Wednesday, July 2, 2008

July Long Weekend 2008

In my mind, I have two prototypes for perfect gardens. The first is a lush, green, mossy secret garden, with fairytale flowers, ponds, and hidden, dewy, whimsical spots. Slightly overgrown but never too much, with vines and little benches.

The other looks something exactly like this:


The Bruce Peninsula has yet to find an equal in my heart, despite travels over much of Canada, through France, and portions of Central America. There is no place on earth quite like it. The closest I have come has been the Atlantic Coast: Grand Manan or perhaps Cape Breton, or other parts of Nova Scotia. But even then. The only thing Georgian Bay lacks is whales and jellyfish. But the ocean can't compare to Georgian Bay blue.

fishy and I are back from a lovely mini-vacation. The weather was fantastic, and the scenery, as always, sublime.


The wildlife was good, with invertebrates, as always, making up the majority of sightings. Like a dope, I forgot my net this time around, leaving the dragon and damselflies quite safe. The above monarch was extremely obliging for fishy.

The flowers at this time of year are sort of between. The strawberries are starting to fruit, most of the columbine are done (not all, though), as are most of the blue flags and potentilla shrubs, and the gentians haven't started flowering yet.


The bluebells are flowering, though, and the (above) Indian paintbrush (Castilleja sp.) and a number of lovely, delicate little white flowers are poking out of the rocks pretty much everywhere you look. The yellow lady's slippers are just finishing, although to my dismay we saw them blooming one day and the next it looked like some rabbit had chewed off just the flower. It was bizarre. The plants we have on the property are nowhere near the road, so they aren't really in danger of being stolen or picked by jerky humans. A hungry rabbit is all I can think of. Of course they have to go for the rare orchids and not any of the other plants...

Ah well. It was a lovely trip, and I'm glad we did it. It is back to school for me next week, with the Week from Hell starting things off. Hooray!

(photos by fishy)

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