A couple weeks ago, I visited  the home of Thomas Jefferson, our 3rd president and one of my favorite gardeners! This was quite a dream come true for me! 

"I have often thought that if heaven had given me choice of my position and calling, it should have been on a rich spot of earth, well watered, and near a good market for the productions of the garden. No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden. Such a variety of subjects, some one always coming to perfection, the failure of one thing repaired by the success of another, and instead of one harvest a continued one through the year."
Jefferson to Charles W. Peale, August 20, 1811

The bean arbor...this is what I was hoping my bean arbor would look like by now, but apparently hyacinth beans don't like Maine!

Close-ups of hyacinth beans and flowers...

The vineyard and orchard...

Cockscomb and Globe Amaranth in a couple of the Oval beds...

"I have an extensive flower border, in which I am fond of putting handsome plants, or fragrant."

 Jefferson to Bernard McMahon, April 8, 1811

Do these look familiar? In his garden book, Jefferson mentions sowing "Double balsam" on April 2, 1767. It is also included in a list of plants sent by Jefferson from Paris about 1786 to Francis Eppes. 

"Heliotrope. To be sowed in the spring. A delicious flower, but I suspect it must be planted in boxes and kept in the house in the winter. The smell rewards the care."”
— Thomas Jefferson

"Mirablis just opened. very clever."
(July 18, 1767)
It was almost 100 degrees when we were there, so they weren't open, obviously!

Some more pictures...I just don't have time to write about everything!

Just a quick post with a few pictures I  snapped of my garden and some of my favorite flowers a few minutes ago . This actually isn't a very good picture...the afternoon lighting isn't great for photography, and its a hot day, so some of the flowers are wilting or closed. I wish I had taken pictures this morning! 

The first thing I do every morning is look out my bedroom window at my garden. A couple days ago I was thrilled to see the first "Only the Lonely" nicotiana flowers! Such impressive plants from such tiny seeds! The leaves are huge! 

I have two malope plants, but one of them is so bushy it looks like two or three!  

The other plant surprised me by blooming with pink and white flowers! 

Love-lies-bleeding...

And that's it! Tuesday View is hosted by Words and Herbs...you are welcome to visit at wordsandherbs.com/2017/08/15/the-tuesday-view-15th-august-2017 to see other views in gardens right now! 

And here is another vase! I really enjoyed IAVOM last week and appreciated all your kind comments! :)
I was thinking of doing something a little more sophisicated this week, but apperently that's just not my thing, because this is what I ended up with! This is another one that you have to view from different angles to see everything that's in it...

One of my Apricot Beauty foxgloves sent up another flower stalk after I cut back the old one, but it was very short, so I decided it could be better enjoyed in a vase.

And who can resist a David Austin rose? I just love all his roses. This Crocus Rose is the only one I have right now, but if it survives the winter, I will definitely be adding more to my garden! It has a delicious light tea fragrance. 

And then there is 'The Fairy'. No fragrance whatsoever, and rather thorny, but the flowers are so charming! 

Mollie Rilestone sweet peas...they are supposed to be cream with pink edges, but instead mine are pure white! Hmmm, what did I do wrong? 

Malope...this is a lovely plant, but sadly, has become rare. 

And some smaller love-lies-bleeding tassles. When I put these in, the whole vase tipped over and dumped most of the water out! This was taken after I refilled it, and explanins why the poor flowers are looking a little bedraggled! 

Love-in-a-mist...

There is a little lemon balm tucked away in there too.  It smells nice, but there wasn't enough room for it, really! It is probably my favorite herb. 

Hope you all have a wonderful week! Please visit ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2017/08/14/in-a-vase-hello-ruby-monday/ to see what other gardeners around the world have made today! 

The days are getting noticeably shorter and there has been a definite chill in the air the last few mornings. The goldenrod has been in bloom for about 2 weeks, then the asters started to bloom, and now the mountain ash berries are turning orange. The weather is lovely and rather dry. A few days ago, I got to help put up hay at a friend's farm. Since I want to have a small farm of my own someday, that was quite a thrilling experience for me!
​Anyway...back to the garden!  

