We’re moving into the full summer landscape here in Indian Valley, & of course the garden is transforming as the season changes from the mild spring to the Dog Days. Actually, so far we haven’t had too much of the real sweltering heat—some days in the mid 90s, but no 100 degree days so far. In fact, the last couple of days have been very pleasant, with temperatures peaking in the low 80s—unusual for July in this part of the world.
The hot weather flowers are making their appearance nonetheless—the sunflowers & daylilies & yarrow & coneflowers in particular are the blossoms of high summer, & the roses are blooming as well. In addition, there are blooms on the squash plants & the eggplant & tomatoes are forming; & the grapes are forming their clusters & the cherries are ripe—all very exciting stuff. Eberle decided to scale back t
he big vegetable garden this year in the interest of soil improvement, but we still have all the basics in place.I thought you folks might enjoy a tour of the July garden, so I put together a slideshow. The background music is a piece Eberle & I co-wrote called “Popsicle Illusion.” This is a tune we’ve used in various incarnations & in various forms. We used to perform a longer version when we played as Five & Dime Jazz, & we also included a different version (with a guitar solo) on our soundtrack to Nell Shipman’s The Grub Stake. This particular recording is from our soundtrack to The Rootabaga Stories. Hey, when we were doing all those soundtracks a few years back we were very into musical recycling!
Hope you enjoy.