Friday, August 13, 2010

Savoring--Summer Flowers, Indoors and Out

For us, appreciating nature's beauty is an essential element of creative everyday life. We also love the trees and plants in our own yard and the birds and animals that come around. My husband particularly likes gardening and growing flowering plants--luckily for me. I like bringing flowers indoors, but didn't have the right kinds of plants in the yard for it. So this spring, we chose a spot to plant a cutting garden.
Because we are committed to planting North Florida natives as much as possible, and because this is a unique ecosystem--not tropical, and yet not friendly to many of the flowers we knew from other parts of the country--it has been a learning experience. We presently have mostly yellow and purple flowers, with some reds (the colors I wanted for bringing into our home).
So, here is a quick look at our cutting garden in its very first season and at a modest bouquet I gathered to celebrate our return from a couple of weeks away. I am glad to be back to blogging and apologize for the gap in postings. Even though I had two posts written in advance to post automatically while we visited relatives, more time has passed than I intended. I also hope to get back to a more regular schedule of visiting all your blogs soon. It seems to be a slow season for blogging in general with fewer visitors coming around than in the spring. Hope you are all enjoying a fine summer (at least those of you in the Northern Hemisphere; I need to remember that some of you are looking toward spring's approach :>).
Question of the day: How is your summer going? For those of you who blog, has this been a busy or a quiet season in blogland?

8 comments:

  1. I love flowers both in the garden and indoors and I miss having a place to dig in. As much as I hate moving, I am considering doing so in order to have a place where I have one again.

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  2. With no vacations hampering me and still having electricity, blogging hasn't suffered much in my hands. My art, however, has slowed down. Too much stress and worry in life right now to allow me to sit quietly and paint. I try, but maybe give a piece ten or fifteen minutes before anxiety takes hold once again.

    Love the beautiful bouquet and the cutting garden is just fabulous (and what a great idea)!

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  3. thank you for visiting my blog! yours is just lovely...i am a big tree person too!!!!
    you will become one of my
    to follow
    persons!

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  4. Hey Joan, it's good to hear from the Southern Hemisphere :>). Actually, the real treat is hearing from you; thank you for visiting and commenting. Like you, my husband would be lost without a place to dig. I am happy simply to enjoy the fruits of his labors.

    You are a very faithful blogger and friend to other bloggers, Sherry. I am always grateful for your interest and support. I keep you and your situation in my thoughts and prayers.

    You are most welcome, Mar--I enjoyed visiting your blog and will be back. It seems to me that most of the creative people I know are also in tune with nature--not a coincidence, in my opinion.

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  5. I'm glad that you and your husband favor native plants. I've been struggling lately with some of my earlier choices of plants--before I learned what was naughty or nice for Florida. Your bouquet is lovely. I think I see a coneflower, but what are the others?

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  6. bringing flowers indoors always give a happy atmosphere inside the house. :)

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  7. Hey, W2W, great to hear from you. In the bouquet, the tallest purplish spikes are a variety of salvia, and the bright red-violet clusters in the front are verbena homestead, which is really taking off in this heat (but has fewer blooms than in June). We don't remember the name of the the yellow flower that looks a bit like a coneflower, but Mark will try to find out when he volunteers in a demonstration garden tomorrow.

    You are so right, Cher! You must have amazing flowers where you are. Thanks for visiting. Did you know that your profile doesn't link to your blog? It has been difficult to visit lately.

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  8. Whoops, I am wrong, Cher--got to your blog just fine this time. I think I had trouble going from your thumbnail on my follower list, but clicking on your name above brought up your profile and links to your blog. And wow, I thought your photos of your home region in Singapore were lovely, but your Bintan Island vacation photos are breathtaking!

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