I’ve been participating in the Summer of Sketching challenge on Instagram. The theme for last week was “nature”. I had many ideas of what to create, being inspired daily by my garden and the beauty of the outdoor environment everywhere I go. Eventually I decided it would be fun to develop a thorny-looking, vaguely Medieval lettering style for the simple statement, “I love roses", write it out in Indian Red colored pencil, and then drop a freshly-cut rose between the letters. I like how this came out. Maybe if I illustrate the rose in colored pencil as well, it would make a cool t-shirt design.

On a recent morning I was appreciating the cool, misty weather while observing how my bright flowers stand out against the pale grey sky. The elegant coral gladiolus, a profusion of yellow and orange nasturtiums, and the red megawatt begonias are all so pretty along the north side of the yard right now. At the southeast corner, a nearly-fluorescent cherry pink “tidal wave” petunia tumbles into the pathway, complementing tall yellow roses, more red begonias, and mauve lilies. I took a few pictures in this soft overcast light before the sun came out fully, encouraging everything to grow even more. How I love summers in Santa Cruz!

Along the eaves of the house, I have seven hooks for hanging plants. The newest of these is a fucshia given to me by my friend Patti, who is moving soon. The fuchsia hadn’t bloomed for a while, and was looking a bit spindly, but I gave it fertilizer and watered it well for a few weeks. Patti hadn’t remembered if this was a pink/purple or white/pink variety, but this weekend I saw that it's forming white buds. While the fully opened flowers on a fuchsia are delightful (my friend Gretchen calls them “ballerina flowers”), I think the reddish stems, delicate leaves and little buds are also worthy of notice. At this point I have a tall fuchsia planted in the ground and three smaller ones in hanging pots. They are fairly easy to care for, bloom for many months in our climate, and the flowers dry well for my potpourri.