On a cloudy, occasionally rainy day yesterday, I took this photo of the cottage to give you an idea of what is blooming on this side of the porch: red roses, hydrangea blossoms have opened, though they’re still green, and pink spirea is in full bloom.
I planted the spirea and the annabelle hydrangea at the same time, having no idea how big they would become!
The hydrangea has pushed the spirea outward and the spirea takes up a lot of real estate, as well.
See?
I like that, actually, because my favorite kind of garden is a cottage garden, not a manicured one.
Both the pink spirea and the catmint have constant bee activity. Once I got close to the spirea, I was amazed by how many bumble bees there were. They were everywhere!
One of the things I love about gardens and gardening is the discovery. In this case, the discovery of all this activity, the buzzing, the flitting from one blossom to another, that isn’t apparent until I stop and watch and listen. There’s a whole world going on there. We have all sorts of bees around here and I’m glad they’re thriving.
Very humid today with the possibility of thunderstorms and the same is on the docket for tomorrow. The driveway and lawn are littered with catalpa blossoms that are slowly falling from the tree. Even though the skies are gray, it’s awfully pretty around here.
Happy Sunday.
Your garden and cottage are beautiful. Happy Sunday to you!
Thank you, Sue! Have a wonderful day!
I’m working in the garden, Claudia. Couldn’t get much done yesterday, as we attended the wedding of my nephew and his fiancée. It was so beautiful and there was love in the air! My very naughty difficult to handle nephew has grown into a responsible caring young man who makes us all laugh. His bride is kind-hearted and always smiling. Such a wonderful couple. So, today is garden day. Too hot (heat wave) to plant the new babies, I think, but I’ll transplant them into larger pots so their roots don’t become crowded. Lots of bees here too, and I’m glad they don’t mind that we each do our own thing side-by-side.
Enjoy your day in the garden, Wendy. And stay cool!
Your yard is beautiful! It’s cooler & showery here today ….makes everything look so lush. The nice rains and warm temps have made my tomatoes go crazy. Can’t wait to see the first red one. Enjoy this beautiful Sunday! I visited a friend’s house yesterday in this tiny town where we lived for several years when I was young. She has a truly amazing yard and I plan to do a blog post shortly. Think you might enjoy seeing it.
Let me now when you do the post, Jan. I’d love to see her yard.
I have a small herb garden in front. I planted something called German Oregano, but never use it in cooking. So it gets bigger every year and the bees love the flowers, so I never trim it back.
Oh, good for you, Jan! That’s a nice thing to do.
Very steamy here today. Brunch with the neighbors, now onto more sewing for me. Doors and windows open, fans rattling away…sounds like summer. Mustn’t forget to call my Dad, when it’s an appropriate hour in his time zone. Happy Sunday, Claudia!
Very humid here as well. You just know a thunderstorm is coming in this kind of humidity!
When shrubs grow…there is less to mow!! It’s about 70 here….no humidity and very windy! In other words…nice! Hopefully this will blow on over to you! :)
88 degrees ‘feels like’ 96 degrees. Dreadful.
Sounds like yesterday!! ;)
xo
The cottage is beautiful and peaceful. Love the pink Spirea. And it’s good to have bees! Enjoy…
Thank you, Judy!
Your home and garden/yard IS pretty, and you take such good care of it, all by yourself, Claudia; it’s a lot to manage but, oh, the rewards; enjoyed seeing photos of it today, as always. Bees were in such jeopardy at one time; I don’t know if in some parts of the country/world it’s still the case, but I do see bees in my potted basil, which has ‘flowered’ as well as the salvia/sage. (Never a bumble bee, though; just the little bees.)
What I rarely see is a butterfly although we’ve tried to plant things that will attract them, like California lilac. We have lots of color in our overall yard/hillside; much more color than scent. I remember as a child seeing many butterflies of all different types in this very yard of my parents’ home, so it’s a sad difference and I don’t know the cause. I live in a heavy agriculture area of SoCalif so I suppose pesticides have gotten to them. I’ve also read, I don’t know if it’s true or not, that (at least with monarchs) the main issue is genetically modified foods. I guess they spray Roundup to keep certain wild weed (milkweed?) out of crops like wheat – – and that wild weed is the food source for the monarch. So, not only do we have fake food, we’ve killed off the beautiful monarchs so, lose-lose.
I can recall, gosh, almost 40 years ago…when dating my boyfriend who was an entomologist…when we’d go out to windbreaks in the orchards around here (lemon, avocado, orange) with binocs and a net. The windbreaks back then were mostly long stands of eucalyptus trees (also in fewer numbers now) which would shield the fruit trees from our often-harsh winds in this river valley, keeping the fruit ON the trees rather than shaking them off prematurely. The monarchs would be on their way to Mexico/south for the winter and they’d hold up in the eucalyptus. My boyfriend would only net to observe and then release. But there were tons of orange butterflies in those trees; it was a phenomenon for sure and just beautiful. This was in areas closer to the coast, not far from the beach. Haven’t seen anything like that since, although we can hope that maybe there’s protected private property somewhere, where perhaps they thrive; maybe I’m just out of the loop. I need to read more about it.
I did read once that monarchs can make a decision not to go back to the previous spot; they find new ones. I so hope that’s the case although I think there are a few faithful coastal reserves left, like points far north of me; Monterey, CA. But I’ve read enough to know their numbers have shrunk. And what about the little yellow butterflies? The white ones I used to see? The ones called swallowtail? Mother, bless her, would always make us kids stop for butterflies. Stop, watch, learn. If I see a butterfly now, I freeze, because it’s so unusual to see one.
We have swallowtails and the white butterflies. We also have monarchs, but not until later in the summer and, frankly, I only see a few. That’s why I nuture the milkweed that grows on the property. I want to help the monarchs survive.
Wonderful! Cottage gardens are my favorites, too.
They’re so charming, Deb!
Your home & garden look so beautiful! My lamb’s ears, spirea, and lavender have been blooming and in previous years they attract bees, but this year I have yet to see a single bee…it is alarming!
I hope you see some bees soon, Debbie – that is alarming.
Your cottage and flowers are lovely. Thanks for sharing.
Marilyn
Thank you, Marilyn!