The summer solstice was on June 20^th in the USA, the day with the longest period of daylight and shortest night of the year, when the sun is at its highest position in the sky. Here on the east coast, extreme heat reminds us that the flowers we planted in spring need watering and a tender touch to survive the high temperatures.

Walter and I love to plant an array of flowers in pots for our patio and front porch. We spend hours at nurseries choosing the most colorful blooms to welcome spring and summer to our home. After living in Oklahoma for so many years, where I struggled to grow flowers in scorching summer weather, I have found my green thumb in Virginia, where the summers are generally milder. My favorites are dark red geraniums, wispy white gaura, and yellow lantana.

Walter is partial to marigolds, coleus, and blue delphinium.

There are hundreds of other showy blooms that catch our eye. It’s hard not to buy one of each when we go flower shopping along with potting soil, fertilizer, new pots, gardening gloves, and a wide-brim straw hat that throws itself in our shopping cart. The nurseries love to see us coming.

Once our delicate flowers are potted and placed strategically to bask in the suggested amount of sunlight, Walter and I sit on our veranda drinking lemonade and admiring the beauty of the season. We never know what surprises might pay us a visit—hummingbirds, butterflies, or a new mystery to solve.

Garden Mystery
by Dee Bowlin

Tiny white blooms on willowy stems
bob and sway, though the air is still. 
What’s making them bend then pop 
back up? Now I see—
a pollen-laced,
hard-working
honey
bee.