Rose Campion

A biennial perennial. How's that for confusing? This plant makes a rosette the first year and flowers the second, sending out seeds to make next years's rosettes. If you don't mulch around the plants, and give the seeds a chance to germinate (meaning aren't in there weeding and cultivating) you, like me, will always have a few of these tall silver leafed plants in your garden. They are easy to transplant from where they rosette to where you want them to flower. I even have a pure white one in the vegetable garden. The deep magenta are my favorites. This year I have a nice bed of them-- a sweep of rose campion -- in the bed next to the back stoop. So far, I have managed to have a lovely "sweep" of two different blooms. The Bachelor Buttons and now the Rose Campion. Today I am adding Penstemon to the mix and one bold Zebrina hollyhock.

I have been looking my book sale books over and already have several disappointing choices. The French Table is all about pottery. I had hoped for something else. The slow cooker recipes aren't all that interesting. A Gee's Bend look a like collection is second rate. I am not sure about the Zen Bowls book. I don't have a lot of time to stand around at the set up to look at books. That would send a bad example to my volunteers. So, I have to choose fast. Get back to work. We'll just drop the mistakes off at the sale. Someone else can buy them.

G asked if I wanted to go somewhere for breakfast this morning. I replied, "that would involve getting dressed." A lazy day here I think. And a trip to the grocery store later in the day. Soy milk, yogurt, coffee. We'll be harvesting, washing and eating one or two of the heads of leaf lettuce from the garden today. So, I should purchase a meat to go with it. And I have good tomatoes from Walmart of all places and some fresh mozzarella and good bread would be wonderful with some garden picked basil leaves for tomorrow. The roadside stand has native strawberries now. I am enjoying them in my daily yogurt lunches.

Summer is upon us here in Maine. Cool nights. No air conditioning needed. And sunny, warm/hot days. Cool bright mornings with dew on the grass. Nice for dogs to roll around and chew on sticks. June in Maine is perfection (on the days I don't have to go to work). Like today. I'm going to enjoy our blue, blue sky.