Vinca

Annual flowers are supposed to last only one season,

but I've found that many will re-seed.

That's what's happened with the vinca we planted last year.

But I didn't realize it had re-seeded until I noticed a bright green plant

growing up through a crack between the bricks in our front walk.

This week, it bloomed:

avirginiashire.blogspot.com

At first glance, it didn't look particularly spectacular,

but up close it was flawless:

avirginiashire.blogspot.com

And then I found another vinca volunteer, and yet another one.

They were easy to miss there among the impatiens, 

but on closer examination, so pristine and beautiful:

avirginiashire.blogspot.com

To find that beautiful flowers have volunteered to grow in your garden

makes a lovely late summer surprise.

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Gladiolus, the Flower for August

Before the last sands of August slip through the hourglass,

I wanted to mention the symbolic flower for August.

It's the gladiolus.

The gladiolus is a long-stalked plant with large opened trumpet flowers

that sport a ruffled edge and  an assortment of vibrant colors.

They are beautiful and delicate, given to falling over when their blossoms are full--

kind of like a Victorian lady on a fainting couch.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gladiolus#mediaviewer/File:Purple_Gladioli.jpg

Image uploaded by: twdragon 2008

So to me, glads just don't seem like an appropriate choice for August.

They seem like more of a late May, early June kind of flower.

Gladioli are just too refined and frilly to symbolize 

the rough and tumble, the grit and sweat of hot August days.

By U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters

 [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

August needs a flower that's bold. Something orange or golden yellow,

something that defies the heat of the season and the scorching summer sun.

Maybe a sunflower that grows straight and upright along fields awaiting harvest.

Or coneflowers, with their crew-cut seed heads 

and petals down around their prickly necks.

Perhaps even an Indian Blanket flower.

I've seen them co-mingling with sand burrs near the beach

and growing out of the burning hot sand along a Florida sidewalk.

Now that's a rugged flower.

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August 25th

Another cool, windy day today.

I have to remind myself this is August and not October.

It feels at least like late September.

Even so, it's too early for the colorful flowers of fall: 

asters, chrysanthemums, and goldenrod.

The flowers of summer appear less robust than they were,

with fewer blooms and more seed heads.

Right now, things are primarily green.

avirginiashire.blogspot.com

When I was walking this evening, 

I noticed the thorny greenbrier vine

 thick all along the edge of the wood.

And the pine needles are still green, as are the maple saplings,

leafy oaks, and the star-shaped gum tree leaves. 

Even the water in the ponds is collecting green moss.

One last dance in an emerald gown

before the autumn gala begins.

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