Midsummer

This Indian Lilac is in full bloom. This tree was planted by my father almost 40 years ago when we moved here. Knowing this kind of tree could grow very high like a zelkova, we have asked gardeners to cut the branches in a few year interval.

It should have been planted in a large land like a park or a yard of big shrine. This might be complaining that. It still comes out in this season in a year. It is telling arrival of midsummer. 

 

Several weeks ago, I have sowed the seeds of Marie Gold at various corners of the garden, which I had cropped from its flowers last fall. Some of them have grown and their flowers are already coming out beautifully. There were, however, a lot of seeds which had not put out shoots. I almost gave up them thinking that there were seeds not good enough to bud. A kind of selection.

For the past few days, it has been raining on and off. I was so glad to find tiny buds with a couple of young leaves coming out. In this photo, those tiny buds are seen in the center. They may grow after their sibling plants and may please us with beautiful flowers until the end of this summer. This flower is told to reduce the growth of a kind of bacteria in soil which works harmful to vegetables. I may try to plant them in my farms .

Tomatoes are still ripened every day. I harvest some of them and serve fresh salad. Egg plants were not very successful. They have suffered from an illness. Some of them are recovering from it. They may hopefully bear some fruits later in this summer. Pumpkins are growing vividly. A few fruits are growing like this one in the photo below. I was not very patient to mature them after harvest for a few weeks. I will to keep them for the maturing period in cool place. Water melon plants are also growing and a few muskmelons are on their branches. The latter is my 1st experience.  

While getting older, I could not travel far away and am losing physical as well as intellectual capabilities. Maybe, caring for plants/vegetables might be the last thing I could do in my life. Working for things alive is always getting more attractive to me than anything. Aging may lead us to something essential in life, even though it might sound too exaggerated. It is a blessing I could do with them here. Of course, doing with family members and surrounding people is even more important to me. They are most valuable beings in the world.