We are a green garden...

This is what we say to those who call in July and ask, "What is blooming in the gardens right now?" It's a innocent enough question, especially for those who are visiting from out of town.
However, in the summer, we are even lucky to be able say "we are green..." because sometimes, without lots of rain, things start to take on a withering, dusty, thirsty sort of look that comes from not enough of that elixir from the clouds.

Today, though, I took time on my lunch break to walk my usual course through the back paths - something I'm afraid I haven't done since mid-May. I've been missing those walks. I could always step out and take a turn around the gardens to clear my head from the office "fog", and now, our location makes it less convenient. This was the day I decided to make a point of getting reacquainted with those gravel walkways, and it was a treat.

I was astonished at how very green everything was. This of course means that every shade of green normally represented was that much more of a healthy green for this time of the year.
Most amazing were the beds of wood fern -- close to waist-high in some spots, and thick and plentiful. All green. None of the brown burnt fronds interspersed with the green, and new fiddle-heads everywhere so that one could tell there was still new growth. So, that's what happens when it rains every day in July!

The ferns are happy, and so are the azaleas and camellias. All deep green and leaves open, not drooping and folding up in the heat. The holly ferns look almost as if someone came along and polished them - all shiny and perky. The only thing suffering seems oddly enough to be the grass on the lawn...maybe too much water there!

Even with the 200% humidity, it was good to be back on the property. Eye candy.