The View from Here: colours of July

… from the garden

It is high summer.  We’ve had some very fine weather but also brumous days when the mist and clouds merge and don’t lift all day, and smuggy days when the humidity hits hard and strong.  But we have escaped the fiercest temperatures of this month.  There are occasional compensations for living in an area that is wetter, milder and more temperate than most.

On a personal note, energy of all kinds has been lacking, not entirely a result of the heat.  While I wait for balance to be restored, and before we lose July for yet another year, I’ll continue with another short post documenting this warm and almost entirely dry high summer.  Visually rather than in words.  Words require energy.

This time, the colours of July from the garden.  Earthbound and skyward.

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Sunrises filled with golden promise …

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… encapsulated in the hues of yellow roses from bud to blowsy

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Some evenings have seen dramatic blues as the day waned and the winds sent the turbine sails whirring.

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But a closer look at theatrical skies will find other shades

such as lilac and white echoed in delicate sweet peas.

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Fruit salad hues flirting on the edges of twilight are sumptuously echoed in evening roses and reflected in the full-blown glory of a spectacular sunset.

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Sweet peas still select from the palette…

… whilst day lilies, Gertrude Jekyll,

echinacea and calendula hold a mirror to vibrant skies. 

Today, on this penultimate day of the month, the skies are pearly-grey.  I expect to see showers, not sunshine.

cloudy skies

There are still counterparts in the garden…

… though Madame Alfred looks better against blue skies than grey.

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Perhaps she is best entirely unadorned.

 

 

54 thoughts on “The View from Here: colours of July”

  2. Ah, you see the wonderful sunsets from your garden too. Although I haven’t noticed many this month. I do hope you recover your energy soon. I think the humidity takes it out on us as we get older. I know it does me. Having the soaking rain today has been welcome as the garden desperately needed a good soaking, but I do hope that we return to some blue skies and sunshine for August. (BTW you must have a different time zone in your south-east corner, here we still have two days left of July :-D)

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    1. Ha yes! 😁 I must try to remember how many days there are in July! I’ll blame it on being so tired – and I’ll blame that on the heat 😉 The sunsets were clustered at the start of the month here; no chance of anything special this evening. The rain is incessant. But as you say, it is needed 🙂

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  3. What beautiful photos. I love Madame Alfred C but mine is back in my old garden. I hope the new people are taking care of her.

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    1. I hope they are too, Katrina. Madame Alfred was one of the things I brought with me when we moved. She was given as a gift and I didn;t want to leave her, plus she really wasn’t happy in her original site. She’s thriving now!

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    1. Thank you, Stargazer; there really is something special about sunsets. And thanks for your good wishes. I’ll pick up again soon and I’m hoping this time around that I can avoid dropping off the blogosphere 🤞 😁

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    1. I am not a photographer. But point and shoot seems to bring reasonable results most of the time. (Until I look at some ‘real’ photographers’ efforts… 🙄 )

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    1. Our garden is very much a work in progress which is why I tend to focus on individual flowers rather than garden vistas. The hope is that one day it will all come together!

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  13. What a nice idea, pairing the photos of skies and flowers–I wish I’d thought of it! Energy is low here this month, too–maybe we need brisk autumn breezes to invigorate us . . .

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    1. Feel free to pair away, Kerry, I’d love to see more of your beautiful garden 🙂 Funny you should mention those brisk autumn breezes – it’s very autumnal here today and I confess that I’m reminded that underneath everything I’m much more of an autumn soul than a summer one. That said, I’m not wishing summer away just yet!

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  14. Lovely Sandra. I’m always fascinated by the subtle shift of the colour wheel as the Summer deepens- how it all intensifies leading into harvest time and culminating in the brilliance of Autumn. Sadly , the swifts have gone from here so we’re heading that way. xxx

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    1. Pat, I was astonished to see what I am fairly sure were swifts in Bugesss Hill when I was there. I certainly don’t recall them when I lived in nearby Haywards Heath. Perhaps they too have departed now. We still have our swallows for a while longer…

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      1. It’s been a better year for the swifts after a slow start. Not, I suspect up to the numbers of 20 years ago when there were more unmodernised roofs to nest in, but wonderful all the same. I miss their gambolling flight and accompanying shrieks. i’m pleased to hear that they are finding new areas to visit. Summer would not be the same for me without them, and summer once they’ve gone is summer over. I have always considered August to be the beginning of Autumn- your season. xxx

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        1. I wonder why we have no swifts down here. As for August – I confess that it’s one of my least favourite months. I think by August’s arrival I’ve had enough summer 🙂

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  18. Sandra, I find it hard to believe that you have so much rain – while we are fed up with endless HOT HOT HOT days and not a drop of rain for weeks. We had some very much needed rain last Friday night, which was a heavenly gift, as normally we would have weeks on end of heat and then a pooring down in an amount that the poor soil can’t take it but not this one time! I even watered the garden for a good hour because I wanted the plants and the earth be able to take in the water when and IF it came. I am like an elderly veggie these weeks, no energy and no wish to do anything at all – I’m reading book after book, watch some silly YouTube videos and drink lots of liquids…. But normally, we should now be in Devon and have a fantastic week of visiting friends, going to music school, doing fish&chips on beaches – and not sit, resp. work in France/Switzerland —– what have we become?!
    Take much care, be kind to yourself and get your strength and courage back! 🙂

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    1. Ah Kiki, we can commiserate with each other! I do hope you pick up again very soon. You made me smile with your image of an elderly veggie! Our summer here has been dry overall; it’s just the last day or two where we’ve had significant – and much needed – rain. Further north it’s a different story.

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  20. You have matched the hues of the skies with the flowers on the ground in a way that whispers of a secret connection between the them. Those rare deeply moody and beautiful images.

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  22. Beautiful photos, both of flowers & the gorgeous moody skies (especially the sunset, love that one). I hope you manage some rest & that your energy picks up a little soon, Sandra 😊
    Caz xx

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