...prickly plants, the color yellow, and Bela Lugosi...

“There is no blue

without yellow

and without orange.”

~ Vincent Van Gogh

I have always been fond of those who reveal that their favorite color is yellow. It just seems rare; and, by acknowledging that it is one’s favorite, it seems to make that person a bit more special… to me, at least.

My fella loves yellow. It isn’t necessarily his favorite color but he’s often drawn to it. Last week, he brought me flowers—big sunflowers and tiny yellow carnations. The combination would not make any sense to a florist but this display turned out perfectly for me.

My fella also gifted this cactus to me when I first moved to my house. Of course, he really just wanted Mr. Cactus, the five foot cactus that he had grown in the front yard of his old home to continue to be in his life. Cactus plants are amazing. If an *ear* breaks off, you can grow it. There are techniques that gardeners might recommend but I assure you if you leave a cactus ear unattended even slightly near some dirt, it will work with that. This is the fourth year that the cactus has been in the ground. I started growing it from an ear in a pot with carefully layered rocks, sand, and dirt. The ground here is clay and the cactus has done just fine. Last year the cactus had two flowers all season; this year, we’ve already seen a dozen. Go Mr. Cactus 2 Go!

This is the time that I begin stalking my perennial hibiscus plants. Their blooms last just one day. The cactus flowers sometimes only last a few hours. It’s been the most bizarre and stressful task. When either of us notices the blooms, we quickly alert the other and take pictures.

Daylily 'Bela Lugosi'

The summer has felt much like the flowers on our cactus—quick blooming and lost to time. The last two weeks have been a whirlwind. I attended a conference in Columbus, Ohio. I have some fun adventures to share but I have been asked to write a chapter on vampires in children’s literature for an academic publication. There is a somewhat tight deadline, and of course as of last Friday morning I was still functioning without a thesis. By midday, I had an abstract and a title approved by the editor. Now I just need to get to it. 

  

Another happy garden-surprise this morning is that the Daylily 'Bela Lugosi' just bloomed. This plant is now in its fourth year in the garden.

Work (weee! three weeks left of being chair and working…then vacation here I come!), this chapter along with a few other proposals (one is in; one just needs to be written out), reading, my cemetarians group, and hangin’ with my hubby have consumed my time! And really, I don't mind that at all.