It's Blooming Friday hosted by Katarina at Roses and Stuff http://rosorochris.blogspot.com/Be sure to visit her blog and see other gardens in bloom around the world. Here in New England it is finally feeling like summer and today was even dry with sunlight bouncing off all the leaves and flower petals. The air is cooler this Thursday evening, as I write this post, and outside fireflies are filling the night sky with their luminous glowing flashes, all in the name of courtship. I am offering an overview of the gardens, as seen from my barn studio and some details from within the north garden and the blueberry field. The hydrangeas are swelling along with currents and blueberries. The Catbirds have nearly wiped me out of the currents and all the birds are excited about the blueberries, so I must cover some bushes for myself very soon. The Cat Bird has my currents in it's bill and he was trying to get to his babies when I took this shot. The baby Cat Bird nest is hidden in a hydrangea bush. The Indigo Bunting is using the vacant Blue Bird house to perch and peek often lately. The indigo feathers are echoed in the blue waves of the Mount Holyoke Range in the distance. We are in between peaks here for now, with lots of dead heading and pruning going on. You can see my pruning assistant Nate busy dead heading the lilacs, and it is due to his faithful labor that we can look out over the gardens and not see hundreds of vertical shoots in most every shrub and small tree. The forms of the trees and shrubs have been sculpted this way over the years. Our largest Japanese Tree Lilac got hit hard by the ice storm last winter and is not flowering this year. It is usually like a white fluffy cloud this time of year and is greatly missed. You can see a smaller one next to it in full bloom. Flower Hill Farm is part of the 'garden tour', for our fabulous local library this weekend... much to ready out in my wild garden. Enjoy your weekend!
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