June is winding down, but there’s still time to celebrate June is Great Outdoors Month.
“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
~ Martin Luther
For those of us who live anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is well underway now that the solstice has passed. I caught this image at 4:30 am. 😁
Here in North-Eastern Washington, it feels ironic to experience almost 18 hours of daylight for another few days as we begin to lose a minute per day. Already? Oh well.
By July 20th, we will have lost 30 minutes of light per day. But by the Autumnal equinox in September, it changes to losing 3 minutes per day as we get closer to the winter solstice. And in three short months, when the autumnal equinox arrives, the sunrise will be at 6:30 am, (compared to this week’s 4:49am), and sunset will be at 7pm. In every season, there are various twilight periods that allow for a lot of light in the sky when the sun is below the horizon.
Enjoy the late summer nights as long as you can!
I found Bob Berman’s article “How Fast Are We Losing Daylight?” The science geek in me always wants to know why! If you click on the article, there is another link where you can put in your ZIP code to calculate your sunrise/sunset times.
What does this have to do with plant life, you’re wondering?
Plants need sunlight in order to live and grow. Sunlight reaches its highest intensity between 10 am and 4 pm in summer. Some plants, flowers, and trees have a limit to the intensity of light in which they can thrive. Growing seasons vary, so check your latitude and growing zones for the best plants that grow in your area. When we moved from Sacramento, California, to Spokane, we knew many plants and flowers we grew wouldn’t do well in Spokane’s arid, high-desert Alpine climate zone. Eastern Washington’s temperatures range from summer’s hot 90+F to winter’s 0 degrees F and below freezing.
When deciding to plant, take a look at what your neighbors are growing and what works well for them. Also, see what is sold at the garden stores in your neighborhood and ask the experts.
We live near a local nursery, and I’ve taken the general manager’s planting advice over the years.
We discovered that many of our potted plants were too susceptible to freezing temperatures during winter, even after moving them and covering them in burlap. Most died after being exposed to 20 below zero (-29C) last January, which was ODD. However, these same plants planted in the ground or garden beds can stand the cold due to the insulation of the soil and their roots’ ability to grow deeper.
How Does Your Garden Grow? Hubby To the Rescue!
With his carpenter skills, Hubby built five garden beds from reclaimed “junk” wood. These beds are fenced in with a locking gate to keep our deer buddies out. Hubby also added these to our auto-watering system.
“Gardening is the art that uses flowers and plants as paint, and the soil and sky as canvas.” ~Elizabeth Murray
“Plants are solar powered air purifiers whose filter never needs replacing.” – Khang Kijarro Nguyen
We Need Volunteers!
With all the purposeful planting we can do in our gardens, the volunteers seem to want their day in the sun. We transferred the strawberries to the “berry” garden after we discovered them growing in our topsoil last year. The pansies popped up everywhere this spring, and the domestic sunflowers were brought in last year by birds scattering black-oil sunflower seeds in the snow in the winter.
Speaking of…Birds Like Your Plants!
When you have trees and plants in your garden, everyone knows the birds will visit!
Our Phoebes, which fledged 3 weeks ago, are doing well and still hang out in the backyard. I recently caught one of the juveniles getting a drink of water out of Brodie’s dish.
“The best time to plant a tree was 25 years ago. The second-best time to plant a tree is today.” ~ Eliud Kipchoge
Partially inspired by and sharing for Cee’s FOTD, Lens-Artists: Two Rectangles hosted by Egidio, and Johnbo’s Cell Pic Sunday.
If you want to see how a garden is grown, please check out my good friend Maria’s garden here!
“The whole surface of the earth is made beautiful by the vegetation that clothes it.” – Herma Baggley
Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders
The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post.
- Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
- Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
- Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
- Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
- Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
- I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.
I can’t wait to see how you interpret this week’s theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme. Join me next week for the last day of June as we explore Landscapes in the Great Outdoors. Have a wonderful week!
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