August Garden - A Pictorial

 This is what happens when the plants design the garden display.

Hydrangea ‘Confetti’ - One of the few panicle hydrangeas that have loads of fertile flowers for pollinators.

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Here with a second one whose name I don’t remember

   Cardinal flower, skullcap and blooming hostas in the back garden

Joe-pye, garden phlox, orange coneflower and heliopsis along the house

 

From a different angle

Looking across the pond, which is barely visible

Sunflowers growing taller than I anticipated

Spider flowers bordering the vegetable garden - deer don’t touch them. Neither do groundhogs.

 Spider flowers, a favorite with bees

Zinnias ‘Queeny Lime’ mix, favorites of goldfinches who eat the petals, hummingbirds, butterflies and bees

Zinnias ‘Benary Giants’ living up to their name

Shared with much gratitude for such a place to be.

August Squatters

 

Phantoms zip by
quieter than owls’ wings
quicker than flickers of shadow
against the dawn.

Catching the morning light
dust motes circle above the hay
on air currents disturbed
by invisible guests.

Discarded feathers and bits of eggshell
resting on the old concrete floor
beneath a beam are a clue.
The goats and I are not alone.
Barn swallows have returned.