I’m not sure they could look any prettier and it’s going to be 78 degrees today (too hot) but next week it will be much, much colder and I thought I’d take a moment to salute this year’s limelight hydrangeas while they’re still here.
Gorgeous.
This bush is much younger than my Annabelle hydrangeas, but you’d never know it. It is huge!
And one of the many reasons, but perhaps the most important, for growing zinnias from seed – they bloom late in the summer into the fall and a newly emerged monarch butterfly flying southward can stop and dine for a couple of hours. They provide much needed sustenance for the trip and are one of the few flowers available at this time of year.
This beauty was hanging around the zinnias for a few hours and didn’t seem to mind my presence. When you’re really hungry, things like that don’t matter. Hydrangeas don’t do it for monarchs. The coneflowers are gone. There are a few stray roses, but giant zinnias provide lots of surface on which to dine and I will make sure to sow those seeds again next year.
Things like this make my week. Having some food on hand for a hungry monarch makes me very happy.
I finished the puzzle.
The World of Virginia Woolf.
It’s quite lovely. Next up, something a bit more intense: The World of Frankenstein. Perfect for this time of year, don’t you think?
I’m currently retreating from the world and news of the world.
Stay safe.
Happy Friday.
with things as they are right now, your post today again shows that there is still good in the world, that there are reasons to smile and sources of help, gentleness, peace …
as someone who doesn’t currently have a lawn/garden to call my own, among many other things, i am grateful that our world has people with loving hearts who leave some wildness on their properties as shelter for non-human beings, and who plant gardens that not only provide beauty for themselves to see, but also food for so many creatures (such as that beautiful monarch butterfly that needs food and a safe resting place before catching up with his or her family). that includes you and don … thank you.
and it includes my parents who, with their huge loving hearts, raised my brother, sister and me to care for the world and all its inhabitants ……… ((thanks, mom and dad!)) …
thanks for the reminder.
happy, safe friday to everyone.
kathy
It feels like I’m doing something worthwhile.
Thanks, Kathy.
Stay safe.
you are definitely doing worthwhile things, claudia, and not just through your garden, but also through your work, here at mhc, donations, prayers, being a kind person … :)
kathy
xoxo
Good morning Claudia. What a beautiful front yard you have. Zinnias are sooo giving. We are currently spending a few weeks in Pismo Beach, CA and visited the monarch butterfly grove yesterday. I thought about you while there. I had no idea monarchs overwintered here. It was breathtaking seeing thousands of these delicate flying wonders grouped in one spot. And along the beach no less. We were amazed at the size of the eucalyptus trees that shelter them. It was a calming spot in our world.
This puzzle line is so well made. They are a joy to work. The attention to detail is incredible. I just nabbed The World of King Arthur. I have Dracula, but have not seen Frankenstein. Can’t wait to see that one finished!
Have a delightful day!
I would love to see that grove. How amazing it must be!
Yes, I’ve got the King Arthur puzzle on my list. It is an impeccable line of puzzles – in every way.
Stay safe
I love zinnias and it’s so beautiful to see a fall bloom helping a beautiful butterfly on its journey. I too am retreating from the world. Too much for my mental health. Watching my Mom decline is all that I can handle right now.
hope you can do something intentionally relaxing and fun with your mother and also for yourself every day.
sending hugs (if okay), along with continued prayers for you and your mother.
kathy
Thank you Kathy. Your hugs are most welcome. It’s a hard time in my life but I am trying to find moments in everyday that bring Mom and I some peace and joy. Hugs to you.
thanks, linda.
i am so sorry for the tough times. :(
i am sure you are a source of peace and joy for your mother always and i hope you know that, too.
hugs will continue along with prayers.
if there’s anything else i can do, please let me know.
kathy
My dear Linda,
You’ve been a friend for so many years. I understand what it’s like to see a parent decline. And you and your mother are so close, literally and figuratively. My heart is with you, my friend. If you ever need to talk, do not hesitate to call or write. Sending prayers and love to your mom and you.
xoxoxo
Claudia
Your hydrangea is gorgeous…I’m sure it has benefited from all the rain you’ve received. As have the zinnias, and the Monarch. Enjoy your 78 degree day….we only made it to 76 the other day, and it’s all downhill from there, with a hard frost coming Sunday night.
I totally understand your retreating from the world. I think a diversion of some sort is in order to take my mind off of recent events. It’s just too much.
Enjoy your day! ;)
It’s too warm! Something in the high sixties would be perfect.
We have a hard frost coming up. We’ll see how much I want to rescue these porch plants….
It is much, too much, Donnamae.
Stay safe.
Beautiful photos. That puzzle is amazing!
So many awful things going on in this world. I am not watching or reading the news after yesterday’s event. I can’t do anything to help or make it better except pray. Our world doesn’t have to be this way.
Have a nice weekend.
Yes. I’m praying, offering up words of love to every person impacted by tragedies here at home and across the world.
