Sunday, June 29, 2014

Summer Commences in My Garden

This summer's extravaganza continues.  At their peak right now I have peonies, yellow yarrow, yellow hawkweed, heritage roses, iris, daisy, delphinimum, bridal wreath spirea, clematis, cosmos, dianthus, chives, ferns, Miss Kim late blooming lilacs, and lupine( although they are beginning to go to seed as they do from the bottom up!). I am sure I missed a few and the ferns are still spring green so we still have much more spectacular blooming to go until things begin to die back in September or so.  The first frost here is late, usually not until some time in October, as the water begins to moderate the fall temperatures as compared to areas farther inland. The seeds I planted a week or so ago are up 2-3 inches!  We have had 5 inches or more of rain in the past few weeks so everything is blooming now that we have an seemingly unending sunny period ahead of us.  The comfrey was flattened by the rain, but everything else seems to be relishing the weather.

I am going to do a lot of kaleidoscopes of these flowers as they have inspired me! Friar's Bay Studio Gallery and Artists Retreat Studios & Gallery open on Tuesday so I will have enforced indoor time beginning on July 1st to plan some new projects...

I did not caption the kaleidoscopes so you have to actually look at them to see what flower is "kaleidoscoped".  Some are very obvious and others are a little more subtle.



















Saturday, June 21, 2014

First Day of Summer Campobello Island!

We get to personally enjoy a tremendously long Spring season since we start off our seasonal bloom in Sedona, AZ beginning in March with lilacs, willow trees, apple trees, wildflowers, and all the bulbs.  Then we travel over 3,000 miles to the Canadian Maritimes and experience it all over again.  Here, off the coast of Maine, we are just beginning to see the end of lilacs and the horse chestnut candles are fading. The columbine, ferns, lupine and hostas are in their glory. The daylilies are beginning to bud and everything is green, green, green.  The lawn doesn't stop growing-- sometimes it seems to grow more than an inch in a day!  I did my final planting yesterday which included lots of red sunflower seeds which I planted successfully 3 years ago!

Michael has finished his project for the 50th anniversary of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park yesterday.  A catalog will be available soon.
Our busy season is just beginning for downeast Maine and the Canadian Maritimes and the students will begin to arrive July 1st for our Paint Campobello Plein Air Painting Program. If you want to do some guided plein air painting this summer, there are just a few spots left!

Below are some images based on our seasonal bloom.

chives


columbine and smoke tree

ferns and beach rocks

hostas

lupine ring

pink columbines and lupine leaves

maple trees and yellow ranunculus or creeeping buttercup

maple trees and yellow ranunculus