Anticipation....

What a cloudy, wet, foggy day---it is just beautiful! A day I have been waiting for...anticipating...for a long time. We had a nice, soaking rain this weekend--Thank you Lord, very much! The summer was long...record breaking days over 100, and no rain. But, you are not going to hear this "flower gardener" complaining. I was just tired of watering and not getting to spend a lot of time outdoors. However, there are farmers losing crops, and ranchers having to sell their cattle because they couldn't grow enough feed. Stories are heart-breaking. And the forecasters are anticipating next summer to be the same. Actually, we were told last summer to expect the hot, dry weather--but I for one did not listen. I am listening now.

My flowers have been ok. Many are still blooming. Thank goodness last spring I started to buy more perennials..going with lots of natives that can take the heat. Glad I did. This bed of lantana mixed with re-seeding cosmos, blue salvia and turks cap has been pretty all summer.
So needing to clean out the bed on the opposite side of the yard anyway, I planted 3 little lantanas trying to get a jump start on next year. I also scattered lots of wildflower seeds. I get excited anticipating seeing wildflowers in spring, then lantana spilling over the bricks in summer.
The zinnias around the Pistache tree were amazing this summer. All but a couple along the edge (that were still blooming) are now gone and the bed awaits bluebonnet seeds. I scattered a few red poppy seeds last week thinking the red and blue would be pretty--but I will admit this may be my last year for wildflowers around this bed as the weeds become more and more of an issue. I know I have always used way too many containers, but with such a small backyard I am always looking for more opportunities to plant flowers. But of course, it's the containers that take all my time in summer. I really like all my old buckets and pretty glazed pots filled with color, so not sure if I can let them go. I will most likely continue to plant twice a year; pansies for late fall and winter, then a bright annual for late spring into summer. It seems like as a gardener I am always thinking of the next growing season..anticipation. Guess that is just part of the passion of growing things, but for today this gardener is feeling very blessed with what is growing today, and enjoying this perfect, cloudy, dreary--beautiful autumn day.

"There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been! " ~Percy Bysshe Shelley