In just a few days, all the flowers in the garden decided to fade and drop seed. If there’s leaves, it’s crispy and fried. There’s been little to no rain, though the weatherman has promised a strong monsoon season, I haven’t seen rain other than a few drops now and then, nothing to fill the rain barrels. When there’s rain, there’s humidity. Without rain, the humidity is often low to non-existent, which is what’s frying my plants.

There’s no leafy greens at this time of the year. All I can look forward to seem to be tomatoes, cucumbers, and various types of squash.

Thankfully, summer isn’t an eternal thing here. Autumn will come after Labor Day in September. Then, hopefully, flowers will return for one final show.

These are columbine from May. Right now, they are screaming for a dead-heading. A lot of the plants in the garden are screaming for a dead-heading right now, especially the thorny rose bushes. I don’t like thorny things and I can’t put roses in my compost as the branches don’t decompose quickly and I don’t want to get hurt turning the pile. I’ll have to wait until the trash bin is cleared before I can put anything in there.

Anyway, columbine is native to the Rocky Mountain region, which is where I am, though when I visited Rocky Mountain last month, I didn’t see any columbine. Perhaps, they bloom later since they’re so high up. I believe these are in its third season and I hope there are many more to come.

The Flower Hour