July 8, 2026
Good morning!
It’s Wednesday, and the recent heatwave has prompted several garden inhabitants to speed up their annual mission to be fruitful and multiply. A few weeks early but nevertheless extremely welcome is this year’s generation of hollyhocks, which just began blooming yesterday.
The lower buds are always the first to open. By the time the last buds open at the top of the stalk, this flower will have dropped her skirts and busied herself with the far more important task of making seeds. But first, there are countless bees to feed.
“For me, the meaning of life is the next generation.”
—Grace Paley
Onwards,
Clara
We used to make "dolls" with toothpicks and the various stages from buds to dropped "skirts." A nice memory to start the day with. Thank you!
I miss having hollyhocks! We had a great spot for them at the old house. But I went to visit my pollinator garden that was supposed to be a dye garden yesterday and there are some glorious blooms! I let two mullein stay and they are taller than I am, along with false sunflower, rudbeckia and two native bee balms.
There is supposed to be goldenrod but the deer keep eating it.