If you haven’t noticed, summer’s here. When you think of summer you probably think of heat. They kind of go together. Kind of like peas and carrots. Honestly, I never really understood why peas and carrots went together. One is a root and the other a vine. I get pork and beans and the whole summer barbecue thing. How about tomatoes and calcium? Do they go together? Sure they do. A bit of calcium creates a strong stem to support the tomato. The Arm & Hammer goes together only because it was baking soda. We all grew up staring at the box in our refrigerator.
How about Cap’n Crunch and Shark Tank? Do they go together? Sure they do. Do you sit on the couch watching an episode of Shark Tank while feeding yourself Cap’n Crunch by hand out of a milk-less bowl? I do. So, I say they go together.
When I think of summer, I don’t think of heat. I think of flowers. Summer and flowers go together. When you think of the birds and the bees, do you think of a bird and a bee? Or, well, do you think of babies?
Summer to me is about flowers and the smiles they offer.
Summer and dahlias go together. At the nursery we have beautiful colors to choose from. Going dormant in the winter and faithfully emerging in the summer.
Summer and echinaceas go together. This prairie flower is by far one of the most dependable perennials you can have in your garden. Echinaceas and deer go together. They’re deer resistant.
Summer and the butterfly bush go together. Butterflies love butterfly bushes. Makes more sense than peas and carrots, doesn’t it.
When I think of summer I also think of daylilies and Adrian. Adrian, what are you doing in the picture? Daylilies are as dependable as echinaceas in the garden. We have many beautiful, hard to find daylilies at High-Hand. Did you know that daylilies are actually edible? So, we can put them in the peas and carrots category. A root, a vine and a flower, Yum, yum.
Bees and lavender go together. Good news. This Saturday, June 9th, is Lavender Day at Maple Rock.
Let’s talk about bees. Here are the rules for picking lavender at Maple Rock.
When walking through lavender walk gently. The bees have the right of way. Know that they’re not interested in you. They’re punch drunk gathering pollen.
Don’t dress like a flower. Solid colors like grey work well.
Don’t smell. Don’t wear perfume.
Wear gloves and bring your favorite pair of clippers and a container or bag for your lavender.
People got stung last year, but not as many as you would think. Most of the bee stings happened when people put lavender down on the ground and were not aware of grabbing a bee when they picked it up. Holding a bouquet of lavender close to your face will put you in close proximity to a bee.
Sit and relax amongst the shade of the trees. You can bring a picnic lunch if you would like.
We will not be serving food. However, we will have lavender lemonade and lavender cookies available.
You can pay at the door. It’s $10 and parking is always free.
Good news! Mother Nature has allowed us to repeat Lavender Day on Saturday, June 16th. So, if that works for you it’ll work for us.
Coming to either Lavender Day? RSVP by choosing the date you are interested in:
Click here for tickets to the June 9th Lavender Picking
Click here for tickets to the June 16th Lavender Picking
So, make it a High-Hand day if you wish on June 16th. Join Robin Stockwell, Sunset Magazine’s guru of succulents for Succulent Extravaganza at High-Hand. Then, you can also head over to Maple Rock that Saturday to pick some lavender.
Here’s the program. Robin will be talking two times. Once at 10:00 a.m. and once at 1:00 p.m. Make a reservation for breakfast or make a reservation for lunch and then go sit down and listen to Mr. Succulent talk. He wrote a book. It’s a pretty cool one. We’ll have it for sale. Pick one up while they last. It’s truly a beautiful book filled with lots of inspirational ideas.
Did I say you can shop until you drop for succulents? See you on June 16th. Both lectures are full, don’t worry. There is standing room and shopping to do and books to buy. We only have so many chairs to set up.
Have you been to Dory’s workshops at High-Hand Mercantile? Pretty cool.
This was her most recent workshop. Too bad you missed it, unless you’re one of the ones in the picture. Sorry if you didn’t want your image published. Oh, well.
So, what’s Dory’s next workshop? Lavender wreaths.
June 23, 10 a.m. join Dory as she takes you through, step by step, how to make a lavender wreath. The class is $65.00. Light treats and, yes, mimosas. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
Summer is about trains and Maple Rock Garden’s Train Day.
Train Day is a Maple Rock exclusive. Who doesn’t like trains? Tickets can be purchased by clicking here, at the nursery or at Maple Rock on the day of the event. All aboard for Train Day.
I’ve talked about the bees. When I think about bees, I don’t think about babies, but without the birds and the bees I suppose there would be no babies.
I took this picture at Maple Rock. I did not zoom in. I was able to move my phone this close to a Robin. She was so still. So fearless and I discovered why. Birds and the bees are about babies.
I’ve watched Mr. and Mrs. Robin protect their nest and have been completely amazed when watching Mrs. Robin pluck a worm from nowhere out of the ground.
For a bit it was hard to tell how many babies were in the nest. How many can you see?
There’s three! What a difference a week makes. Awkward little things aren’t they?
So, the mystery has been solved for me. The birds and the bees do equal babies. I’ll keep you posted about the progress of Maple Rock’s baby Robins.
Let me recap everything for you. Now that we’ve learned that a carrot is a root and a pea is a vine and really shouldn’t go together, here’s what does go together:
- June 9th – Maple Rock Garden’s Lavender Day
- June 16th – High-Hand Nursery’s Succulent Extravaganza
- June 16th – Lavender Day rebooted at Maple Rock Gardens
- June 23rd – Dory (like the fish) and her Lavender Wreath Workshop at High-Hand Mercantile.
- September 15th – Maple Rock Garden’s Train Day
Still wondering about Shark Tank and Cap’n Crunch? Try it. Trust me. They go together.
See you at High-Hand Nursery and experience the blooms of summer.
Scott