A Bouquet for You

I can’t get over how fast time is flying by.  My days have been jammed packed with painting.  I have been getting a steady amount of special orders and I am attempting to get them painted before I leave next week to work at the Strawberry Music Festival near Yosemite.  It will be a wild time and I will come home exhausted but jazzed. 

The weather has been holding in the mid to upper 80’s with the soft breeze making it oh so enjoyable.  I do work out in my garden every chance I get.
My flowers are just as happy with the fine weather as I am.  Autumn can take it’s sweet time in coming as far as I am concerned, I am enjoying summer too much to give it up yet.

Tonight I wanted to share a bouquet from my garden.



Some English roses, Tess D’Ubervilles and some Heirloom. The peachy one towards the back is Crown Princess Margareta.



A wee bit of pink Yarrow which just lasts and lasts.  It is a favorite of the butterflies and bees.  I have a new color Yarrow coming up from seed in my greenhouse, it is called Cerise Queen and it is supposed to be a deeper pink.  I have quite a few of them potted up and growing well. 



The Shasta Daisies are a perfect compliment to the pinks.



I had many compliments on my Cherry Brandy rudbeckias and the Tomato Soup Echinacea featured in my last post.   I have had a hard time finding the different Echinacea’s at nurseries around here and I am considering getting my nursery license again to start getting the latest varieties as plugs and potting them up. 

 They will easily live over the winter here in my greenhouse and be ready to sell next summer and if the weather is mild I can ship to people too, as long as I get the proper certifications.  I could ship them as plugs instead of waiting to pot them up as well.

The Cherry Brandy Rudbeckia I started from seed and I think I got the seed from Park or Burpee.  I will have to check that.  I should start another large batch of them and have them ready to sell next summer along with other harder to find varieties of hardy drought resistant beauties.  

I read another blogger asking if anyone had seen Monarch butterflies yet as it is time for their migration or about time.   That made me realize that I had seen tons of Swallowtail butterflies this summer in my garden, at least 5 or more daily everyday for weeks and weeks but no Monarchs. 

I no sooner look up from the screen and what flutters up to the Martha Washington Pelargonium on my front porch, you guessed it,  a Monarch. 



I snapped up my camera and stealthily followed it around my front garden, capturing shots every chance I got in hopes of getting a good one.  It finally settled on, what else, my Butterfly Bush and remained still long enough for me to get this photo. 

Next post I will share the signs I am finishing up.  Enjoy!

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