Summer arrives tonight at 10:42 p.m.  Sigh.  I’m missing spring already, in part because I know now the days will begin to grow shorter.  Minute by minute, the hours of daylight will decrease until the Winter Solstice in December.  I’ve always found this ironic that the arrival of the warmest, sunniest days we wait all year for are the beginning of the countdown to winter and that the arrival of winter turns us around with lengthening days despite venturing into the cruelest, coldest, snowiest months of January and February.  Mother Nature has an interesting sense of humor. 

Rugosa Rose (Rosa rugosa)

Outside, the wind is whipping through fully foliaged trees covered in so much green that it’s hard to imagine their naked selves of just weeks ago.  The garden is alive with green and a myriad of colors coming into bloom every day.  The hanging planters of fuchsia are swaying in the wind, dropping blossoms like confetti.  It’s as though Mother Nature is telling Persephone her job is done for this year and it’s time to move along and let the lazy days of summer begin. 

Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus)

Except summer is never lazy in the garden.  There’s watering and pruning and deadheading and harvesting fruits and veggies.  Oh, and weeding.  Always weeding.

So, I’ll enjoy this last, lovely afternoon of spring.  Tomorrow I’ll welcome summer to my garden.

Hosta (Hosta)

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