instead of sun—flowers

sigh, leeks left over from last year are flowering; so pretty.

even though we didn’t plant a vegetable garden this year, there is plenty going on out in our little plot. we let it all go last fall, not tilling under because we wanted the root vegetables to winter over in the ground (which worked a treat; we had wonderful potatoes, carrots, leeks, and parsnips right through to the spring).

in some spots, we had spring sprouts from plants that wintered over and survived, which surprised us; we’ve just been letting those do whatever they want this summer. we’ve got potatoes sprouting (and flowering) all over the place, a few leeks here, some parsnips there, and a few rogue cherry tomato plants (we get those every year; i love their persistence).

onions at the back of the garden with equally pretty though slightly different flowers. most of that will need to be tilled under eventually, but if we ended up with a crop of potatoes without even trying, i’d be thrilled, haha.

it would have been an excellent year to garden, with the consistently cool weather and all this rain. sigh; wouldn’t you know it would be the year we couldn’t do it (not that i regret that decision; we literally have no place to wash produce).

our garlic patch—the only crop we purposely planted this year—is going great guns right now; the plants are tall and strong, beginning to dry. hard to believe that in a few weeks, they’ll be ready to pull. how did it get to be this time of year already? i have to admit that the chill and rain that continues to dominate the weather in our are has me a bit discombobulated—i feel like it’s still april or may, not the middle of summer.

but the real story is how abundant and beautiful our flowering perennials are right now, with all the water they are getting.

when i got home from my TNNA trip, the lilies were all beginning to bloom and the hydrangea shrubs were absolutely bulging with blooms

so many and so big that the stems can’t hold them up, haha, especially burdened with raindrops the way they are

we don’t deserve such a wealth of flowers—we barely give them a nod of attention. they haven’t been fertilized or treated in any way and yet most of them are a gorgeous blue (more so in person than the photo lets on). of course, we do have very acid soil from all the trees on the property.

our pretty variegated hydrangea is just starting to bloom; now in its third year of blooming, it’s finally got a nice quantity of lace caps and they are such a pretty color.

and then my little red one, which i’ve been nursing along for years, hoping it will some day take off and fulfill its potential. i’ve learned that with hydrangeas, you have to be patient; they actually take years to fill out, at least in the kind of yard we have. still, i’m a huge fan; i’d love the yard to eventually have several large displays of them.

around back, the honeysuckle is in full bloom, bigger and more plentiful than i’ve ever seen it. this vine is another plant that i’ve been rooting for for years to finally take off; it has remained rather spindly, wandering the back fence like a starvling, yet it always comes back a little bit bigger and more beautiful each summer. i think this year might be a turning point.

it’s really nice that the garden is having a slower, more considered blooming cycle this year; since i’m not home a lot, i get to see more of each stage than i did last year, when the extreme heat and dryness caused the whole thing to go by in flash.

hosta buds—gorgeous. another plant i could really run with. i’m working on creating a complete moat around the house from all types of hostas; nothing pleases me more than to watch their leaves and flowers float back and forth in the breeze.

and yes, the greens really ARE this green, everywhere around us. it’s not a trick of the camera. all the leaves and flowers are wonderfully supple and resilient because they are plump with water. they haven’t had this much to drink in several years. i don’t think we’ve had to water even once this season, in fact.

i’m so glad i’m going to be home now for a while; the only trip i have scheduled between now and mid september is a girls weekend in august. it will be great to work at home and watch the summer progress.

oh, did you want to see some knitting today??

i’ve actually making good progress with several projects i’ve got on the needles now, including several secret ones that i can’t share now. i’ll tell you about two of them today and two others next time, ok?

remember i showed you swatches for a hat i wanted to knit with this merino/nylon sock yarn from indigodragonfly (colorway as god is my witness i thought turkeys could fly)?

well i got that on the needles last week when i was stalled at erica’s house, but once i had a bit knitted on it, i realized it was going to be too small for the intended recipient. so i ripped back and started again and now it’s the right size.
i’ve been knitting a few rows each morning while i have my first cup of coffee, instead of heading straight to my desk. and then anything else i can knit on it during the day when i visit the kitchen/porch. it’s part of an effort on my part to get more actual knitting done (i need to get away from working all day only on business tasks—it isn’t good for me OR the business).

anyhow, the brim is knit flat and then crossed over itself a bit so that the top can be knit in the round; it will have a three-button closure there to close the split (really just an excuse to embellish it, but why not??)

i actually got several more inches knit on it in class this afternoon, but it was too dark when i got home to take a nice photo so i’ll update you on that next time.

my sea pearl sweater has been in a holding pattern for a week or so while i worked out the motifs and numbers of the bottom half. i think i showed you the swatches last time, but in case not, here theya re again

i’m just contemplating whee i will actually begin the fancy pattern; i need to make a decision so i can move on, now that i’m home , settled in, and mostly caught up on things. it’s going to be so pretty; i can hardly wait to wear it.

speaking of which, it’s time now for me to get to my knitting; hope you are enjoying the same!

remember, the time is drawing near for our fall in full color club to begin shipping; we still have spots available, so reserve your spot now and while you’re at it, please tell a friend. we always appreciate you sharing your enjoyment of our fun, fantastic clubs.

i’ve got sock progress and renovation progress to share next time—it’s been an exciting month here; you’ll be aMAZed.