16 Jul 2025 Photography Deborah

Early Morning Garden Photo Walk

It is so hot outside right now that we can't really work in the garden past about 9:30am or so.

It is so hot outside right now that we can't really work in the garden past about 9:30am or so. Today I grabbed my camera on my way to pull weeds at our roadside Iris beds. I wanted to take some photos of the only remaining blooms that can survive in this kind of relentless heat, the Crape Myrtles and the Lantana.

The Daily Work

Self Portrait with Edgar Working in the Garden (view full res)

Anyone who says gardening isn't work has never put any significant effort into building, maintaining, and keeping a garden going. We basically decided years ago to make the entire area surrounding our house into multiple large gardens, so attending to each takes a little bit of work each morning. Edgar our Papillon is always eager to help us do just about anything. Today I'm showing him a frog and trying to teach him not to smash it to oblivion.

Planting Bulbs

Deborah Planting Iris Bulbs (view full res)

This has been the year of planting Iris bulbs, and that task is usually up to Deborah and her expertise. Today this is what she was doing while Edgar and I went up to the road to pull mass amounts of weeds from the roadside boxes. We also took some photos while we were there of course.

Crape Myrtles and Lantana

We have these two plants in abundance around the property. They are what blooms when it gets to be over 90° and never relents until fall. I haven't really had much of an opportunity to take photos of these blooms, and they are crazy small. Each bloom stalk is made up of a huge number of very small tiny blooms.

Edgar Walking Down the County Road by the House (view full res)

Pink Crape Myrtle Blooms into the Sun (view full res)

Pink Crape Myrtle Blooms in Summer (view full res)

Multi Colored Lantana in Bloom (view full res)

Bees in the Cemetery

Across the street there are two family cemetery properties. One of them still has a civil war era schoolhouse on it. It's in pretty good condition. It has amazingly survived multiple tornados and heavy storms. We also have a growing number of bee hives in the cemetery, one of which my niece painted like a little house. By far the most artistic bee hive in the area.

Old Schoolhouse from the 1860's (view full res)

A Family Cemetery Across the Street (view full res)

Football Season

September is right around the corner now (sorta), which brings a little cooler weather and football games to our town. Of course we still have a few months to go, but until then I'll just drop a photo of the flag pole on the house by the road.