July 3, 2014

I believe in pink


What's not to love about the color pink (or Audrey Hepburn, for that matter?)  My "pink" garden is giving me so much joy this summer!


Simplicity hedge roses that never quite became a hedge, but are lovely just the same...

You love the roses - so do I. I wish
The sky would rain down roses, as they rain
From off the shaken bush. Why will it not?
Then all the valley would be pink and white
And soft to tread on. They would fall as light
As feathers, smelling sweet: and it would be
Like sleeping and yet waking, all at once.
(Roses, by George Eliot)

Pretty phlox, a newcomer this year!  Here is one of Cicely Mary Barker's Fairy Poems about this lovely old-fashioned flower:

August in the garden!
Now the cheerful phlox
Makes one think of country girls
Fresh in summer frocks.
There you see magenta,
Here a lovely white
Mauve and pink and cherry-red
Such a pleasant sight!
Smiling little fairy
Climbing up the stem
Tell us which is prettiest?
She says "All of them!"


My magnificent coneflowers, growing more robust every season!

What is pink? a rose is pink
By a fountain's brink.
(from Color, by Christina Rossetti)


In fact, they are threatening to soon dwarf the birdbath!


This year's "splurge"--a pink knock-out rose that will hopefully survive the winter.


And cheerful pink and purple pansies add a splash of color to the deck planter.

WHEN I have a daughter I shall name her Petunia:
Petunia, Petunia I shall call her;
In the rooms of my house she shall dance, her small face
So bright that no sorrow 'll befall her.
From this dark pot of earth, from this sun-clouded hollow
Like a rainbow she'll spring and a blue sky shall follow,
Green trees shall blow in and gay fountains of water
Ripple the voice of earth's last, fairest daughter.
And I'll teach her the songs of Apollo.

(from Petunia, by Walter James Turner)

Have a pink-licious day today, and Happy Fourth of July tomorrow!

July 2, 2014



Knock knock...who's there?  Orange.  Orange who?  Orange-ya glad today's post is brought to you by the color orange?! (groan...)

What's not to love about orange?  A cold cup of orange juice in the morning, or a creamy dreamsicle for dessert.  Orange starbursts and candied orange slices in the candy aisle.  Orange crush soda on a hot summer afternoon.  Juicy oranges, tangerines and clementines just begging to be peeled and savored.

Linda Merchant, Bowl of Oranges 2011
And then there are the spectacular sunsets I've witnessed recently in Door County:

And all the happy colors in my garden this year that make me smile:








May you have an orange-licious day!!

July 1, 2014

It's a yellow sort of day...



They call me mellow yellow...



I'm just mad about saffron

A-saffron's mad about me
I'm-a just mad about saffron
She's just mad about me


They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow


I'm just mad about fourteen
Fourteen's mad about me
I'm-a just mad about a-fourteen
A-she's just mad about me


They call me mellow yellow
They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow


Electrical banana
Is gonna be a sudden craze
Electrical banana
Is bound to be the very next phase


They call it mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow


Yes, saffron, yeah
I'm just-a mad about her
I'm-a just-a mad about-a saffron
She's just mad about me


Oh, so yellow
Oh, so mellow

May your day be as bright and cheery as the colors in my garden!
Happy Tuesday!