Hello August!

Hello Dear Friends and Happy August!  Perhaps in colder climates, by the first of August, summer is starting to wane?  Here in North Carolina, it is still quite hot.  My mom's air conditioner has been out for over two weeks, but thankfully, she has a separate air-conditioned room where she can sit during the day and a place to sleep at night.  I've heard about other folks who are not so lucky.  I hope you are comfortable wherever you are during this current heat wave. 

   
  I didn't post here last month, so I thought today I would catch up on a few things.  I've been reading up a storm here -- I'm deep into the Aubrey/Maturin series of seafaring novels I wrote about a few months ago.  There are 21 books in this series (the 21st book was unfinished) and I'm reading Book 8 right now.  I love, love these books; if you're a history buff, I highly recommend them.      

After making two trips to Oak Island in May, we've spent a good bit of the summer planting flowers and trying to keep them watered.  It hasn't been as bad of a job as it might have been since we bought a new soaker hose to put in the area around our maple tree, and we have had some decent rain periodically.  The flowers in pots on the porch have required a lot of watering, but they've rewarded us with lot of cheerful blooms.      

Speaking of flowers, our two Limelight Hydrangeas have simply outdone themselves this year.  Their blooms have been a joy for me to see every day, and in the early evening/dusk, the white blossoms almost seem to glow.     

The smaller bush (on the left) has shot up to almost the size of the larger bush.     

Here in the lower left corner, you can see our new Butterfly Bush, which is called Gumpo Blue.  The blooms are a true, blue color with little yellow centers, and the monarch butterflies are loving this bush.  The Gumpo Blue is a compact variety, which I believe will only grow to about two feet tall by three feet around.  Our other butterfly bush, whose blooms are a deep purple color, is at least six feet tall.  To the right of this butterfly bush you may be able to see some small blooms; those are my Lollipop Verbenas.  I planted two of those this summer, and they've been blooming nicely.  I also planted two coral bell plants, six ferns, two creeping phlox, cottage pinks, blue salvia, speedwell, Shasta daisies, and coreopsis.  Everything is blooming but the speedwell, so I'm not sure what the problem is with those.  I had some in my garden in Greensboro many years ago, so I hope they will bloom for me next year.        I plan to make a list of more perennials to plant next year.  I'm so happy to have some flowers and blooming shrubs and trees now.  For most of the time we've lived here, there were too many trees blocking out all the sun for me to grow much of anything.     

Last week, I picked a few flowers to enjoy in the house.     

A closeup of the new Gumpo Blue blossom.  The purple flower, called Black Knight, is behind it.  It's from the other butterfly bush.   

Hal and I have been watching garden videos on YouTube over the summer, and they're very inspiring.  Thanks to YouTube, we've been able to "tour" some lovely British gardens as part of the Nation Garden Scheme in the U.K.  You can read more about the National Garden Scheme here.  Another YouTube gardening show I recommend is "Garden Moxie."  Do you enjoy watching gardening shows or touring beautiful gardens?  
I'm sharing one more thing today.  One evening near dark, I was outside checking on my flowers, and I heard a soft hooting sound.  I instinctively looked around and towards the woods behind us and saw something large in the top of a dead tree.  Crazy as it seems, my very first thought was, "What is a cat doing in the top of that tree?"  😁  Then I realized that was an owl -- the creature who made the hooting sound.  He was big.  I ran inside to get my husband, and he came out with his cellphone.  He quickly went back inside to get his big camera.  These pictures are blurry because it was almost dark, but you can get the general idea.  A mockingbird (they're fearless) had been fussing at the owl, and after a few minutes he finally succeeded in chasing the owl away.  In the bird kingdom, owls are the apex predator, even above the hawks.     

 

Have you ever seen a great horned owl in the wild?  He was quite something!  Thank you all for stopping by today!  I'd love to hear about your summer!!