Summer Signs

It's beginning to look like summer around here.  The fireflies are thick above the garden and orchard.  The butterfly bush blooms have monarchs and skippers visiting.  Milkweed and soapwort blooms lend sweet scent to the breeze.  Beans and squash are sending tendrils up the strings and teepees.  Little cucumbers and tomatoes are tempting us with future bounty.  The garlic and lambsquarter need harvesting.  First raspberries and mulberries are sweet with promise.

Hummingbirds dart between the feeders, challenging any newcomers.  We're seeing and hearing tree frogs, and several species of dragonflies flit around the pond.  Bumblebees are thick on the lambs ear and milkweed. Has summer arrived in your neck of the woods yet?

Dragonflies & Dogwood

I haven't been around much this week. There have been lots of things to keep me away from the computer. The chicks and the garden are growing. J & I have been planting things. He the edibles, me primroses, some Kousa dogwood seeds, and sedum and hosta that my friend Meredith shared with me. Actually, the dogwood do have edible fruits. I've been cold-treating the seeds, and this was the week to plant them out. I'm hoping to have some sprout. The fruit the seeds came from was pleasant & lightly sweet. The trees are pretty year round, and they're resistant to dogwood anthracnose. What's not to like?

This little dragonfly spent the night under some row cover I had cozied up one of the clematis with. I'm fond of dragonflies, and love to see them flitting about when I walk to the hayfield behind our homestead. Happy Earth Day!