Instrument of Grace

GGW Picture This Photo Contest

Update 7/31/09, My photo got a runner up. Wow! I'm so surprised and grateful. Here are the comments from the judge Rob Cardillo:  “This classically composed misty view beautifully evokes a spring morning. The massive trunk is nicely off centered and its main branch seems to embrace the delicate dogwood in an almost paternal gesture. Great job, Kim!”

Thank you for the nice words, Rob, and thank you, GGW for the contest. If you are reading this post and you haven't gone over to GGW to see the winners, please go see them. The photos are amazing.

Gardening Gone Wild's monthly photo contest, Picture This, has flowering trees for this month's subject. I have no thought of winning, but I wanted to show this photo because it's one of my favorites. I took this photo off my deck a few years ago. It was an early, foggy morning, and the dogwood appeard ghostly through the mists. We have a number of volunteer dogwoods, and they always delight us each spring with their masses of white flowers.

Please visit GGW and see all the lovely photos and maybe even enter one of your own.

Thursday In Disguise

There are a number of daylilies in my garden, and while I may have a hosta and grasses habit, Garden Man has a daylily habit.  How can I resist that pleading face as he approaches me, pot in hand, at the local native plant sales?  It's like a little boy bringing home a stray animal and asking if he can keep it. 

My favorite daylily, name long forgotten, came from a very nice lady at the Beltsville (Maryland) Garden Club annual plant sale many years ago.  I bought three fans which never did very well at our old house. I guess they got too much shade. Once we moved to our "new" house five years ago, those three fans took off.  I have 6 large clumps in my perennial border, some orphans in the front bed, and there are adoptees living in the western part of the county, Alexandria VA and Florida. 

I have always described the flower as a pinky peach, and you can see a photo here.

I've noticed lately the orphans in the front bed have flowers that are not at all what I would describe pinky peach.  They are more of a dark melon color with not much pink.  Some in the bed are lighter than others, and I don't know what has caused that. They are all from the same clump.

On Monday, the early morning sun lit one of the orphans up, and I couldn't resist a photo.  I hope you like it.

Tuesday Blues

I wanted to share some photos I've taken over the last couple of days, so I'll try to post one every day.

This spring, I cut my Buddleia davidii 'Petite Plum' way back. The name may SAY petite, but this is no petite shrub. I didn't cut it back far enough, as I've discovered. It's now over eight feet, which makes it a bit hard to deadhead. And the tag said it gets to 4-5 feet. Good thing the branches are very supple so I can bend them down to where I can reach. I've been diligent about deadheading it because it will keep blooming if I do, and I love the flowers.  Although the blooms that come from the side stems aren't as long as the first ones, they are still quite pretty, and there are more of them.

Here's a closeup of one of the blooms with a background of Coreopsis verticillata 'Zagreb.'

Light

This morning, I stepped out to take a photo of my variegated privet for a friend. My privet are  limbed-up shrubby trees - Garden Man hates them, and some "experts" have advised me to rip them out, but I like their quirky, architectural trunks.  But this post is not about privet. 

While I was outside with my camera, I noticed the way the early morning light was flirting with some Golden Tiara hosta flowers. I couldn't resist, so I snapped a photo.  It's not a great photo, but it makes me happy. I wanted to share it with you.

It's been hot the last few days, and many of my plants show the wear and tear of the heat. But it wasn't the heat that broke a few oriental lily stems and left them wilting on the ground.  I suspect the deer have been back and cut through my neighbor's yard and jumped into mine through the lilies. We've been in this house five years, and this is the first year we've had any noticeable deer damage. Unfortunately, this year, it's been pretty bad.  I just hope they leave things alone for the rest of the season. I can hope.