Pleasant Pictures Amidst Turmoil and Despair

 

I'm not even being facetious about my blog title this time around. This blog posting is going to be a visual interlude; a swan song to summer and an appreciation of flowers on this chilly, rainy October day. Above, brilliant sky blue plumbago, blooming it's proverbial pants off on our kitchen table. Such an amazing color! It's almost enough to make us forget that the consequential presidential election is a mere 22 days. Yikes!!!!!! Wait, wasn't this post supposed to be soothing pictures of flowers?

And look at the fiery vibrancy of our good friend Roberts's "Caliente" dahlias? Coupled with lime green coleus (I believe that's "Wasabi") and the equally lemon/lime leaves and red seed pods of "Jewels of Opar (Talinum) it's a pop of much needed color in the house as summer fades. And alas! Most of our dahlias have already died in an early frost; Roberta's garden is only 15 minutes south but much warmer. The heat of these beautiful blooms almost eliminates the chill I'm feeling when contemplating the possibility of four more years of The Orange Menace, steering us towards death, destruction, mayhem and NO!!!!!

Here's a small and innocent group of the last marigolds from the cut flower garden. I like to offer up a small arrangement to the residents of my dragon shrine. Maybe they bring us good luck? I sure hope so because we sure as fuck need good luck! Over 212,000 people dead of COVID 19 and no end in sight of isolation and social distancing and mask wearing and STOP!!!!

Okay, okay: I promise to end on a note of simple, glorious eruption of color. Asters! One of my absolute favorite type of flower. They're so late and yet sport pinks and purples and powdery lavender blue that I might more readily associate with spring. They're tall and wild and smell like hay fields and they billow in explosions of end of season exuberance. Just as I give up on the garden and  dread the approach of winter and try to think of next year's garden... Ta Da!! the asters explode and prolong what remains of this season. See? I kept my word and ended in a better frame of mind... Just keep thinking "flowers".

Garden Creep

I am assuming that the title to this particular post is confusing, as I could well be the "Garden Creep". Actually, I am referring to the fact that I keep making new garden beds and therefore the garden is creeping out further afield and eating up lawn. Less grass to mow! This also distinguishes me as a "Garden Creep" from the "Roadside Creep" that lives down our road. That individual is the sort that stands out in the road, smoking endless cigarettes and staring at anyone who drives by. A pugnacious Roadside Creep! I actually reported to Bob that I saw him driving car at the local shopping mall, as we thought maybe he didn't drive. A Mobile Roadside Creep: the worst kind! Thankfully, he lives up the other way and I don't have to pass him on my morning walk.)
But back to more pleasurable pass times. We were thwarted in our intentions to work on my studio floor as the lumber yard decided to be closed for the Labor Day Weekend. Maybe that's a good thing, as it compels us to spend time doing other artistic pursuits... like measure the horse for hoof boots. (It's what they're all wearing.) And dig garden beds.
And look:

With my stubby little fingers for scale, we have a lovely example of the Dahlia Kelvin's Floodlight. He and several other gigantic blooms exploded this week. I have apicture of those, too.

These guys are big, too, at least eight inches across. BIG! And tall.
But back to my efforts at a new garden bed. Something about the termination point of the bed that ran at a right angle (that you can see in the top photo) never sat right with me. It seemed like it need a cross bed. So Jules and I set to work removing sod and rocks and applying compost (the dark stuff in the top photo. Believe me, I already have plants to put in it, too. Several nice things languishing in the cut flower area need moving (Stokesia which is a lovely color, and a nice red phlox) and of course I found a few bargains at nursery centers (Limonium and Vernonia and a half dead coreopsis that the nursery woman GAVE to me because it did look half dead) and even a Stop and Shop markdown- a salvia with terrific dark purple foliage. And I forgot! I bought myself (on sale, natch) a really smashing Chamacyperus Obtusa "Cripsii" as a late birthday gift. So the new bed is full before it's dug. I guess I'll have to dig another bed...