Don't keep me in the dark

At last it is dark enough to have lights in the garden. Our Ikea lamp looks beautiful in the evenings. It lights up by itself when the evening darkens and closes down when it is light enough.

World of wonders

This was a perfect summer for rhubarbs. They just grew and grew. I would have let them be but then there was a storm warning and I thought that the big leaves wouldn't survive the wind and heavy rain and so I cut the things down. My husband took a final photo of the rhubarbs when I (185 cm tall) was carrying them to the compost heap.

Just shut your eyes

These photos are not for a mimimalist. I used to be one but in the garden (and even in the house) there are now colours and lots and lots of flowers and ornaments. So no more black, gray and white for me.

I think I said a couple of weeks ago that the garden is at its best (at peony time) but I have to take my words back: the garden is at its best right now! On the other hand, I am still waiting for the tiger lilies to flower so the best time for the garden might be tomorrow...

Summer evenings

The garden is at it's very best after some rain. This July has been perfect for a gardener: it is mostly sunny during the day and late in the evening / at night there are some rain showers, not too much but just enough. The tiger lilies are gigantic and most of the other plants are thriving, too.

Waiting for the rain

Just in case there will be heavy rain today, I picked a couple of peonies and brought them inside.

Summer lovin'

There are lots of pink, white and purple flowers in the garden right now. They look wonderfully romantic. In a little while there will again be a lot of yellow and orange to spice things a bit, but for now I enjoy the pastels.

Glory days

Finally the peonies and foxgloves flower, this is the moment I was waiting for!

Summer!

Even though it was rather cold when we woke up (10 degrees), I think it is finally safe to say it's summer.

Please wait

Our holiday starts after a week and the peonies are driving me crazy. I don't want them to flower during our work week! But what to do, the ones in the sunniest places are bursting into flower right now.

Now's the time

I don't usually pick flowers for inside use but as there was talk about storm today, I picked some lilies to have a few in case everything falls down due to wind and rain. Thankfully the peonies are still in bud so they should survive.

Just a minute

I am kind of hoping that by publishing these photos, we'll get an inspiration and the back yard will get a new look. We have been planning stairs, terraces and perennial borders, among other things. Well, at least the lilacs will be bigger...

Happy midsummer eve's eve!

The midsummer roses are at their very best right now - as they should be!

If you have nothing to do

We happy garden owners always have lots to do. Today we did a general clean up in the garden and everything looks rather great.

And even some of the parts of the yard where we haven't yet done any gardening look great, too.

Busy month

Everything happens at once. First it was really cold and nothing grew. Now it's too hot to be in the garden and everything flowers at the same time. This is the time I worry there will be nothing left in August but there always is, of course.

What a difference a little rain makes

In four days our garden has grown into a jungle! I love it but feel that I should have been here to witness every step of the miracle. Now I just see the results. A gardener is never satisfied.

Summer opening

The first poppy started flowering today. For me this means that the summer has (finally) begun. There are (and have been) a lot of other flowers already but for some reason poppies do it for me.

More work

After the gazebo was finished we needed to rearrange the garden furniture. The old marble table top with an old sewing machine leg was a perfect little table for the gazebo patio. The chairs are from around the garden.

Ready for anything

Now the gazebo is finished! It was raining a bit yesterday evening, but it didn't matter at all as we were sitting inside the gazebo, good and dry.

And the living is easy

Today was a bit hot to clean the windows/rearrange the garden furniture etc but who cares, it is summer! This year I managed to change the hall door curtains for summer. The thick curtain is great in winter as it keeps the cold out and the thin curtain even greater in summer as it keeps the flies out.

I wonder where does all our money go

I once again got a bit carried away when buying summer flowers. But they look good, don't they? The cut flowers are from my cottage garden so at least they didn't cost anything.