Early one morning, just as the sun was rising...

... someone went out on their boat.

Sunflowers! Smiling in the sun

The largest, mammoth sunflower appeared... in the middle of the tomato bed! The tomatos are using it as a scaffold, draping handsful of ripe, yellow-cherry fruits all over it.

Strange tree

Found it under an upturned flowerpot saucer.  I'm glad I found it after all the "kids" had left home. Don't know if it was bees or wasps. We have so many varieties of buzzing things here: thin and fat, big and small, long and short.

Front border, early July

Every morning, I wake up expecting the deer to have been during the night. So far, so good. The front border is a mass of yellows and reds and whites. The various types of sage and bee-balm have a variety of scents when you crush their leaves between your fingers. Have to try making tea with them too.

I took several photos of a very cute, photogenic deer, growing-out of her fawn spots, who was browsing in the wooded area at the south of the property yesterday evening (they are welcome to keep the weeds down there). But when I uploaded the photos, I saw that she had a nasty, crawling infection in the corner of one of her huge, drowning eyes. It made me sad.

New hydrangeas

Two new hydrangeas, street-side of the shed, one pink, one blue, but let's see what the local earth does to those colours next year.

They were reduced at Home Depot because their flowering season is almost over. Large and healthy, and I had the exact spot for them. The pavers some idiot dumped on Forest Rd a few days ago, so I collected them and found a good use. Also recuperated a large wooden plank that another idiot (same one?) dumped at the bottom of Park Drive, along with a truckful of compost which now has 'shrooms growing all over it. If you see me down there with my wheelbarrow, don't be surprised.

Met the road crew on Forest Road a couple of days ago, cleaning up yet-another illegal dumping. I'm still wondering why people find it more fun to load up a truck with their garbage/boat/leaves/treetrimmings/etc/etc/etc., and spend time, gas/petrol and energy dumping it here, than putting it in the street in front of their own home and having the town collect it. Makes no sense whatsoever to me.

... and waspish behaviour

Wasps, bees, and insects of all sorts love these thistle-like flowers. They are so intent on collecting the nectar, they don't notice or bother humans nearby.

Flying dragons

Dragonflies like the tree-like hydrangea

Egrets have families too

About six babies!

Daylily show

All so pretty! But I now have purple hands from deadheading the purple ones. Daylily dye. Who knew?

All fall down!

Had to bring several of the gladioli indoors, they fell down in the hot humid breeze yesterday. So I am enjoying their beauty in the house.

Mystery plant in flower

It's over five feet tall, the leaves are large and soft, and the center of each flower is sort-of "hairy". I still don't know its name, but it is a nice addition to the garden.

Ospreys

That is a fish underneath, like a pontoon on a sea-plane

Early-morning Saturday

Mackerel sky swimming away slowly south. Hazy white bay. Five little WW2-like planes propelling their way east, following the barrier island. Calm but vocal birds: crackly redwing blackbirds, catbird, martens. The mockingbirds are no longer crazy, they must be too occupied filling tiny beaks.

Yesterday two ospreys rode thermals above the house: one had a silver fish, face-forwards, in it's grasp, but still sailed around and around, higher and higher in the warm air.

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For anyone who doesn't believe I have an ocean view

Boat sailing by at low tide.

Is it a weed, or not?

This "little" gem has been growing at the front of the house for a couple of months or so. I have no idea what it is, or where it came from. I thought it might be a weed, but it looked strong and sculptural, so it stayed. Now it's about five feet tall, with clusters of slow-growing flower buds, a couple of which are starting to show yellow petals.

I know I bought something that they called a "teddybear plant" a couple of years ago at the perennial sale outside the school, but the deer ate it down to the ground a couple of days later. I don't think this is it.

The leaves are large, tear-shaped, not shiny, not hairy, green-as-grass.

Going on the theory that a weed is just a plant growing where you don't want it to grow, this one is staying where it is--even if it might be labelled such elsewhere. Maybe someone knows its name?

Living sparks?

Can't have a garden without crocosmia. Or hydrangea. Or daylilies, irises, nastursiums, salvia, bee balm, roses, clematis... you get the point.

Summer is green

Phragmites. Already about six feet tall. Nice green privacy screen, but I wish they would stop invading my flowers.