i spy with one beady eye

weeds & vines, yes, i knew would relish my long sojourn from the garden.  tearing their sticky fingers from the plants they attempt to use as trellises is a constant (and satisfying) chore for me.  i worried most over the raised bed of newly-sprouted flower seeds.  we left them just as i could start to consider the possibility of summer bouquets - zinnias, sunflowers, marigolds, and whatever might come of the 'assorted wildflower mix' that we tossed across the fresh dirt.  happily, the four-by-ten bed was crowded with soon-to-be flowers!  i recruited a willing neighbor to step into our yard nightly and soak them thoroughly with the garden hose.

never giving a second thought to the lavender,

which was thick & full of about-to-bloom stalks -

as it has been every year.

a heady explosion of dusky purple

that calls the bees to our backyard.

the dead-and-dried lavender

i've never had to water it.  it is hardy and predictable.  and, this year, it seemed even more exuberant.  so, when we returned, it took me a day or two to realize that there would be no lavender this year.  i crouched down to inspect a stalk as it occurred to me that i should be seeing a haze of purple rather than the powdery grayness i now encountered.  the flowers were brittle between my fingers.  still lightly scented - but no bee-calling and sachet-making this year.  in fact, my absence (or the hot and dry summer or the vigilant rabbits or the sweet bounty i planted) resulted in a devouring the likes of which i have not before observed in our garden.

the tasty coneflower petals were chomped

like a bad haircut.

virtually every.single.one of my black-eyed susans

were nibbled neatly off their stems.

i'm still trying to figure out how the rabbits

reached these tall flowers.

& why they left one lone stalk of them untouched.

in the raised bed, each sunflower was headless.  the single sunny face that greeted our return disappeared that very night - only a green stalk left to mark its place the next morning.  the rabbits (i am blaming them) seem to avoid the alyssum.  so, i have a flower garden of this:

i was happy to see one of the tall sunflowers emerge intact.

but i should have been more wary.

because this...

 in due course,

was this....

(i'm hoping the rabbit looks worse, but i doubt it.)

i never see more than about two rabbits in our yard at a time.  (of course, do remember the warning in the pet store when you buy two of anything).  it's not like i'm observing an entire motley crew, but they are methodical and thorough, these few bunnies.  when i sowed all the flower seeds this spring, it did not occur to me that i was, in fact, planting them a bunny buffet.  really, this is prime rabbit real estate here.

note the close proximity to the tasty flower field

note the alert ear and startled (read: guilty!) expression

which quickly turned to a rather defiant and insolent one, don't you think?

 stalking the rabbit

i also took a mug shot of this incredibly suspicious-looking bird.

a brown thrasher, no less.

AND caught this other one red-beaked, snatching one of the last berries
from the previously glorified arum italica!

who me?  gulp.  evidence conveniently devoured.

 so, to console myself, i tried to find something...anything in the garden

that was alive and not beady-eyed.

our (pink...sigh) crepe myrtle

amidst the destruction, a remaining black-eyed susan

there are still a few surprises for me each year - and this lily is one of them!

it bursts open from atop tall green stalks -

and, really, it feels as if one day there's nothing

and the next, POOF!

pink lilies galore!

it is one of those flowers that may smell divine

or, actually, may stink.

i can't decide.

fortunately, the white butterfly bush is just now flowering.

this bee seemed quite content to wait for it to do so.

another late summer bloom is the goldenrod, which is one of the 'weeds' i have encouraged in the yard.  (if something's going to give me flowers, i really don't care what its origins might be.)  so far i don't regret it, but it is a very different look for this pink, everything-in-its-place garden we inherited.  my horticultural style is much more eclectic and (deceptively, i would argue) haphazard.  so, the upstart goldenrod stays.

looking across the goldenrod

goldenrod's view of the sky

the late freeze almost killed the fig.  which, also, gave us the opportunity (him not me) to cut it way back.  if it survived the cold and the cutting, i might actually be able to reach the figs this year!  and that is looking to be the scenario ~ so send me your figgy recipes, please!

lastly (because the mosquitoes are starting to swarm), here is my favorite vine in the yard.  not too many make the cut - no flowers? no berries? then OUT with you!  this one, i have loved for a long time.  it is the porcelain vine.  and its berries are iridescent blues and purples - simply lovely.  (note: it is considered an invasive plant & some gardeners get quite riled up about it.  they of the pink & orderly type, i suppose.  this love-hate almost begs for a separate post....)

so, there is promise yet in the garden.  i never doubted it.

but i am a wee bit worried about all the rabbit holes.