Heat Beating Flower Photos: This Week in My Maryland Garden

This morning's walk around my Maryland yard garden showed which flowers can really handle the heat. We've had another heat wave here with triple digit temperatures so I was happy to see so many flowers blooming. Here are my best five floral photos of the day. As you may remember from last week, we have a lovely orange echinacea (coneflower) plant and the bees have found it.

The zinnia plants I started from seed in April are doing great and providing us with lots of "purple" and red flowers. Oddly enough the ones started in March have yet to bloom.

White echinacea (coneflower) with funky petals. Bees and butterflies seem to love echinacea plants of all colors.

 White rose of Sharon with a fiery center. Hummingbirds and bees love these plants.

Drought tolerant day lily. We have a lot of day lilies blooming but I think this is the only variety that hasn't made the blog yet. The day lilies seem to love our Maryland soil.

Hope you enjoyed this week's photographic garden flower tour! I'm thinking of either changing "This Week in My Maryland Garden" to "Floral Fridays" or adding "Floral Fridays" as a separate, new feature (focusing on flowers wherever I happen to be on any given Friday. Which would you prefer to see? May God bless you this summer and always!

Pretty Flowers & Wild Insects: This Week In My Maryland Garden

Moths party on echinacea plants

The moths and bees were all over our giant echinacea (coneflower) when I walked around the yard for this week's Maryland garden flower photo shoot.

Black eyed Susans attract bees

I think that's a bee enjoying our first black eyed Susan bloom of the year.

 A tattered moth enjoys one of our marigold flowers.

 This orange echinacea (coneflower) is the newest addition to our garden.

 I think these pretty white flowers are morning glories. They're vining up one of our rose bushes.

This red and yellow day lily brightens our front yard.

Hope you enjoyed this week's photographic garden tour. May God bless you this summer and always!

Which was your favorite photo this week? What are your favorite summer flowers? What's blooming in your area?

Related posts:
http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/04/tulips-daisies-and-more-flower-photos.html
http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/05/rainy-day-flowers-this-week-in-my.html
http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/04/multicolored-blooms-seedlings-garden.html
http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/06/fun-flowers-and-foliage-this-week-in-my.html
http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/06/hydrangeas-cosmos-primrose-and-day.html
http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/06/pink-purple-and-blue-flowers-this-week.html

 

A New Way To Think About Productivity

Coneflower photo: Robert Louis Stevenson quote
Photograph by Phyllis Wheeler

I love this quote. It's a great reminder to step back from our busy lives and think about what actions we can take today that will make our lives and/or the world a better place tomorrow and in the years to come. It's also a great reminder to take time each day to focus on the big picture instead of the little details of daily living. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy crossing off items on my to do list as much as the next person. But I also make sure that every day there are things on my list that will have a positive influence on my most important values and long term goals (so daily I'm planting seeds that will hopefully bring a rich harvest in terms of my long term goals).

Even more important are the seeds we plant with our attitudes and interactions. Seeds like sharing a smile, helping others, learning to be more patient, volunteering and giving to charity can make the world a better place and while we may not personally see their harvests we can feel good about each little seed we plant.  

So my photograph with the quote by Robert Louis Stevenson ("Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.") is my little seed gift to you today. I truly hope it encourages or inspires you. May God bless you, dear reader!

Discussion (I'd love to hear from you!): What kind of actions are you taking today to make the world a better place tomorrow?