Lush Growth of Flowers

I've been away from home for most of the past month due to both happy and sad family events. Those topics are for another post. This is about my flowers.

I didn't expect to see the lush growth and explosion of blooms that were so evident when I got back home. The plants had been watered as necessary and the temperatures were high while I was gone. All the plants, petunias, pansies, impatiens, as well as some mystery plants, were in their colorful glory. All the lobelia had died from the heat.

When I am home, I faithfully "dead-head" all my flowering plants, believing that if I don't do this, they won't make more flowers. But apparently being compulsive isn't necessary. I even wonder if doing it nearly every day stresses the plants. This year, I did some pruning a month ago, and then nothing since, except that someone else watered my plants. I even wonder if I've watered too frequently in the past. These plants flourished in the high heat this year.

I certainly felt welcomed by my flowers. What a joy after some of the stresses of the past weeks.

The grass hasn't been mowed in weeks and mostly it doesn't need it. The grass, that is. There are dozens of trees that have sprouted up from underground roots that are about 18 inches high! The yard looks scraggly with these tree sprouts and the weeds flourishing instead of the grass. What kind of tree grows that fast in a month? It is known as the Balm-of-Gilead or Populus candicans Ait, perhaps of variety of the balsam poplar. It is know for not much except for the resin of the buds, which smells good, and is used in medicine. It springs up like a weed. We used to live in a log cabin made of this tree. It rots easily, unfortunately.