The nice thing about the cooler days is that the four o'clocks have been staying open until late morning, or even into the afternoon! They add so much color to the garden. I was struck by the way they contrasted with the lilies the other day...

They make wonderful pressed flowers because they hold their color so well. And of course I couldn't resist photographing them all lined up!

They are just wonderful flowers! 

Some other views of the garden...

Dwarf Queeny hollyhocks...I'm not especially fond of double-flowered hollyhocks, and will probably take these out next year, since I can't save seed from my black hollyhocks when they bloom at the same time. 

My love-lies-bleeding got off to a slow start. The plants seem taller than last year's, though. 

My David Austin Crocus rose is already blooming a second time. The trouble is, it is completely buried in nicotiana! 

Another picture of the balsam...these are the only plants that can be seen without pushing taller plants aside! 

I love my oriental lilies, but they also signal the end of summer to me, so seeing them in bloom is somewhat bittersweet. 

The vegetables are coming along nicely. There isn't really much of a need for weeding this time of the year, with all the volunteer trailing nasturtiums covering the ground! I need to find the time to make pickles one of these days!

Pumpkins...I'm growing 3 different kinds, each from a separate family, so I can save seed from all of them, even though they are growing side by side. 

And they are invading the peppers. I've been picking some Hot Hungarian Wax peppers lately, and in a couple weeks I think we'll be overwhelmed with all kinds of  peppers! 

The Dorinny Sweet corn is almost ready! 

Hope you all are enjoying what's left of summer in your gardens! 

I have greatly enjoyed seeing others' weekly flower arrangements on some of the garden blogs I've been following, and finally decided to join in this week!​​ As I think I mentioned in a previous post, my flower arrangements tend to be as messy as my garden. But these lovely old-fashioned flowers never fail to look good together, no matter how inexperienced this gardener may be! So here is a little bit of everything...

An attempted close-up of the heliotrope, surrounded by nicotiana, catnip, snapdragon and a bachelor's button...

Most of the borage has finished blooming, but I still have a few plants in a shady area that got off to a slow start and still have plenty of flowers. In the background is balsam, catnip, and a petunia (barely visible).

I think this is some kind of campanula. It blooms under a tree in the front yard every August.

Appleblossom snapdragon...these actually smell like bubblegum! This is actually a picture from a bouquet I made a couple weeks ago (I couldn't seem to get a good picture of it today). The white flowers around it are valerian.

And some columbine seed pods. I like a flower that continues to look interesting even after its flowers have long gone! 

And that's it! To see more arrangements from gardeners everywhere, please visit ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2017/08/07/in-a-vase-on-monday-snow-in-summer/ ! 

I can't believe it is already August! Which means summer is almost over for us. But I'll just enjoy what's left of it! These lilies opened a few days ago. And of course, since I don't write things down like I should, I'm not sure what kind it is! I thought I remembered planting Regale Album trumpet lilies, but the more I look at it, the more I think it can't be! Oh well, it is lovely anyway, and smells heavenly! 

I know I've already posted so many pictures of the Peppermint Sticks balsam, but here are some more. I just love this plant! I'm really frustrated that I planted most of them behind, or among the nicotiana, which grew much taller. What was I thinking??? 

I'm looking forward to seeing this Only the Lonely nicotiana (nicotiana sylvestris) in bloom. The size of the leaves amazes me. They were smaller than the Aztec Sweet (nicotiana alata) as seedlings. I'm glad that they bloom later, so I'll at least be able to save seed from the Aztec Sweet. I haven't been able to find out if N. sylvestris and N. alata will cross, but I'm assuming that they do, to be safe.

These Old-fashioned Vining petunias don't exactly climb like a vine, but they do have a wonderful way of getting amongst the other plants, and so I have petunia flowers in my catnip! 

And the Four O'clocks...

Among the love-in-a-mist...

And the balsam!

It also looks lovely at the "entrance" of the garden (it's quite impossible to enter here, however!)

More close-ups...

And yesterday's harvest...Purple of Sicily cauliflower, Hungarian Heart and Black Krim tomatoes, and Tendergreen Burpless cucumbers. Yummy!