From Garden to Vase

Photos by Tracy Riley, 2011.

I took these garden photos during the month of August at a private cutting garden near Camden East, Ontario that the owners tend to passionately and open up on Saturdays in August as a fund-raiser for local Hospice organizations (one of which a family member volunteers with, another of which a family member was the beneficiary of this year during the last weeks of her life). The vase photos were taken at my home and they are of flowers from the cutting gardens.

Balloon Flower 2

Observed this morning:

Balloon Flower

Today's feature will be the balloon flower with photos I took this morning.

Cherry tomatoes

My neighbour harvested her first four cherry tomatoes of the season earlier this week. She generously shared two of them with me. I feel honoured. (Needless to say, they didn't sit on the window sill longer than for taking the photo.)

Laughter is a joy

This intriguing video, "may sing like no one is listening," by silbrownfsu arrived in my inbox and made me laugh out loud. I thought I'd share it here in case it might bring a smile to you as well.

The day lily is continually changing

Although I said in my last post that the day lily flower blooms for one day before beginning to curl and dry,  that is not to say that the beauty of the flower is limited to one day. Embracing brief moments when the wind was at rest, I took some photos today of blooms that opened on a previous day mixed in with blooms yet to open and blooms now open on their first day. I am reminded of the amazingness of things -- how much amazingness and reflection can come from one flower on one plant in one small patch of soil -- just as there is to me great amazingness in the vastness that is contained within one seed and all that develops from there.

Day Lilies

The day lily was given its name for a reason. It produces flowers that bloom for just one day. The petals of the flowers that I greeted yesterday are curled up this morning and have begun the process of drying up to fall to the ground and nourish the soil. I took these photos last evening in my yard.