Monday, June 13, 2022

The Longest Day and a Study of Color...

 


How did we get here already?  The longest day of the year is right upon us again.   To my way of thinking, the longest and shortest days of the year should be holidays. If you'd care to walk with me over the hill, I could show you the point where the sun will set next week on that longest day. It's the most northern point the sun will reach before heading back south.  Millie and I know it well.  If  the good Lord's willing and the creeks don't rise, we will be there to watch it set on that day.  

Things are happening in the garden.  The first of the shaggy zinnias are starting to bloom.  I sowed only seeds that I collected from all my favorite colors.  Hopefully, there will be fewer yellow ones this year.  We are off to a good start with the first ones being pink.  Pink was not always one of my favorite colors, but over the years, I have developed more of a liking for it in the garden.  



A couple of years ago, when I enrolled in a Karen Ruane's class, we did a color study journal in which we selected five of our favorite colors to work with.  Since that time, I have been more acutely aware of those colors and work at fitting them in wherever I can, even in the garden.  Pink was not included, but I think a bit of it works out just fine.  


Pansies and Nasturtiums come in such a wonderful rainbow of colors, so those are good selections for any gardener's color study.  This year I have added Mother of Pearl Poppies to the garden and anxiously await them to start blooming.  There must have been a thousand tiny seeds in this 1/8 gram packet for they have come up so very thick.  I know I should pull some out but I just can't get up the nerve to do that.  What if I pulled out a pink one.  Ha!  A friend tells me these will look like crepe paper. 


Of course, yellow will always creep into the garden and that's not a bad thing for it is the bees preferred color.    The black swallowtail butterflies love tansy and milkweed as well as other yellow blooming flowers, so they should be happy in my garden this summer.







It has been a good year for the little Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds.  I am seeing several smaller ones at the feeders which makes me think this year's offspring are already up and going.  It's hard to imagine they will all, adults and juveniles, be heading south in about six weeks.  (And the Summer Tanager will be too.  :~(  He always comes to sing at this time of day, so I will hurry out of here to go listen to his song.)   ~ Mary 







16 comments:

kathyinozarks said...

Good evening my dear friend,
such a lovely post I really enjoyed it very much, and very poetic too. Loved seeing your hummingbirds-we still have only attracted just a couple pairs, but surprise an orchard oriole pair and a baltimore oriole pair have decided to stick around, and we have a pair of doves enjoying the seeds too.
soooo hot and humid today which I am thinking you are too-we hit 100 degrees actual temp today yikes haha
have a good evening hugs from the lake

TheCrankyCrow said...

That second photo with your "shaggy" zinnias is breathtaking. I also love your palette of favorite colors. I find it interesting that you never cared for pink in the garden. I do not care for pink in clothing (for myself...on little girls' dresses it can be wonderful) or in indoor decor, but I tend to be drawn to pinks, purples, blues, and white in the garden. I smiled at your comments about yellow. I have never cared for yellow...anywhere. I think, perhaps, it came from having to pull fields of goldenrod on the farm each summer...and the ubiquitous dandelions. (I do love tansy though...and sunflowers.) When I was planning our landscaping "fix" after WWR, I specifically told the landscaper NO yellow. I ended up with an ocean of Rudbeckia and Heliopsis. I don't know what I did to deserve that...but it was too late when I realized what the plants were. ~Robin~

Granny Marigold said...

Oh my! You have zinnias blooming already. Mine are about 2" high. Mind, we haven't had much sunshine and next to no warm days yet. I keep hoping. I'm looking forward to seeing what colours I'll have from the 2 packages of seeds I sowed.
We have Rufous Hummingbirds that come to my flowers. They also like to dip into the stream of water from the fountain. I love watching their antics.

Leigh said...

I think I would really enjoy a class like that. I've always been a color lover, and I suppose that's why I like needlework, knitting, weaving, and photography. Beautiful photos Mary!

nookworm said...

My dad had a huge garden of colorful zinnias - the "plain" kind without shaggy petals. I, too have a huge amount of common tansy here. Now I sure would like to try some poppies like those! My favorite little colorful flowers are the portulaca. Do you you have those too?

Debra said...

You have so many hummers! I wish we had more. I love your favorite colors and I think I try to have my favs in the garden, and of course in my clothing. Loved your email-it made my day! Have a fun day making cookies!

happyone said...

It is so fun to watch the hummingbirds. We have a few that come around here at our feeder.

Debbie Nolan said...

Mary so nice to make your acquaintance. I as well love those hummingbirds. We don't see the scarlet tanangers here often but they are so beautiful. Will be back to visit again.

acorn hollow said...

The longest day of the year comes so quickly and by mid-August we see the sun telling us fall is not far behind. Our summers seem so short.
I saw a garden on a walk with peach-colored poppies just wonderful!! Now I want poppies.
Cathy

Rose said...

Oh, this was a nice visit. I think it is so funny how we change over the years. I have always loved pink...but any more I just love all colors. There is a certain color of purple I don't care for in man made things, but I would be fine with it in nature. I can't wait to see the poppies.

I had not thought about the longest day being here so soon...and then the downhill slide begins.

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Hard to believe that the longest day is almost upon us. Summer is far too short. We're still not getting true summer temperatures here so I hope it's going to prove to be a long, into the fall, season.
I love poppies so I hope you will share pictures when your special ones bloom.

kat said...

I love those zinnias and mother of pearl poppies, I'd not heard of those, must see if I can get some seeds here as well. We have opium and corn poppies self seeding in gravel at the front, along with some love-in-a-mist, a welcome escapee from our neighbours garden.
I so envy you your little jeweled hummingbirds, what treasures to welcome to your lovely garden.

Prims By The Water said...

I planted zinnias this year too! Love the color of yours. I read that you must use only real white cane sugar for hummingbird feeders. Any other type of sugar will kill them. We have our honeysuckle vine and they come every morning and just before sunset. I love to watch them! Good luck continuing your walks. Janice

Henny Penny said...

Hope your poppies bloom beautifully and we get to see pictures. A friend sent me a special kind of poppy seeds a couple years ago. I could not get them to come up. Poppies are so pretty. I think about you every time I clean and refill the hummingbird feeder...what a job you must have, filling so many. I love the zinnia picture with the spider.

GretchenJoanna said...

Those are exactly the sort of poppies I want to grow! I think I haven't had success with typical poppies because I don't give them enough water. Maybe I need to grow them in my planter boxes that get automatic and daily irrigation. How many flowers can I fit in there and still have room for vegetables?

I rarely have more than one hummingbird at a time at my feeder, but last week there were three at once seeming to frolic around it. I was thrilled! Then this week, what did I find in the fountain but -- a dead hummingbird. I can't imagine what happened.... :-(

Morning's Minion said...

Lovely to have photos of the hummingbirds; I can never quite capture them as anything but a blur. When mornings are cool enough I sit in the porch rocker with my mug of half-caff and the company of several cats to watch the hummers.