Flowers On A Hot Summer Day

It's nice to know that while out illustrious, do-nothing congress holds the country hostage and marriage equality is up for debate and human rights are summarily dismissed in places like Ghana, flowers still blossom, as if nothing is more important than a show of color.

My sister-in-law gave us this hydrangea about seven years ago.  It has never blossomed because I kept trimming back the "dead" shoots in winter.  Finally, Leon was listening to the Plant Lady on the local PBS radio last fall and she said not to cut back the dead wood.  Well, I now have blossoms and, even more special is the fact that it is a Lace Hydrangea - a lacy center surrounded by the large, more typical hydrangea flowers.  I did not expect such a surprise!

The Uncommon But Lovely
Lace Hydrangea

In the Dog Park - a big field where people let their dogs run, the chicory is in bloom - the same cool blue as the hydrangea.

Chicory

Also in bloom is the lowly Queen Anne's Lace, which I always considered weedy and homely, but it does have it's own special loveliness.

See Queen Anne in the center of the flower