Dog Days

August, and waiting the past two weeks for some kind of rain. The hottest days of the year, where the air is thick enough to swim in and you sweat just sitting still outdoors. Seasons are my calendar. This hot slow season is one favorite of mine. Virginia is such a wonder ... the variety of flowering plants, trees, and shrubs is a never-ending delight, marking the weeks' passage like so many pages of a botanist's calendar.

Where else on earth do trees bloom in color to take our mind off the heat?










Purple Myrtle: This is an old tree and could use some judicious pruning. Someday.









White Myrtle: I planted this one myself a few years ago. It was three feet high at the time.










Smoke Tree: Took some to track this down. Wiki says it's native to one small Tennessee county. No idea how it got here but I am so glad it did. Blooms purple, turns to smoke by late Summer.











Hydrangea: What I'm told anyway. I call it "butterfly" or "popcorn ball" bush. Brilliant white buttery balls are actually painful to look at from the second story bedroom in early morning sun.

Next up: Sugar Magnolia (oh heavenly scent) ...