An addiction...

to summer and the day lilies that arrive annually, means John has planted more than a few in the garden.

 They range from the softest of pinks,

 to wine-throated yellow.

They strut their colours of lime and dusk,

 or daffodil yellow.

Seemingly demure, they throw out exotic combinations,

that make the ladies of the night seem muted in comparison.

 One needs to admire their colour and variety,

as they flaunt their seasonal beauty.  And each year, I wonder how I could bottle those colours for mixed media...I think they'd make great colour sprays!

Just another day in paradise...

Although not yet mid-July, the abundance of this valley is overwhelming.

My days are filled with berry picking (raspberries, along with red and black currants right now) and the juggling of  ripening tomatoes,  pea picking, shelling, and freezing.

This does not mean, however, that I'm too busy to appreciate the colour in the 'other part' of the garden, where one of my favourite flowers is bountiful in many variations.

From the yellow day lily to the lime one,

and the pink blush 

to the lavender,

the day lilies are all graceful and lush with their fleeting beauty.

And the Asiatic lilies like these beautiful dark burgundy ones are just now coming on - aren't they gorgeous against those lime green leaves?

So even if the days are so filled with garden duties that there is no time to paint, I can still feast my eye on the sumptuous colours of the surrounding landscape, and dream, dream, dream of studio time.

Where are you feasting your eyes this summer, and what colours are you seeing?