Yesterday the rain clouds magically parted in the afternoon and the sun came out long enough for me to take a nice stroll through the garden with my camera in hand. There really is not a whole lot in bloom right now but I was able to take a few pictures for today which happens to be Bloomin’ Tuesday.

This first picture is of some Borage that is growing wild all around my compost piles. It is quite pretty as the flowers are both blue and pink. Some type of mutation I suppose but all the borage growing over there is blooming like this. I have seen blue borage flowers, pink borage flowers, and white borage flowers but never have I seen any both blue and pink. I never would have even noticed them if it wasn’t for this little quest to find flowers in bloom!

The next picture isn’t exactly a flower but it does look nice. This large rock is sitting along the back end of our yard and almost overnight the moss has “bloomed” all over it. In the right hand corner you can see yet another wild blackberry creeping up on the rock. Sigh, yanking up the wild blackberry never ends!

This final picture is actually of my neighbor’s Japanese maple. I saw it yesterday and thought I had better get its picture while I still can because as you can see it is dropping its pretty yellow leaves. This maple is so beautiful this time of year. It is a Coral Bark Japanese maple (Acer palmatum ‘Sango Kaku’) and once it drops all of its leaves you are left with its beautiful red limbs. It really looks nice when everything else is so dark and dreary. In a few more weeks I will post another picture of it once it starts to show its bark.

That’s all I have to share for today’s Bloomin’ Tuesday. Be sure to visit Jean’s blog and check out all of the other Blooming Tuesday posts!

Today I can really feel autumn in the air. The sun is coming in through the windows at a different angle and the garden seems to be slowing down. I was out gathering seeds from some of the spent flowers and the pollinators that visit my garden seem to be working at a feverish pitch dancing from one flower to the next. It is as though they know the garden is reaching its end.

It always makes me feel a little sad this time of year. The garden was all too short for my taste this year. The unusually cold spring cut the growing season very short for us. It all seems to have gone way too fast for me this time.

There is yet another reason for my melancholy today. My oldest son began high school this morning. Today it is hitting me that my little boy is growing up. He has seen 14 summers and today I am realizing just how quickly they have flown by. I can see him metamorphosing into a young man right before my very eyes just as I look out at my Japanese maple and view its leaves beginning to change color with the approaching fall. I long to hold that little boy’s hand again as the time has gone by way too fast.

As I begin to prepare the garden for the new season I am also trying to prepare myself for what lies ahead with these next four years he has left under my wing.

This is my Rose de Rescht that I love so much. It is having a second bloom right now and the fragrance is intoxicating.

I love how green everything looks after it rains and this orange mint was just glowing.

My poor Moonbeam Coreopsis. It is all flattened after the hard rain we have had. I'm sure it will pick back up though once the rain lets up.

My bunnytail grass is really soaked and the little bunny tails look just like wet fur.

I just recently planted this little Campanula called white clips in a terra cotta pot. I just love the blooms. They look like little fairy hats.

What isn't there to love about Japanese Maples? They do so well up here in the Northwest too. In fact Oregon is the number one producer of them.

This is a shot looking up through my Japanese Maple. As you can see there is more rain on the way.

Tomorrow it is suppose to be sunny again and I hope the forecast is right as I have 3 kids that are getting a little bit cooped up! And their mother has plenty of garden work she needs to get done. I must say though that I have enjoyed the break in watering! Watering all of my containers everyday can get a little old by August.