A Very Fine House

I wandered out to a late summer wildflower meadow yesterday to take some pictures of the ever-increasing floral abundance to share for the Bloom Day post, then ran out of energy before I could finish. I'm a day late. Such is the way it is these days.

The tall flower meadows are having a stellar bloom this year. A vision in my head from long ago has finally been turned into a reality. I did what I came to do.

Around back, the Voodoo Lilies, Amorphophallus bulbifer and A. konjac are in full summer leaf. The stink has passed. I do believe that smell attracted a yearling bear to come scout the place. That bear was on my front porch Monday afternoon looking right in the window at me sitting at the computer.

Joe Pye is a major element of high bloom in the late summer garden. It is reaching full color and the butterflies float over the gardens by the dozens.

It's a very fine house and a bountiful garden full of life where I am content to spend my final days. It would just be nice if I felt better.

Joe Pye And The Sweet Angelica

Late summer bloom in the Tall Flower Meadow has begun. Joe Pye is one of the first to color up.

Angelica gigas is now self-sowing and wandering the gardens. That is always my hope with the wildflowers that I introduce to the mix.

Black-Eyed-Susan is a prolific spreader and a pretty good weed smothering ground cover.

The time of Joe Pye is here.

Into A Blooming Meadow

In between rain showers, when the meadow is dry, is a good time to wander into the garden to see all that is a bloom.

A lavender Beebalm.

Purple Liatris

Purple Coneflower

Post white Fly Poison fading to green

Black-Eyed-Susan

Into a blooming meadow.

Some Flowers In The Garden

It would be a shame not to show you some fetching pictures of the chicory with Miscanthus 'Morning Light'.  

It is hard not to smile looking at such a pretty sky blue fallen to the ground.

The Bottlebrush Buckeye is now showing.

And the 'Lemon Drop' azalea perfumes the air.

On Chicory Mornings

 

4001

It is Bloom Day in the tall flower meadow and September has some of the best bloom of the year. Shall we wander out for a look?

 

I contemplated taking a bunch of flower closeups to show the huge variety of plants that bloom at the end of summer, but it seemed like too much work. The vibration of Monet lurks in the lower light of shortening days. Crisp closeups are hard to capture.

One flower doesn't say quite the same thing as a huge drift of Joe Pye anyway. The colors and textures of the big picture come alive in the lower light of a mountain's shadow.

Dusk is such a fine time to stroll the gardens with the meadow in full bloom.

Except for the blue asters. Another massive, end of season bloom is yet to come.

There are drifts of White Snakeroot and White Wood Aster across the entire mountain top. Several species of Goldenrod are in bloom.

The shiny berries of Spikenard.

Miss Dinah joined me. She feels safer that way. I have seen a coyote twice this month. Miss Collar is not allowed out unobserved. Collar can't run anymore. Or hear.

The Tall Flower Meadow is in high bloom. There are always even more flowers to be found at Bloom Day Headquarters.

4000

Fifteen years and a few short months later, this is post number 4000 from Outside Clyde. Welcome to the wild cultivated gardens.

It is perhaps noticeable that I have become a bit bored with the blog. I am feeling a bit bored with the gardens too. They don't need me. This is a very good thing for my approaching decrepitude.

A comfortable routine of editing and maintenance dictated by season and a willingness to let nature be in the time of vegetation, allows for a lot of down time with garden chores. The gardens don't need me to look beautiful. An open path will do.

The gardens bones are planted. I tinker now. New interesting plants still follow me home and get added to the mix. They must compete and endure winter to survive. Vernonia lettermanii, a miniature Ironweed, decided to bloom this year. That is not always the case.

I walk through wet meadows before it rains again looking in vain for something to pull. I find Elephantopus carolinianus is self-sowing and wandering about. A pale blue mist to mark the change of season could wash through the meadows one day. The Elephant's Foot is competing. I have been transplanting seedlings further afield.

There will always be Ironweed.

With Angelica.

Four thousand posts covering fifteen years of the development and growth of the wild cultivated gardens have been sent out on the interwebs for the world to read and see. It's all in the archives.

This is Ku'ulei 'Aina at 15, as seen from the dining room window in a gentle rain, where I tinker in nature's abundance. 

A Walk With Angelica

The holiday weekend has been cloudy and windy with intermittent drizzle and rain. I have six clean windows. Very clean windows. I did the glass, screens, frames and tracks of the vinyl windows. They had a decade's worth of bugs and dirt and goo in them. It took about an hour per window to get them clean inside and out. Adjacent areas accidentally got cleaned in the tussle. It felt good to do some needed work on my own house for a change. I can see outside again.

My endurance for house cleaning is limited. It is very easy to lose interest and I can just naturally wander off.

And I knew the Angelica was in bloom.

At this point in the growing season, I have to resist going off the paths for editing. It is hard not to leave a trace in the tall flower meadow because the plants have become entwined. High bloom is here and in a few short weeks it will all be frozen. After that I can pull what I want, when I want, if I want.

I am content to mostly observe and take mental notes for future strolls. Cleaning three windows wore me out.

And I ponder.

The number of old friends I have reconnected with this year. Did he survive this plague it seems? People are checking in.

I have wandered to far off places, set down roots and planted many gardens. I am kama'aina.

That garden mana planted far away in place and time returns to a forest meadow, high on the low spot of a North Carolina mountain top.

Along the scenic byway

The wild child who returned to the woods

Has put down new roots and is tending his garden.