The Lilies are coming, the lilies are coming...

Let the cavalcade begin...

gratuitous daylily pictures ahead. They are spectacular this summer. In fact, I didn't even know I had so many beauties because in the past their blooming has been so, so. This year, gorgeous.

Please don't ask the names. I would have to search and it might take all summer. Let's just say I keep meaning to get to the garden organization but I am too busy in the actual garden. And yes, I do know this comes back to bite me occasionally.

OK, I will step out of the way so you can see the pretty.

I know I bought this one at Schramm Farms a few years ago. It is huge now and needs to be separated. It's on the list.

These are somewhat diminutive and probably too far back in this garden, but, oh the color.

A token Asiatic Lily, no scent, but great beauty in a time when my garden doesn't have much blooming.

Heather and lavender and yarrow in the gravel bed.

The hydrangeas just put on their show and suddenly I am drowning in big blousy blooms. I was so busy with other things that I barely noticed and boom, they are showstopping.

An astilbe among the anemones and gooseneck loosestrife. (Don't plant this loosestrife, I think it is more invasive than the purple loosestrife, by a mile. I hack it back, pull up as much as I can every spring and still it keeps popping up in this bed. I am grateful I didn't plant it in any of the other gardens. A real thug.)

A wonderful rex begonia that gets pride of place on the front porch. It never fails to illicit comments.

And look who came to play this weekend.

He is a teenager now, all floppy and gangly, but he put Duncan through his paces. Duncan is planning on sleeping for the next three days until Finn returns for the 4th. It will take him that long to recover from this weekend. He was a champ and let the little guy bite him and chase him and generally be a nuisance. Duncan never growled or seemed to mind, although there were a few moments of "Will Finn be leaving soon?" A perfect role model and babysitter to the little goober.

And Finn discovered blueberries...he crawled under the bushes to lie in the cool mulch and suddenly he was surrounded by all the low hanging branches and immediately began stripping the berries off the lower branches, grandpa was not pleased.

There has been knitting but it is of the secret sort and I won't be able to share for a while. When this little flurry is finished I hope to have some lace to share.