High Summer

After a long, wet spring that lasted into July, summer is finally here. Hot weather is forecast all week, with only the chance of thunderstorms to break the torpor. The garden is a crazy mess, sunflowers and morning glories reaching for the sky, everything else surging into the gaps around them.

This time of year the flowers have to compete with animal life for attention, especially goldfinches, hummingbirds, and butterflies. It's a wonderful cacophony.