Sunday, September 11, 2011

LAST GARDEN BOUQUET OF SUMMER SUNFLOWERS




The vegetable garden  has now passed its glorious stage after all the cool and wet weather we have experienced here in central Kentucky. Now it limps along providing only sweet  butternut squash and tall golden cosmos. But that is enough and I thank the garden for what it has provided through drought and stormy weather.

The last of the mammoth sunflowers have come to rest in my brown crockery pitcher, a bit bedraggled. They sit near me while I’m at my computer, smiling and telling me its been a good summer. Yes, it has been, with my son here teaching me new tricks with my computer. He is leaving in October bicycling across a few states heading west – then meeting up with a good friend – where they will drive the rest of the way to probably Oregon – no sure destination – just west.


Go west young man – go west. --  as they used to say long ago.

18 comments:

  1. What a beautiful bouquet of sunflowers! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Oh I forgot to say...hope your son has a nice trip!

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  3. Thanks Darcy for stopping by my post -- barbara

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  4. What good company to keep at your computer. They are a lovely reminder of summer. Sunflowers always seem more expressive than other flowers somehow...like you'd half expect them to lift up their heads and start talking.

    Your son's trip sounds like a wonderful adventure. Good luck to him and may he have a safe journey.

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  5. Rose, thanks for the very nice words. My sunflowers were mostly wiped out last week from the residue of the tropical storm that came up from the south. It ripped apart lots of tall plants in many gardens as wind and hard rain moved through the area. Thanks for the kind thoughts toward my son's trip.-- barbara

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  6. No more sunflowers here -- Autumn Joy sedum and black-eyed Susans and blue Victoria salvia are about it for flowers -- and of course the goldenrod and ironweed are coming on.

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  7. Our last patch of blackoil sunflowers are in full bloom and will be feeding the goldfinches for a couple weeks. Wonderful that your son has the opportunity to explore west. Keep us posted on his ramblings and wish him luck.

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  8. We have sunflowers in the field behind us but they are taking some battering at the moment - my blog will tell you why. Hope your son has a good adventure.

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  9. Sunflowers around here don't last very long. Anxious birds have them torn apart long before the seeds are ready. Your son's trip sounds like a great adventure. Think of all that he will see, and do!

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  10. Beautiful sunflowers! I bought a packet of mammoth seeds and had my kids plant them, and we didn't get one sprout. We'll try again next year. Wish I was headed west - I love Oregon.

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  11. As the good friend of your son's who will be making the drive to the Pac NW all I can say is, wahoo I made the folkways blog twice in one month!

    Here's my blog so you can track the adventure west when it begins. I am a bit east of there at the moment.

    http://peripatetic2perspicacity.wordpress.com

    Lola

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  12. Vicki -- Yes, the storm pretty much took down my flowers. Many corn fields that were high and ready were knocked silly and stand crooked or down in some farmers fields. Yet the wild flowers continue to be gorgeous up until now. Thanks -- barbara

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  13. Grampy -- Oh how nice you feed the goldfinches with your sunflower seeds. I have planted for them the last few years but this year I made a mistake and planted the wrong kind for the birds. Next year I will be sure I get the right kind. I also plant mammoth seeds too but the birds really aren't big on those. But the pollinators seem to really like them. Thanks -- barbara

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  14. Natalie -- Ohh -- your children would have loved them and the birds and pollinators too. Hope you have better luck next year with the seeds. some sunflowers, like mammoth,I find, can be stubborn germinating. -- barbara

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  15. Cuby Poet -- Didn't realize that you got some of the disturbances from the recent hurricane off the Atlantic. I would have gone to the sea to experience nature too. Good descriptive poem -- barbara

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  16. Louise -- That happens here -- birds after the sunflowers. But this year I planted, not intentionally, some that they didn't seem to crave as much. Thanks for the positive thoughts on my son's trip. --- barbara

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  17. Lola -- I believe this is going to be a great adventurous trip -- barbara

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  18. I see those flowers and think of sunshine. The birds will have a feast soon. Hope your son enjoys his journey. Dianne

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