Dog Days of Summer

Its that time of year that you begin to wonder where the time has gone. The leaves on the trees no longer have that fresh green color of youth having weathered torrential rains, humidity, heat, and the never ending attack of insects. They are scarred, tough, and are a "hardened" green or in some cases, red. Their time is nearing an end.

Gone are the myriads of flowers of Spring and June, however the steadfast bloomers of any garden are still producing. The coneflowers now in a variety of colors are still attracting butterflies some of them with the same tattered look as the leaves on the trees. Black eyed Susans, sunflowers or anything like them still bloom in what is a sea of yellow these days in the garden.

But if your smart you have planted the fall garden. Salvias, Asters, some Hydrangeas, etc will soon brighten the garden once more. Impatiens, Fuschias, and Begonias continue to brighten the shade, a treat for the Hummingbirds before they fly south in a few weeks.

Its also cricket and spider time here in NJ. The nights are loud, almost deafening. The few that get too low to the grass and the pond are a quick meal for the toads and frogs. And soon the great eastern migration will start, saw some warblers today in the elderberries with the Catbirds, who by the way have managed to eat pounds of berries leaving us pondering what to protect next year as they are just too greedy.

So your mind starts to wander........................and decide what garden projects you will do next year. What amazing, fantastic tasks you will decide to do and then never do. But part of the fun is the thinking and the possible evolution of the garden through new projects or the maturing of the plants and all around landscaping. Our grand plans would include a walk in butterfly cage, a nursery, a bog garden, an iris garden, native azalea garden, hardy orchid garden, and whatever else the imagination can come up with.

So soon we will have released the last of the Monarchs, and those who that will join them will begin to migrate south in a fantastic display along the coastlines that have dunes and goldenrod. Hundreds passing by stopping at Cape May before their long dangerous flight across the bay. Our last Black Swallowtail is hanging a few inches from my laptop. He will have to wait until morning. Then that will be it. All the butterflies will be gone until next year. So bring on the Fall.

With the amazing oranges and reds, cool autumn nights, campfires, smores, acorns, mushrooms, apples, halloween, and then the shimmer of first frost. So here is to summer, this year at least here in New Jersey it was not the best of summers, but who counts these things anyway Summer is Summer. Its full of life. Soon cozy comfy autumn will be here, and then the glistening clean crispness of winter. Then those projects I talked about earlier....................I wonder if its going to be a warm winter?