Early Morning then Evening Water Vapor and Sky Painting

Each day the sky, snaking river below the forest and all it's trees create a new painting. These photos were taken three days ago, in the early morning and then the same day at sunset, and they will show the true vibrant colors once clicked upon. An ocean of green runs before the spectacular ancient mountain range and hills ever changing in the light as well. I am sharing part of the library garden tour here featuring Thalictrum 'Lavender Mist' within the misty morning rising up to around seven feet I am guessing. A beauty while still in bud form, its lavender stems holding a film of moisture above it's lovely spread of leaves... a gem in the garden. Mock Orange too is lovely and mirrors the striking form of the White Birch. June has faded into July days, which may bring sunshine soon but for now more like a wet monsoon.

Blooming Friday

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!

Blooming Friday Happy Midsummer Holidays

Our Swedish gardening friends are celebrating Midsummer Eve, which is thought to be one of their "greatest festivals of the year" or so it is written in Wikipedia. May poles, bonfires, salty foods, greens on their doors, and much more all to celebrate the height of summer and fertility. Midsummer plants were believed to have supernatural healing powers on this night. It seems girls would pick flowers and place them under their pillows, to enhance their dreams towards their beloved. Anything I gather to put under my pillow would be soggy wet so I will have to put a bouquet of Valerian, Peonies (one white one burgundy), Lupine, Rose, lemon Daylily and a spray of Tree Lilac on a table next to my pillow. Happy Midsummer! Happy Blooming Friday too! I am offering my messy misty garden with some colorful blooms. I was able to get a photo of an Audrey Hepburn look alike Whitetail Doe near the south field. She is so lovely with her long neck, and I wonder if she might be one of the fauns... all grown up... who napped in my gardens last summer. The male Baltimore Oriole is like a gorgeous bloom too ... flying around taking care of his young. You can see more of him and his babies by scrolling to the previous post below. You can see more gardens in bloom over at Roses and Stuff http://rosorochris.blogspot.com/