of luxurious silken sheets.

I photographed a few of the roses that join with me in welcoming this lovely June.

Jude the Obscure, lovely, fragrant and stingy as ever, deigns to wink at me from behind his ragged leaves.

Abraham Darby, still a bit shaken from late May's horrific dust storm, recovers with a brave and brilliant glow.

I am not the only one in the garden finding Fredric Mistral irresistible.

David Austin's Heritage is ivory pink in its warm, sunny spot on a south-facing wall.

You may click to enlarge the above photos.

June Comes Early

It's only late May and everyone among our roses is pushing, stretching and opening buds as if there is no June ahead, ignoring the punishing winds and sand storms that keep us cowardly humans indoors. 

Rare morning peace in the garden

It's almost a cruel joke that the loveliest time of year is rushing past so quickly on wings of dirt, sand and dust, making a quiet garden respite nearly impossible. I managed to snap a few early morning shots before today's predicted biggest wind storm yet takes over our lives for the next 36 hours. 

Frederic Mistral, aka The Children's Rose

Frederic Mistral's deeply-fragrant blooms take me back to elusive and comforting childhood vignettes featuring great aunts and rose-scented soaps and oils.

Teasing Georgia rose

Teasing Georgia glows in the morning light.

Prairie Star rose

Prairie Star is delightfully perky and peachy, obviously relishing the sprinkler's bounty.

Royal Wedding rose

Royal Wedding's first flush delights me no end.

Seminole Wind rose, aka Rosarium Uetersen 

Seminole Wind, next to a favorite morning-coffee chair, puts on his first real show since joining our garden last year.

Quietness rose

Quietness never disappoints us, her delicate-looking blossoms taking a whipping in a wind that began rousing with the sun. 

Quietness rose bush and company

Quietness rose's first flush of 2012

Abraham Darby rose bush

Abraham Darby wants to ball up, but manages a brave show none-the-less.

Abraham Darby rose

The garden by late afternoon

As expected, the day deteriorated into a dirty, dusty mess. My poor roses!


You may click to enlarge the above photos.

The Summer Cometh

Summer rapidly approaches; the garden sings with delight.

I enjoy watching a sweet hummer through my kitchen window.

Everything lovely and alive stretches toward the sun and sky.

Helianthemum and Salvia 'Purple Rain' glow in the morning light.

The Madam Julia Correvon clematis shows off her rich, wine-red blossoms in an extravagant burst of generosity; I adore her.

Quietness, her delicate pink, fragile-looking blossoms deceptively resilient, glows in the extraordinarily hot weather. 

Shrugging off yesterday's dusty violence, Quietness carries on.

Summer verdure restores its place in the serene morning after.

Summer, glorious summer, lies ahead.

A Sun-Kissed Morning Begins a Beautiful Day

My young white trio: two Bradford pear trees and a Black Tartarian cherry tree glisten in the morning light and chill.

Mornings in my garden this week were bright and cold, with a kiss of color and sunlight brushing the flowering trees.

The cherry tree is brilliant against a clear, bright sky.

Afternoons breeze through, sometimes with dust; at other times the wind feels colder than the sunlight would suggest.

The warm spring allowed my young Burkwood viburnum to bloom. The fragrance is divine and I adore seeing the pink buds opening to pure white, simple blossoms.

I managed to get my little rosebushes from Heirloom Roses planted. My dear friend Sarah Z. treated me to three roses that I was anxious to have. 

My three new babies patiently await.

My previous experiment with Ebb Tide ended prematurely; I believe I planted it too early in the season. I am hoping that this time the roots will have a chance to grow and become well secured in their new home before the season is out. 

Ebb Tide has a roomy new home in front of a rather winter-ravaged Ambridge Rose and next to Cl. America.

I love Moonlight Scentsation so much that I chose another to keep it company.

Moonlight Scentsation poses before settling into a new home.

I ordered Jean Kenneally -- I am fascinated by the idea of growing the highest rated rose ever -- but they sent Cl. Jeanne Lajoie by mistake. I already have several Jeanne Lajoie; charming as she is, I don't need another. I did manage to find a spot for her, and the good, service-oriented folks at Heirloom Roses are graciously sending my Jean Kenneally along soon. 

Fragrant crabapple blossoms scent the afternoon.

Evening quietly closes another  happy spring day in the garden.