Katie and I were weeding on Saturday.  It was a beautiful day and Katie was in full supervisory mode.

Don’t bother me Mama, I’m busy watching the neighbors.

As I moved down the bed I was suddenly buzzed by a female hummingbird.  Then she began to work the red beebalm just down the garden from where I was working.  I thought to myself…what a great shot that would be.  But of course the camera was in the house.  So I went to get it and naturally the bird was gone when I got back.

I put the camera on the house generator, to keep it safe from dirt and weeds and began to work again.  I had my head buried in the beebalm, pulling out a massive nightshade plant when I was buzzed again by you know who.  I lifted my head and we had a stare down.  She won.  I went to get the camera and she left.

So here’s a picture of beebalm.  Pretend you see a female humming bird there, will you?

Hummer breakfast

I continued on down the bed, pulling grass and weeds.  I began to realize there was a lot of red stuff in bloom right now.  These are particularly beautiful this year.  I can’t remember their name but I bet some of you know it!

Beautiful

And there are a couple of surprises too.  Buried deep in the leftover bleeding heart and behind some coneflower is a red dahlia in bloom.   I must have planted it there this spring, but had forgotten.  It’s the first dahlia to bloom this year and I might have missed it without Katie insisting I weed.

Hiding in plain sight

And way down at the other end of the garden is one solitary gladiola.  I planted the bulbs 3 years ago and I’m supposed to pull them up each fall and replant each spring.  Well.  That never happened…but this courageous glad just keeps coming back.

Spiky red

The weeding yesterday was oddly relaxing.  And I appreciated all the red, a color the camera shy Ms. Hummingbird loves as well.  In fact I bet she’s out there right now enjoying my garden.  I hope so.  I sort of had her in mind when I planted it.

Of course there were other colors and other visitors as well.  I almost stepped on this little guy.  Do you see him?

Blending in

And there were lots of these guys in the garden too.

Resting

All in all a nice day to be outside.  Even if it was just to weed.  Katie and I will be weeding other beds today.  She’s pretty excited at the prospect; she’s napping now to gather strength for her supervisory role.  It’s a hard job but somebody has to make sure this work gets done!

We hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!  Get out and enjoy everything the summer has to offer.  I think we’ll plan a little park time today as well.  Katie will have earned it.

Did somebody say PARK?!