A salute to
August. It really was a good month, with more than its share of dry, sunny
weather. Also our first meteorologically legit 'heat wave' -- three days in a
row, I learned, of 90 degrees or better (using Boston temps). I suspect other
parts of the country had many more.
One week
had a little rain in it, more clouds than I needed for the amount of rain we
received. But still, enough moisture that most of a week I didn't need to water
every day. 
A
responsibility in which I failed on numerous counts. The most significant
concerning the 'container garden' I whipped together this year consisting of plants
grown by other people and, for the most part, sold at ridiculous discounts when
the season advanced beyond the point when any sane individual was still
interested in plating red sweet peppers or fingerling eggplants. I was, however;
got them cheap; and would have made out gloriously in low-cost fresh vegetables,
but since I wasn't always ditiful in watering, I failed to notice when certain
veggies had passed from the still ripening stage to now decaying. A few of the plants,
which I had transplanted into the largest containers I could find -- though still inadequately
roomy in many cases -- suffered from not being watered faithfully, which in their case would
have been twice a day, since their dirty little root-cellar pots simply
weren't roomy enough to hold all the moisture they needed.
And
fingerling eggplants, I learned, are simply too small to work in a lot of
recipes. When you grill them, the ratio of skin to flesh is high. You
simply need more flesh to hold the fruit's sweetness. All the sweet peppers grill
up tasty, however, especially if you like some charring.
The
container-grown annual flowers, at least those I housed in big roomy
pots, flourished. I'm posting one here as the top photo. The violet blossom spikes are
on a flower called Angelonia, which I've bought once or twice before from
nurseries. This year I gave it a setting close to full sun (where the
property's old shed was crushed by winter snow, and removed by burly men), and
it flourished.The red flower spikes are the common red salvia, an annual that
keeps producing in late summer.
Some other
annuals that (one hopes) have the same lasting quality appear in these other
photos. The third photo down includes a dahlia annual with an attractive parti-colored
blossom, and the pink vinca annual that grows in a low bushy clump (unlike vinca
minor, which spreads all over).
Another
August flower pictured here (fourth photo down) is the blue-flowering buccaneer flower. It holds its blossoms
well in August temperatures and conditions.
The
bodelia, or butterfly bush, still flowers, though its blossoms are so quick-drying
that you have to clip them every few days to keep the plant in color. (fifth
photo)
We're also enjoying a second
season in these traditional red roses (sixth photo). I don't know what variety they are.
A newcomer,
wholly inspired by a friend who grew a nine-foot Hollyhock in her garden this summer, is
this plant (seventh pic) I found in Home Depot.
These dark violet anemone (second photo) are among favorites blossoms of this or any season. The first
ones showed last week. I'm glad they're slower than the pink blossomed plants, so
I can hope they'll keep me in blooms for much of September. Oh, my goodness, this
is the first mention Ive made of that world.
I'm
sticking with the astronomical convention that calls these first weeks of September
part of "summer," that time of year when you can wake up in the
morning and it's not cold.
I sit here
with my windows open, and a beautiful breeze wafting in through the screens, and
a beautiful clear light, dry-air lighting up -- (and at the day's middle
overlighting) -- the colors and shapes of the natural world outdoors.
And I've
only had to listen to the landscapers' power machines for the last
hour... They're retreating now. I hear them a half block away and not directly
next door.
Power to
the people? No way, when it comes to gardening. It's power to the plants. And to
the sun. And to the rain.
And to the
life we share with all that lives and breathes.
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