I haven’t given up hope but I sometimes it feels like I might.
Stay safe, Betsy.
Thank you for the hint about the zinnias, Claudia. I usually buy zinnia plants from the nursery, but I’ll grow from seed next season, and hopefully, I’ll have a long flowering season.
You’re welcome, Wendy.
Stay safe.
Wendy, I used to buy the Zinnia plants from the nursery as well. They were lovely and Zinnias are one of my most favorite flowers. Their colors brighten every day!! But I read and was told by a Master Gardener that the plants at nurseries are treated most times with some “things” that have put off Pollinators as they don’t like to inconvenience their customers with too many bees while they are shopping. So the bees and butterflies and even hummers don’t flock to them. HOWEVER, if you use seeds, those problems don’t exist. The past 2 years we have been amazed by the amount of visitors we have every single day. I do all my Zinnias and Marigolds from seeds. It really makes a difference! We have freeze warnings tonight so we gathered all the Zinnia and Marigold heads this afternoon to dry out and then I will shake the seeds loose into a brown paper bag to be planted in the Spring. Chris K in Wi
Thank you, Chris! I didn’t know that. I’ll buy seeds for most of my annuals next season.
Awesome puzzle. Love it.
I too had a monarch sighting (very, very rare here) on Weds. I have two lone surviving cone flowers in my front-yard/curbside meadow patch. I almost missed him, orange-on-orange, but he fluttered back and forth to the orange-yellow flower (he liked it better than the other remaining cone flower which is pink). It was just a delight to see the butterfly; always makes one feel a sense of hope; very uplifting; and I guess when the world has, as you’ve said, gone mad, we have to get our inspiration somewhere, and there is definitely healing in natural beauty.
Hang in there, Claudia; thinking of you. Nest in your beautiful home; read, sleep, eat. Repeat.
Glad you got to see a monarch, Vicki!
Stay safe.
Beautiful pink limelight hydrangeas. We set a record temperature of 27 C (80 F) today in Toronto. Yikes! But it is supposed to get colder over the weekend. Watching the news is so hard. But we must not give up hope. Wish we all could help. Enjoy your weekend. Hugs, Elaine
Thanks so much, Elaine.
Stay safe.
I didn’t know about monarchs liking zinnias; I knew about the milkweed, but not the zinnias. Just another reason to like zinnias. I like saying zinnia too — it has a fizzy feeling! If I remember correctly (no guarantees there! ), I think monarchs over-winter in Mexico. They migrate a very long way.
As for the news, well I’m one of those people who believes that if you take care of the small things, the big things will pretty much take care of themseles, so I don’t hold out a lot of hope. Look at the way people behave on the road, what they choose as entertainment, how they treat each other if they don’t think the other matters (as though anyone doesn’t matter!). I think until people choose peace in small, everyday ways, there will be no peace on a larger scale. I try not to think about it too much, because it is depressing. I just try to do.
Now I’m going to have to go back and “remember” the name of that puzzle company, because that puzzle is magnificent! Cheers!
Milkweed is their host plant when they’re caterpillars. When they change into monarch butterflies, they dine on all sorts of flowers.
Stay safe, Elizabeth.
Claudia, I am definitely a Zinnia person!! I have grown from seed my Zinnias and Marigolds the last 2 years & have noticed a big difference in the amount of Pollinators that visit our gardens. I read about & talked to a Master Gardner about the fact that a lot of the big lot nurseries plants they receive to sell are treated with “things” to actually keep bees, etc. away. It is so the shoppers aren’t bothered by too many bees while they browse & shop…… The last 2 years I have harvested and grown my own Zinnias and Marigolds and they are so big and beautiful and the bees and butterflies and hummers are oh-so-happy!!! We have freeze warnings tonight so we harvested the heads today and are drying them in the garage and then I will shake them in a paper bag & save for planting in the garden in the Spring.
The puzzle is beautiful! Still can’t believe that people have patience to do those. I am an admirer.
They caught the guy in Maine. And the new Speaker says now isn’t the time to talk about this. But we will send prayers. What an a$$. Can ‘We the People’ send in requests to have HIM fired from his new job?? Of course we all MUST VOTE! And the strikes in Gaza tonight hurt my heart. What else can we possibly have happen…..?? Oh, right, the Idiot is still running for President between his court appearances around the country. I need to go try to sleep now. Ha!!!! Take care, dear friend.
And he killed himself, which was entirely predictable. Why did he have to take others down with him?
I’m not surprised that engineer zinnias that keep the bees away. It’s insane. Because someone might be bothered by a bee while shopping in a nursery??? Sigh.
My zinnias are still covered in bees on a daily basis and hopefully, for a few days more, until we get a freeze.
Stay safe, Chris.
Those limelights are stunners! And so is the puzzle. Love the colors. The World of Frankenstein — that’s timely!
Yes, it is! And it’s a very complicated puzzle!
Say safe, Jeanie.