Not Gone with the Wind

I should have taken a photo the day I rescued the huge branch of cosmos that was leveled by 60 mph winds a couple of weeks ago. All buds. I didn't know if they'd ever bloom. But I put them in a vase anyway and have kept it on my porch just in case there are garden helpers hiding in the skimpy leaves.

I also rescued a branch of eryngium or sea holly. That particular plant had been chopped down to make room for the tree cutters when we had to take down the gigantic poplar/cottonwood hybrid that was munching on the plumbing beneath our house. The branches I cut off back then lasted a long time in the vase in my kitchen, but the "flowers" never turned blue. (I hosed down those branches to relocate any garden helper residents because the power wash wouldn't destroy sea holly the way it decimates flowers.) I didn't know the plant would persist and produce a few more branches before next year.

I thought I saw a hint of blue in the sea holly over the weekend, so I closely inspected but found no trace of blue. Yet. I will give it more time.

The cosmos, though, have exploded with blossoms! And they seem to last a very long time! Every day I check the vase on the porch and am so pleased to see twice as many blossoms as the day before! What a wonderful way to close out summer!

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Overexposed

While shooting a sunrise recently, I adjusted the ISO on the camera to accommodate the low light. I forgot to change it back when, an hour or so later, I was treated to a bald eagle flyover.

The photo was washed out and not really salvageable. Artificial intelligence to the rescue!

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Weathered

Record-breaking heat, then seven inches of snow, back to back. I thought I was done watering for the summer. I thought I wouldn't see another flower in my garden until next spring.

Four hours before the snow was supposed to start, I clipped all the "drop dead red" sunflowers and blooms, hoping I might be able to get a time lapse from one of the unopened flowers. I clipped several hibiscus blossoms, not knowing if they would open in a vase. I chopped down most of the chicory and volunteer sunflowers that grew wild in my garden, much to the chagrin of the goldfinches, whom I thought would make their way to their winter homes to escape the cold. (They are still hanging out today, along with a few other unexpected visitors!)

I also took the opportunity to plant the first iris seeds I've ever grown in my life. I didn't even know irises could produce seeds until this year.

I thoroughly enjoyed spending my waking hours during the next day and a half trying my hand at time lapse instead of snowflakes. I wanted to shoot snowflakes, but the good camera with the good macro lens was on the tripod, working miracles. I hope there will be more snowflakes to come this autumn, which officially starts today (!!!), and winter.

The forecast had called for four nights of hard freeze and 8 to 12 inches of white stuff in our neighborhood. We didn't get as much snow as expected, and much of it melted almost as quick as it touched the ground. The lowest temperature we recorded was 32 degrees, and once it climbed back up beyond 36, the mercury never dropped lower again at our place.

Adding to the extension of summer heat, in my opinion, is the unplanned unbelievable warmth stored and radiated via the terracing project I took on this year to hopefully prevent future basement floods via the window well that unceasingly collected and unselfishly shared all the moisture each season gave us for the last eight years. (We've had no basement leakage through six storms since terracing began!!!)

The stuff I thought would die during our early storm is thriving!

And my first gladiola ever are getting ready to bloom!!!

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Wordless Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday

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