We are exploring together. We are cultivating a garden together, backs to the sun. The question is a hoe in our hands and we are digging beneath the hard and crusty surface to the rich humus of our lives.
– Parker J. Palmer, writer, teacher, and activist, from Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation
The beginning of June was quite busy, with preparations for Jacob’s high school graduation and our impending family vacation. But I dutifully made the bouquets for the Korematsu Middle School auction winners.
This June 6th bouquet features big yellow dahlias that look like fireworks.
Alstroemeria love, June 6th.
Close-up of dahlias. One of my favorites continues to be the deep pink dahlia, June 6th bouquet.
Another view of the June 6th bouquet.
When you turn this June 6th bouquet around, you get multiple nice views.
Yet another view of the June 6th bouquet: alstroemeria, dahlias, zinnia, cosmos, geum, and a ginger plant.
Last repeat view of the June 6th bouquet. I guess I’m not doing a good job of curating these photos of the bouquets!
We went on vacation to France and were gone from June 14th through July 1st. I must admit that I didn’t want to be away from the garden during peak dahlia season! But I got over it once we left. As we were making our way home on July 1st, I thought about coming home to the garden and our deliriously happy dog. My sister had been taking care of the garden and sending friends and relatives home with bouquets, which warmed my heart. The whole point of having a garden, besides enjoying being surrounding by flowers, is to share in the bounty. So I was happy to get reports that her friends and our cousin Daniel were appreciating the flowers.
June 10th bouquet. Introduction of a new flower – Cerinthe major purpurascens “Blue Honeywort” – the curling green and blue flower on the right side of the bouquet.
Close-up of some of my favorite flowers – scabiosa caucasica “Fama Blue,” dianthus “Chomley Farran,” and geum quellyon var. flora plena “Blazing Sunset.”
Close-up of dahlias and cerinthe major purpurascens “Blue Honeywort,” June 10th bouquet.
The cerinthe major purpurascens “Blue Honeywort” adds a nice architectural shape to this June 13th bouquet.
June 13th bouquet.
June 13th bouquet – a little bit of white verbena at the opening of the vase.
June 13th bouquet with yellow dahlia fireworks.
June 13th bouquet.
Dahlia close-up of June 13th bouquet.
When we returned home, I came back to a bountiful dahlia garden!
The dahlia garden is ablaze with big blooms, July 1st. What a nice homecoming.
Right away, I got back into making bouquets for one of the auction winners. The Fourth of July was only days after we came home, so I set out a bunch of cut flowers in vases, which guests at our annual Fourth of July party would go home with – a memento of summer to take with them. I also made a couple of bouquets for my friend Jane.
An exploding bouquet for July 3rd. The salmon-colored gladiolas are finally coming up!
Close-up of an amazing burgundy dahlia in the July 3rd bouquet.
July 3rd bouquet.
The second July 3rd bouquet.
Not a bad side in this July 3rd bouquet.
Dinner-plate dahlia galore for the Fourth of July 2018.
My latest dahlia addition – dinner-late white dahlia from Costco is going strong, shadows and light, strong architectural lines, Fourth of July.
A rare dahlia nowadays in my garden – orange tipped with yellow, Fourth of July 2018.
July 6th bouquet: Look at that ginormous burgundy dahlia! That’s not a dinner-plate dahlia but a serving-plate dahlia!
Burgundy dahlia – thar she blows, July 5th bouquet.
July 5th bouquet is practically all dahlias now, as they explode in the dahlia garden.
The second July 5th bouquet.
Another view of the second July 5th bouquet, featuring dinner plate-size dahlias, as in this beauty of a white dahlia, and topped with alstroemeria.
Red-and-white dahlia for Fourth of July bouquet.
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