Backyard Sunday

Sometimes it's just a day to stay at home and enjoy the back yard. Sunday felt like the true beginning of summer, with temperatures (on my sun-exposed thermometer at least) soaring to 35. I haven't put in many annuals this year, so I'm depending on perennials for blossoms. Luckily, the delphiniums, which I started from seed many years ago, just keep coming up. The hydrangeas and hostas are tough, the roses survive my neglect, and the hedges and trees just keep growing. Here are some scenes from my garden on Sunday:

I love the weeping birch in the background, which hides the neighbours' houses and makes the yard look luxuriously green. The spot of blue in the centre is my little patch of delphiniums, and the white blossoms in the foreground are hydrangeas I planted two years ago..

I try to keep some colour going in this planter, but it dries out quickly in the heat.

Those white hydrangeas again, with the birdbath behind. It's well-used.

Mom bought this bench many years ago. I remember the day she painted it on her balcony. Time for a refurbishment!

A couple of months ago, there was a 10-foot-deep hole where the lawn chairs are sitting now. We had the oil tank removed; it had leaked and the removal people had to come back three times to get all the contamination. We are trying to forget it all now by planting lots of grass seed and making this a sitting area.

Mr. Darcy on a mission  somewhere. Sometimes as he walks purposefully around the yard, I expect him to consult a wristwatch and say: "I'm late!"

Roses and delphiniums from the garden bring the outdoors into the house.