Summertime and the Living's Easy

Ah, that's what I'm talking about ~ summer made it, and as hatefully hot as it can get here in the valley, the long hot days to come are welcome -- for now.

I just caught a whiff of peppermint -- someone in the house is spraying some peppermint hydrosol to cool down. Earlier it was lemon and rose. Just smelling these fragrances seems to bring the temperatures down, makes the sticky humidity inside the clothes less gross.

Everything in the garden gets watered at night now so the sun doesn't scorch them to death. Night watering is best, especially tonight, when the moon is full. The plants seem to grow several inches within a short period of time after a night watering. Plus it keeps the nasty kitty butts out of the food gardens.

Now that the heat's on, the flowers in the front garden will slow down blooming. The roses won't, no, they love the heat, but the jasmine will, and the honeysuckle too, to some extent. I'm still planning to make a little honeysuckle liqueur this summer . . .

This afternoon mom brought me a cutting from a 75-year-old lilac bush. It was planted in the front garden of Mrs. Bali just before World War II, around the time her much older husband passed away. The lilac cutting is growing beautifully, and the 75-year-old bush at the old homestead? It bloomed last year for the first time in almost 25 years. Goes to show what a little love will do for an old plant; they're more like us than we think.