Thursday, July 15, 2010

Birds, Butterflies and Happy Blue Flowers


Summer is so awesome. The birds seem  ecstatic
when the nights are warm and the early mornings are bright.
I can lay awake and hear so many 'voices', there are
so many different layers, songs and pitches.
On the really warm nights, it's 
the equivalent to a grade schooler's sleepover-
running around all night, playing games in the dark.
I love going to sleep to their sounds and consider it a treat 
to have them as my wake up call.
One of the great things of keeping a garden is 
to be able to see how nature ie birds and butterflies 
enjoy and interact with what we as gardeners provide.
We have a very large Buddleia bush which 
is a magnate for butterflies in our garden. The other day,
I saw the first two and honestly, these butterflies were 
so beautiful and big, they were flying around, 
dipping here and there and their wings were so... dense
 that when they passed by my head I could hear their wings
flapping, almost like a hummingbird- wow!
Our flower bed always starts out early Spring
with bright pinks and yellows and then as we move into the height
of summer, I think it's nice to bring in 
some cooler tones like lavender and blue, 
this year, our first blueberries... so exciting...
but it is a race to see who eats more- us or the birds!
One of my favorite (blue)perennials is delphinium-
I love the tall stalks of blue poking up and out of the bed.
With that in mind, I have to say I am so proud of this 
unbelievable flower which I planted last year
and brought to maturity this year...
it's called a Verbascum and it is literally, over 6 foot tall!
Definitely, the most exotic specimen I've yet.

No matter if we are lucky enough to have 'nature'
outside our window, in your own backyard or even in
 a destination journey, the important part, is keep our ears
and eyes open, enjoy and simply, be amazed.
xo