BERMUDA CORAL

day lily 'bermuda coral' absolutely glows. i hoped to take better pictures, but came back the next day to find the deer had eaten all the flowers and buds.

AFTER THE RAIN

sure is a rainy july here, and i'm so glad! here is passion flower 'princess margaret' after a dousing.the clethra is just blooming now with its wonderful fragrance

PRAYING MANTIS IN THE HOUSE

i found this juvenile delinquent by the whiskey bottle in the kitchen today, and after gently putting him outside on the brugmansia, snapped a few photos...

NYC TRIATHLON

today my husband completed in the 8th annual new york city triathlon, an olympic distance tri. here is his wave about to plunge into the brackish, jelly-fish infested hudson river for a one mile swim. (a 32 year old man died in the swim part of the race today, but no one knows why yet.)here he is returning to the transition area from the 26 mile bike up and down the west side highway. by that time, the temp was about 90 degrees.
and here he is just before the finish line, after a 6.2 mile run. unfortunately, the heat slowed him down in the run, and he finished in 2:31, 11th (of 154) in his age group. he finished 270th out of over 3000 competitors. go hubs! (hey it really was worth getting up at 4am to run around the city in 90 degree heat to get these pictures of you!)

WEEK'S END ODDS 'N ENDS

at the end of the week, there are always a few pictures that did not fit in with the themes of my posts. so here are a few random shots that i like:

crape myrtle through my office window:yet another day lily that my brother gave me, with delicate, delicious coloration:
the most dependable lily - 7 foot tall scheherezade, blooming against the apple espalierclematis roguchi seed head... though roguchi is having a 2nd round of blooms now...
an arrangement i made last week to celebrate my daughter's return from a trip. i usually don't have the heart to cut my flowers, but i made an exception for her.

ALLIUMS RULE

i've already covered that i love allium - deer resistant and interesting from bud to seed. this bud is home to a messy web, and after taking the picture, i noticed the spider lurking here: these buds look like a crowd rushing out of the train station
flower framed by the sky (i was on my back to take this one!)
i like the brown circle of interfacing under theses flowers

GARDEN FOOL GARDEN VIEWS

for those of you tired of the close-ups, wondering, "what does gf's garden really look like?" i offer the following:

the crape myrtle on the south side of the house from the street:the south side of the house from the west (click on the pic to englarge):
the wind garden, which i will soon be expanding, from the 2nd floor deck:
the square garden, with it's slant-mouthed cache pot:
my biggest disappointment, the north garden:

GREAT SPANGLED FRITILLARY

great spangled fritillary is looking pretty worn out on ellen's blue butterfly bushtattered

CAT & DOG DECK DOINGS

snoopy loves to eat the papyrus (we moved the plant after taking the picture) luna being a sight hound. note the bandaged left front leg from her close encounter with the fence. Sunday she had another mishap; she finally had a doe turn on her and stomp her on her back. she's resting up. (she is all better today.)

BALLOON FLOWERS

i love my balloon flowers, but the deer love them more. the day after i took these pictures, the deer ate all the buds and flowers. delicate coloring on an emergent balloon: pop!

THE POO I LOVE

i apologize in advance for gushing about my standard poodle, below.

if you've owned a poodle, you know they are different from other dogs, perhaps in a category all their own. here's my joe joe, tolerating sprinkles of lantana. "at least none are on my nose!"the look of love
"you're taking my picture, so i'm happy!"

JUNE = LILIES

my brother gave me this day lily 10 years ago. i like the pink ones best.aurelian lily - what a fragrance this one has!
trumpet lily

UNLEASH THE HOUNDS!

caught this doe napping in my yard, saw no fawns, and so unleashed the hounds! here she is about to float over the fence...and here she does just that, with luna at her heels. it's as if that 4 foot fence was not even there!
here she was under the white pines before i let out the dogs.
then, yesterday, i didn't look before letting luna into the yard, and a fawn was there bleating, "ma, ma, ma!" luna chased the fawn, not much larger than herself, and i chased luna (in my robe and slippers.) every time the fawn ran out of running room, it crashed into the fence. finally the fawn leapt over the lowest part of the fence, which is about four feet. amazing. the fawn hurtled back to the woods, and luna finally came to me, with blood trickling down her leg. she has a nice cut from some of the chicken wire fencing i put over the day lilies. i felt so bad for the little fawn. but, i suppose maybe the fawn won't come back to eat my plants - for a while.

NEW MINI

the old ford died, and hubs has replaced it with a mini cooper clubman, an inexpensive car that gets great mileage, is easy to park and fits his bicycle.even cute from the back
here it is parked in front of the old water tower