pure garden pleasure

I look forward to this time of the Summer for one reason in my garden and that's to see my Stargazer Lilies bloom. When I was about 19, which is a tad over 20 years ago since I'm about to be 40 in just a few weeks. I worked at a Flower Market for a Summer job. As far as a retail job goes, I loved it. I loved watching the floral designers create beautiful arrangements and helping the customers pick and arrange a perfect bouquet for a loved one. I was surrounded by gorgeous flowers everyday. Each one was it's own work of art. I loved learning about the different flowers, especially the ones I had never seen before, which is when I discovered the Stargazer Lily.

For about five years now we've had the lilies in our rock garden. We watch the stalks of the lilies grow taller and taller from May thru June, and then mid to end of July we get about a week and half of bloom time. Every year they never disappoint and that week and a half is worth the wait time! Pop, pop, pop each bloom pops open and I swear prettier than the last one. The colors, the smell... it's pure garden pleasure.

the lilies are blooming...

One of my favorite parts of Summer is when my Stargazer Lilies bloom. Before blooming, it's a lot of waiting and watching the stalks of the lilies grow for the first half of the season. Then a few more weeks later the pod-like blooms begin to emerge and eventually get larger, and finally as the pods are turning from green to a whitish hue you know the lilies will soon be blooming. Once they bloom they are the most fragrant flowers. The hummingbirds and butterflies just love them. Between the vibrant colors, the fragrant blooms and the unique shape of each individual section of the plant, they truly are a miracle of Mother Nature.

(Just fyi: I did no enhancement in Photoshop to the images. The flowers are truly this gorgeous.)

observation : three surprises

It truly is the little things in life that makes us happy, well, I know for sure it makes me happy anyway. I had three little surprises when I got home from work this evening. First, my book order from Amazon arrived, very early! My purchase was two creative inspiring books that I'm very excited to dive into. My second surprise was in my rock garden. I've been waiting & waiting for my favorite perennial to bloom and finally at last, my stargazer lilies had two deep pink, beautiful and fragrant blooms. I just love summer and our backyard. And lastly, I went behind my garage where we have sunflowers, tomatoes and pickle cucumbers growing and upon my surprise... three ready for picking beautiful little cucumbers. I had one, very hard to reach, which was actually the best looking one, and my neighbor was nice enough to help me reach it since it was stuck on the other side of the fence. I gave the neighbor a cucumber as his reward!