My Mother's Sunflowers

Visiting my Mom yesterday, I found myself lost in the rows of sunny, yellow, sunflowers.

The sound of 50+ chirping goldfinches was hypnotizing.

I find the pattern in the sunflower above mesmerizing!

My eyes feel goofy if I look at it intensely for a few seconds. Like one of those Magic Eye books, it seems like I should see an image pop out.

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It's what sunflowers do."

~Helen Keller

Look who came out to greet me!

The Meadow at Longwood

To me one of the most beautiful words in the English language is meadow. We don't usually go to Longwood in the summer so I had never experienced the meadow in all it's glory. I must say, I could have stayed there all day. Singing goldfinches, butterflies flitting here and there, tons of bees and beautiful flowers in a natural landscape. The sky was the perfect shade of blue with a few cottony clouds. I was in heaven.

"Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragonfly

Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky."

~Dante Gabriel Rossetti

"How does the Meadow flower its bloom unfold?

Because the lovely little flower is free down to its root, and in that freedom bold." 

~William Wordsworth

"Butterflies are self propelled flowers."

~R.H. Heinlein

Garden Slumber

Somewhere,
under all that snow,
sleeps
the most beautiful garden.
This I know.

There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling. ~Mirabel Osler

One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides. ~W.E. Johns

The cure for the winter blues...

Longwood Gardens of course!

We braved the frigid temps and practically ran from the car to the conservatory in search of some cheery color on Saturday. So sit back and relax and think of warmer days as you look at these pretty flowers...

I like this one below called coral pea.

The flowers were on vines that thickly covered several archways (see last photo).

I swoon for sweet peas!

Bouganvilla reminds me of a trip to Jamaica.

You can almost smell them, right?

Mother Natures works of art!

I'd like to pour a nice glass of wine, grab a book and sit on that patio set all afternoon!

Can you find it? It's a little hidden. The fountain in the foreground made such lovely music.

Summer at Longwood

Took the day off on Monday for a trip to Longwood Gardens. Thought I would share a few pictures...




Got an old stump? I think this is a great idea for a birdbath. Seemed well received by the Longwood bird residents too!



My favorite of Longwood's summer displays are the water lilies - hands down. So many gorgeous dragonflies to look at too.



One of my favorite new flowers (new to me that is) - Throatwort. I think that I am not in the right zone to grow this though. Maybe as an annual?



Another favorite I hadn't heard of before, Showy Hebe. I just adore purples and blues in the garden...





Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Four Seasons

As I work out in the yard today I am reminded of the four seasons even though it's autumn. I'm planting bulbs to enjoy in the spring. The leaves on the ground are a glorious fall yellow. A few flowers in my garden are clinging to the last vestiges of summer. And finally, I'm thinking about winter and what to paint next.








Here is my first winter piece of the season. I thought it was a very fitting message. It's on Ebay if anyone's interested.
I am currently working on 3 other wintery signs including one with a snowy owl!