July, with a touch of the first day of August

I can't believe I wrote so little in July. I meant to post about many things that are in my head!  

I have written a few times about one of my favorite songs, "You Go To My Head". It has that magic line "like a summer with a thousand Julys". The weather, the flowers, the ease of life - there is no other month in my year which offers so much pleasure, so much pure joy. 

Even in these times, July gave so much to brighten spirits. I could talk and talk but I'll just post some pictures of this past glorious month.

First up are the CSA flowers. I didn't sign up last year but this past Christmas Margaret gave me a present of the first six weeks of this season! What a joy they have been.

June 24

July 1

July 8

July 15 

July 22

July 29 

Such beauty! They take my breath away. 

We watch Gardeners World on Britbox faithfully each week, and we have learned so much over the past couple years. The most important thing is about pollinators. We've had flowers for all the years we've lived here, but mostly they have been daylilies. There have been a few others - iris, sedum, aquilegia, hollyhocks, but for the main summer season we have been awash in daylilies. They are wonderful and are themselves good for the bees, but we wanted to be a little bit more helpful to the butterflies and bees. Several plants were talked about on the show, and I ordered a few of them. We dug up a whole bed of just daylilies, and moved them to another area of the garden, and planted several new-to-us plants. They have been a grand success. Everything has grown and they have brought in scores of pollinators.

Achillea millefolium or yarrow. The yellow is Coronation Gold and the red, Paprika. 

Perennial hollyhocks. I hope they do indeed come back. They have thrived with just a bit of rust on the leaves. 

We planted Walker's Low catmint a few years ago in honor of Campbell Walker, our grandson, but we got another plant and put them both together because it is a real favorite of the bees. It was loaded with pollinators the whole month. The pink flower next to it is my beloved mallow that I've written about over the years. It has been gone a couple years but popped up this spring in force! Mallow is another favorite of pollinators.

We have two Monarda plants which are just beginning to blossom. It is also known are bee balm. This is a zone 3 variety so I'm hopeful it will come back again next year.

And then there is the Echinacea! It has been a butterfly airport! The other day there were eight at a time.

I just took this little movie of the action.

The daylilies have been in their glory with color after color just exploding throughout the month of July. They'll be around for a few weeks yet, I hope.

One of my favorite views because it shows the coming, the here, and the spent daylily. My daughter just told her daughter it is like life itself.

This one is Indy Charmer in honor of Indy Thomas, our grandson!

Little Fred, bought in honor of a man we both loved.

I'll stop. You get the idea. There are daylilies all over the place, in every direction you look. And when Margaret and Matthew moved into their house down the road ten (!!) years ago, we dug up bunches of them and planted them down there so they, too, are surrounded by these beautiful flowers.

And then there is the veg garden. More glorious than last year, its first year. I've written about the calendula coming back. 

I just went out and took some pictures so you could see it as it is right now!

The amazing, amazing tomatoes, bought locally and two were gifts. There is one nearer the house, too, and we've had four tomatoes from it. There is nothing in the world that tastes better to me!

Potatoes. They've been eaten a bit by the dreaded potato beetle, but I think the potatoes themselves will be great, and coming soon!

I bought some special red corn this year.

Cukes and peas are coming fast and furious!

A zucchini plant bought at the Farmers' Market.

Sorry everything looks so washed out in the photos. 1:36 pm with bright sun. You may notice the dryness. We've had to water more this summer, though we've been lucky to have some good rains in between.

The Farmers' Market has been the highlight of my weeks. I've bought vegetables and homemade ice cream and homemade pastries and Thai spring rolls. A veritable feast. This virus time has been a locally supportive time. Everybody is cheering everyone else on, and supporting all the farmers and cooks and artists. My instagram account is a happy place to visit every day, and the Market on Sunday mornings.

Ran into some old friends one day.

Pulling her mask down to pose for me!

We celebrated birthdays - Margaret's 38th and Indy's 5th in July. 

We've seen Margaret's family the whole time. We are kind of like one family in two houses. And now it's so good to be seeing the boys again! They kept themselves quarantined for a few months, and then we all began to get together again. We are quite safe here, and we are all careful. I still am nervous about tourist season, but local businesses are really good about masks and distancing, and we don't travel very many miles. None of us know what the fall will bring but I'm thankful that we can all be together again.