Friday, September 26, 2014

Unexpected Fall Colour

Some of my favorite autumn flowers are asters. They come in all sizes and shapes and colors and wait until mid to late September to present their multi-petaled flowers to the world. This is a gorgeous purple aster in bloom right now at our local East Wharf beach. The plants are quite large, fully flowered, and attract hundreds of slow, pollen-filled bees making sure they have as much food as possible to bring back to their hives for these col, fall nights.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Yours Truly

Your humble blog host at the opening of the Guilford Art League's 67th annual juried show last Friday evening. My piece, "Suddenly, Last Summer" was selected to hang in it. Just about 300 pieces were submitted and  70 paintings were chosen so I was in very esteemed company! I rarely like photos of myself but I think this one came out just fine. The show hangs until October 4th, and for the local peeps out there it's at the Guilford Arts Center, 411 Church Street. It's just about 100 yards north of Exit 58 on I-95 and is open daily.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

"Morning Colour"

Fashion alert in the morning glory aisle! Beautiful green-detailed insect seems almost like a piece of jewelry.

 Hidden Glory, Crouching Camera...

Tiny tea rose bud is barely an inch wide, yet a perfect place for morning raindrops to collect.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Wish Me Luck . . .


I entered a juried art show yesterday, the first one in almost six years, the Guilford Art League 67th annual show. Entries were limited to two pieces, and I brought the two above, "Out On a Limb," left, and "Suddenly, Last Summer," right. They can accept one, both, or neither, and then there are some awards, as well. I'll be very happy to have at least one accepted!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

This September Morning

I walk around the yard every morning while my flowers are blooming. I need to do it earlier than usual when the morning glories start flowering. They're all done for the day and closed up by about 11am. Above, a gorgeous new dahlia. I don't know the variety. It must be one that I saved from last year from the 4 four plants that never bloomed. It's a bright, fiery orange and pink.

 A yellow honeycomb butterfly bush, Buddleia x weyeriana

My palest dahlia this year. Nice against the brighter colored dahlias and zinnias next to them.

Pink dahlia. This is a very compact bush, only about 18 inches tall but has put out plenty of flowers.

Reaching for the sun two varieties of dahlias look great together.

These are two varieties of dahlias, too. That's why I like growing them so much. For one family of flowers they're so incredibly diverse in color, texture, size, shape, everything you can image. The leaves all look pretty similar though!

The one sunflower stalk that reached maturity has had a dozen flowers. They're not too large, but the bees love them anyway! 

 Nice pair of pink Morning Glories today.

These are the colors that are flowering right now, various shades of pink and purple. There should be blue ones very soon.

Sunflowers in the distance and two pretty purple glories.

Morning glory leaves are heart-shaped!

Little blue wildflower blooms on a vine-like stem and takes over after the day lilies are done and their leaves dry up. One doesn't cancel the other out with their roots either so I let them both coexist in the same space.

Bright orange zinna. They flowers are small but the stems are tall and really producing flowers right now.

Pink zinnia and friend. There are hundreds of bees in the gardens at all times. It's great to see, but I know their position in our world is precarious at best.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

"Gordy's Chairs, 2014"

A cute little impromptu photoshoot at my dear friend Jane's house. . . A couple of "chairs" made from the tops of a champagne and a Proseco bottle. They were crafted by a close friend of Jane's during a recent vacation. Add in a flower from Jane's garden, a backlit polystyrene cutting board, and a windowsill, and, "Voila!" A garden fresh little sitting room for the "Borrowers."
  • A favorite series of books from my youth, the Borrowers, stories of the teeny tiny mouse-sized people that live in your homes "borrowing" things they need. They live behind the walls and under floors and are the sweetest, most inventive characters in fiction, lol. Here's a cool collection of their tales. I read them all when I was about nine or ten years old. I might read 'em again! The Complete Borrowers, here