Life in gardens: puppies

children-with-puppies-oxford-ohio-f-snyder-miami-university-librariesChildren with puppies, Oxford, Ohio, ca. early 20th c., by Frank R. Snyder, via Miami University Libraries on flickr (both photos).

girl-boy-with-puppies-oxford-ohio-f-snyder-miami-university-libraries
The one on the left above is particularly slippery.

Life in gardens: group portrait

Girl with doll and cats, Mississippi Dept of Archives & History

Unidentified girl holding doll and cat, probably taken in the Jackson area, Mississippi, date and photographer unknown, via Daniel, Al Fred, Photograph Collection, Mississippi Department of Archives and History Commons on flickr.

Our August yard

August 16, 2016, enclos*ure

Here are some mid-month pictures of our shaggy backyard on one side. (Click on any thumbnail image below to enlarge it.)

The pattern that I cut in the grass in May has blurred quite a bit, but I still enjoy it, especially in the morning light.

August 16, 2016, enclos*ure

Our little corner bean-shaped flower bed has produced a surprising number of blooms this summer, considering that I had pretty much written it off last fall and had started using it as a compost pile. I thought this would kill off everything but the golden spirea and the “Fairy” rose, and then I could start over with better ground.

Instead, the previously sickly looking hydrangea, hybrid tea roses, and sedums seem to like growing under at least 3″ to 6″ of half-rotted leaves and grass clippings (and some coffee grounds).  I did smother a lot of weeds, but I don’t know what has happened to the mice that were living there too.

My plan to follow the Spielhaus Garden this year for Bloom Days and Foliage Follow Ups has not worked out very well due to travel, rainy weather, and a sometimes hurting foot — with surgery planned in a few weeks — but I hope I can get over there sometime this month and bring you an update.

Thanks to Pam at Digging for hosting Garden Bloggers’ Foliage Follow Up on the 16th of every month. And to see the mid-month flowers of other garden bloggers, please visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

Life in gardens: summer class

Life class, Bain News Service, Library of Congress“Life class, summer school, National Academy of Design,” probably New York City area, ca. 1910 to ca. 1915, by Bain News Service, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division on flickr.

The students are drawing or painting a boy left of center in the photo.