Raven Ridge Gardens: summer

Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts

Friday, August 02, 2013

Frilly Red Poppy . . . In Black and White . . .

Pin It

. . . losing her skirt. See the color photo below.

I've been away most of the summer but between trips have taken many, many poppy photos,

which are awaiting their walk-on to the blog.

August will find me better situated to post them.

This is how they look now: sadly coming to an end but providing

a million seeds for next summer.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Greenhouse Hollyhocks

Pin It

Hollyhocks don't like the cool wet weather here on the northern California coast. The leaves get covered with rust, a particular caterpillar likes to much on them, and often times they will never make it to the bloom stage. Plus, they're picky about where they want their feet to be.

When I lived in the Sacramento Valley the hollyhocks would readily re-seed themselves and the ones that flourished the following summer germinated in the hottest and driest places in my garden. They liked it best up against a sidewalk or driveway where the radiant heat in the valley's 100+ temps could fry an egg.

Still, unfazed gardener that I am, I scatter seeds every fall, in and out of the greenhouse, to see just where they will take root and thrive. This year it's just inside the east-facing greenhouse door in dry-as-a-bone soil where they get morning light and are warmed by the greenhouse temps that top 80-degrees on sunny days.

They seem quite happy. And even though I have to leave the door to the greenhouse open so as not to disturb them, it's a minor inconvenience compared to the beautiful show of flowers.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Verbascum

Pin It

Of course I've lost the name tag for this lovely flowering perennial that pops up in my garden every year at this time. An online search brought me to this site and darned if it isn't a nursery not far from my garden from which I buy lots of flowering annuals and perennials. I do believe I bought the one pictured here from them, named Verbascum chaixii 'Album'.

Mine is not white, as the name suggests ('Album'), but rather more of a lightly blushing apricot-pink.

So I'm asking Joy if she can either corroborate my name assessment or correct me.

I'm told it will re-seed itself. But then I'm also told that if I cut back spent flowers it will bloom again.

Cut them back, or let them have their own way...

What to do?

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Summer Solstice

Pin It

On the west coast, the very moment of the summer solstice is at 10:04 pm tonight.

Um, that would be 3 minutes ago.

Happy Summer Solstice!

Friday, August 17, 2012

Out on a Wallk: Hibiscus

Pin It

When I took this photo while out on a walk several weeks ago, I was sure it was a variety of hibiscus but I have not been able to find one like it in any of my searches.

The petals, as one can see, are quite reticulated. If it is hibiscus, I'm pretty sure it's a hardy perennial type, not the tropical variety.

If anyone knows what this is, I would love for you to let me know in the comments.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Morning Dew on Rye Grass

Pin It

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Double Japanese Anemone and the Waning of Summer

Pin It

Double Japanese anemone

When the Japanese anemones open I know that our foggy summer is more than halfway over; that the sunny skies of autumn will be here soon.

This is the season I look forward to the most: The colors, the flavors, the woodsy-composty-smokey outdoor scents, the red-gold sun with its long shadows, the just perceptible nip to the evening air, the rise of winged ants, the frantic feeding of swallows as they prepare for their long flight to a warmer winter, the promise of holidays with family and a new grand-baby.

We tuck in. Summer is way too short here; our winters way too long.

I still love it.

Monday, August 06, 2012

Foggy Dew

Pin It

While I appreciate cool, foggy weather as much as the next person . . .

It does get a bit wearing.

Fog and drizzle can make for some rather picturesque dew drops.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Hydrangeas and Crocosmia

Pin It

What's blooming in my garden right now?

Hydrangea - Raven Ridge Gardens 2012

This.

Hydrangeas and Crocosmia 'Lucifer' - Raven Ridge Gardens 2012

And these.

And tomorrow there will be more. Maybe even that vegetable garden update I've been promising.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Deep Pink Bi-Color Clematis

Pin It

I've photographed and posted the blooms of this particular clematis several times over the years and, to me, it gets lovelier as the years pass. See more photos, taken in varying light, here and here.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Cool Water, Cool Weather, and Garden Zucchini

Pin It

Cool, foggy days are the norm during summers on the far north coast of California. Sometimes it's so foggy and the air is so wet, the forecasters call it drizzle. Locals call it spitting.

I wish I could send some of our weather to my friends, family, and blogging friends who are dealing with record heat and drought this summer. And maybe get just a bit of sun in return. The zucchini would like that.

The best I can do is invite you to visit coastal Humboldt County to experience for yourselves what life is like in California's refrigerator; where the majestic redwoods meet the Pacific Ocean and outdoor fun includes camping, biking, hiking, fishing, surfing, boogie boarding, skateboarding, and beach walking. All in coastal-cool summer temps. Can you say "today's high, 62-degrees" in mid-July? In the northern hemisphere?

And if you bring a bit of sun with you, you just might get zucchini for dinner, chez nous.

A sunny and warm late spring had the zucchini growing like zucchini should: from itty bitty fruits to kitchen-size overnight. Now that summer has settled in it's growing at a more sedate pace. This is definitely not the Sacramento Valley!

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Images of Sunflowers

Pin It

Sunflower bud looking very much like Oscar the Grouch

The underside of the petals of these particular sunflowers were much more interesting and beautiful than the flowers' faces, in my humble opinion. Photos taken August 2011.

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Summer Squash - Cavili

Pin It

As one can readily see, the squash blossom is four times as large as its progeny. I've been measuring the growth rate of the squash and it's about 1/8th of an inch per day.

All this in glorious sunshiny days with highs tippy-toeing to the 70s.

Evidently not hot enough.

One could starve waiting for this to become dinner.

Monday, July 04, 2011

Red Leaf Lettuce - Happy 4th!

Pin It

Six different types of lettuce are growing in my garden this summer. Lettuces are the plants that grow best in our climate. And peas, but they're not even close to being photogenic yet.

I go out each morning to measure overall growth of my vegetables and snap a photo here and there which I've been featuring lately on this blog.

One of these days I'll post a photo of the whole garden, but for now I'm happy with the macros.

This one is for Ruby Tuesday - Mary's ever-so-popular Tuesday meme.
I know she'd be please if you took a peek.

Happy 4th of July!

and ...

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Kale

Pin It

Morning dew on Kale

Each drop of dew clings to a small dip in the edge of the kale leaf. I just love how this happens.

After two days of rain the sun is shining again and the temps are up in the 60s. (My husband points out that there are not many places in the US in summer where one can say that.) My vegetable garden is growing - slowly; baby zucchini are stretching toward the sun. If we were in warmer climes, the zucchini would grow multiple inches daily but here, we measure their growth by quarter and half-inches.

This is the kind of weather that kale, chard and lettuce love. Not so much squashes and tomatoes, but I don't stop trying.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Chard

Pin It

Chard in the vegetable garden

It's been such a long time since I put up a post that I hardly know where to begin. On a happy note, I suppose: My summer has just begun, no work until mid-August, and a brand new vegetable garden producing chard, kale and lettuces in abundance (zucchini, cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, and basil to follow if the weather stays warm, even though it started raining last night and is raining still).

These days find me outside pruning, weeding and clearing berries, and although I always have my camera with me, and take lots of photos, they don't seem to be making their way to these pages.

I'm giving myself all the space I need to process this change.

Cheers!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Green Dragonfly

Pin It

Taken on E Street in downtown Davis on the wall of a retail store, August 28, 2010

Check out the bull's eye mark on the head, and the gossamer golden wings. Is this critter cool or what?

Research tells me, hopefully correctly, that this is a Common Green Darner Dragonfly. I leave it to others more informed than I, to refute or corroborate.

I didn't have a tripod handy when I took this, so I braced my arm against the wall and hoped for the best.

Clicking on the photo will give you a larger, more detailed, image.

Friday, August 27, 2010

(Late) Summer in my Garden (On the Beach) - Mimulus

Pin It

Mimulus, or Monkey Flower, Trinidad Beach

It isn't just the sunshine after weeks and weeks of foggy, gray days. The sun has come out to play, yes, and we are delighted and oh so grateful, but there is something else going on:

A small shift, a fleeting earthy perfume, here and there a few falling alder leaves, the asters coming into full bloom, the swallows slipping quietly away when nobody was looking. Winged ants. I saw three of them yesterday.

Can you feel it?

Fall is coming.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Blue Damselfly

Pin It

Pink and blue go so well together, don't you think?

Happy, sunny days are here again! After writing this post, and after enduring so many dreary days of endless fog, we've got sun! And warmth! Be still my heart.