It’s amazing how quickly the flowers go. In June its all bloom, by July its all dry. Most of my flowers are gone now. I have a few struggling zinnias and one sunflower. My perenials are growing but need cutting back. The salvia is always a reliable bloomer and often blooms right into winter. My biggest problem is with my coreopsis. I had them growing for years, but they disappeared. I have tried replanting seeds in the last two years but have not gotten a single plant. The Mardi Gras coreopsis is my favorite. A happy yellow flower with a dark wine center that dances gracefully in the wind. For several years, I had an abundance of them. They are drought tolerant and grow without hardly any water. I am wondering if the recent heavy rain years have not benefited this plant. The other coreopsis I had grew up to 6 feet tall and bloomed in the fall. They lit up the landscape as the seasons were changing. They too disappeared during the last two rainy seasons. I miss them as they were lanterns of light as the days grew darker. This year I planted three seed packs of Mardi Gras coreopsis, covered the seed with a little seed starting soil and then a little compost – nothing! Not one seed came up.
As I am writing this I noticed we have a pair of hummingbirds. I believe they are a couple now as they seem to go everywhere together. It reminded me to make some fresh hummingbird sugar solution for them. I am going to keep an eye out for them as we often have hummingbird nests on the property.
The finches have also disappeared. We usually keep a sock filled with niger seed for them but I finally took it down to clean it. I have not seen a finch in a very long time. I am thinking they may still be breeding and tending their babies.
Yesterday I watched mockingbirds checking out my muscat grapes to see if they are ready to eat yet. We have been bunches of muscat grapes weighing down our vine, but they are not ready yet. The grapes are full and plump without any hint of mildew. Of course, I could make wine with them, but I prefer eating these. I am dreaming of muscat jam, so I will give that a try this year. With the cool spring we had, everything is behind. My wine grapes are so far behind, I am not sure they will develop fully this year. They are still quite small in size. Too many of them have mold and had to be removed. I realized a few of our fruit trees have gotten too tall from the rains and are blocking the sun a bit for the wine grapes. They will have to be cut back after fruiting season. Meanwhile, I am awaiting the ripening of our two fig trees. The tiger stripe fig has abundant figs this year and the tree grew a few feet. I will be making jam from them and eating them as much as possible, while I fight off the mockingbirds.
I will post a recipe for the muscat jam next month.
Reflections Outside My Window 