A Change is a Good as a Rest

I've been on the road, visiting festivals and friends and family. A good time was had by all! Getting away from the daily routine, even for a short time, brings the opportunity for a fresh perspective. Meanwhile, back at the hacienda, the gardens, while semi-neglected, are putting on a show that's the finest in recent memory. The weather has been just spectacular, and it shows.

Above is a climbing hydrangea. I knew I had to have one of these when I read in a description of its habits "the first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, the third year it leaps." I love a good challenge and a test of patience, and now, in its fifth year, it is just splendid, climbing up a wall of my house. The flowers are elusively fragrant.

Below is an orange butterfly weed. It no longer grows where I had originally planted it, but has seeded itself in a pleasant fashion here and there from seedpods that look a lot like the wild milkweed it is related to. I like this one not only for the show, and the butterflies and bees it attracts in flower, but because the leaves are food for monarch caterpillars, which need all the support they can get.

Next is a stargazer lily, which has adjusted quite happily to a life in the garden after an early career as a potted flower:

Below is clematis "Will Goodwin", which comes close to being that elusive blue color that is so hard to find in garden flowers:

Here's the first of the calla lilies. They are not supposed to be hardy here, but luckily they have not read the books, and come back reliably each year. They never fail to thrill me with their elegance:

The wood poppies are enormous this year, and show no signs of estivation as they do some summers:
Last year I made a quilt featuring the Wood Poppy: