We grow closer to the cusp of Summer

When there's new growth bursting out all over,

everything fresh, green and flourishing,

the plants are little rockets of success

going off every time you look at them! Jacquiline  Heriteau

Before I even press the little red button to set the coffee perking in the morning

I open the back door to the sun room.

Callie runs out ahead of me

through her little cat door, 

and I open the door to the deck and look around me with delight!

Well, most mornings, - we have had a run of really pleasant weather...

warm in the daytime, cool at night, blue skies scattered with

beautiful white clouds (as I will show you)

and a great  green explosion in the garden!!!!!

Occasionally the bucket under the eaves trough is full of water,

indicating a night-time shower, and small drops

may still remain on the leaves and the blossoms.

I scurry in to turn on the coffee, to wash my face and don a robe,

and when the coffee is done we are out back for the

first cup of the day, and morning inspection.....

Oh look, the delphiniums have grown another six inches

and they tower over the newly opened peonies and iris, 

which in turn have crowded the blue flowered monarda

 and the white  bleeding heart.

Every plant is three times larger than it was last year,

and of course I should have realized this would happen 

(as they thrive on the compost)

and been more of a minimalist when I first planted this small space.

Somewhere in there the Bee Balm has reached three feet

and I see that a branch of the Mister Lincoln Rose

has snaked through the undergrowth and come up 

in the midst of a peony!!

The small Bridal Flower shrub that I bought for our 65th anniversary

has suddenly burgeoned into  a full grown bush

and will have to be moved elsewhere!!

Oh dear, oh dear - I feel Charles shaking his head

and admonishing me,  and I say in reply 'I know, love, but, but........

I will enjoy all these glorious summer flowers 

and attend to the situation in the fall.

Here are some pictures.......

and then of course, there are all the pots of annuals and veggies

which I will save for another post!!!

But here is the lovely summery sky!!!

May has been marvelous and I open my arms to June.

"Oh, that it were with me

As with the flower'

Blooming on its own tree

For butterfly and bee

Its summer morns:

That I might bloom mine hour

A rose in spite of thorns.

Oh that my work were done

As birds that soar

Rejoicing in the sun:

That when my time is run

And daylight too,

I so might rest once more

Cool with refreshing dew."

Christina Rosetti, A Summer Wish, 1880

The Trembling Aspen

ABC Wednesday
May 28th, 2014

The letter is T, for the Trembling Aspen, 

sometimes called the quaking aspen, 

but I like Trembling much better.  

The Aspen has nothing to fear and quake about, 

but much to bring on a delicate spell of trembling with delight 

- a slight breeze, a bit of sunshine to turn her lovely round leaves into golden coins!

One of my favourite trees.

In spring it has a lovely woolly catkin

In  summer it rustles a small song and shimmers in the
aspen groves as the 

 winds move through the straight white trunks.

Autumn turns the leaves golden 

and paints large gleaming expanses or colourful waterfalls in the hills

 where this deciduous tree is most at home.

These aspen (below) along the road to Penticton are more of an ecru colour (and have been photoshopped, which probably accounts for the darker colour of the trunks)

Here is a lovely young grove of trembling aspen that we passed just before we came upon 

The Columns (which trip I will tell you about soon!)

High in the hills they had not yet leafed out

but stood white and ghostly around

a small waterfall and stream.

Beautiful - they reached out and clutched at the heart!!

For more wonderful Ts do trip over here to ABC Wednesday

where Roger and Denise have some terribly trendy

or totally traditional treats for you.