Today's Flowers and Weekend Flowers: Out and about in early August

I'm going to start with shots I took of flowers at a corner shopping area this week.

The rain and cooler than normal summer has kept the flowers looking fresh.

Normally by August many flowers would be brown and dying back.

This August everywhere I go the flowers look fresh and happy.

It definitely improves my mood when I see lovely flowers all over the place.

The rest of the shots are ones I took at Grace Garden this week.

I love seeing so many yellow flowers.

I like the shades of color in the rose below.

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Today's Flowers and Weekend Snapshot - Memory of my Mother

My mother was born on June 14 in 1924 (died in 1990) and since today is her birthday, I thought I'd begin with her favorite flowers which were yellow roses.
I also think she'd like my multicolored roses with the yellow centers which are in bloom.
If she were still alive for me to pick her a bouquet, I'd also pick some of the blackeyed susan which are blooming in my garden, like the one below.
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Nature Notes and Weekend Snapshot: Heading into Summer with a Splash

The first shot is the only one which wasn't taken this week or weekend but I've been meaning to use it for a post and it's a fairly recent shot.
It cracked me up because the bird looked like it was floating on its back or maybe doing a birdie version of a backstroke.
I love the way my subdivision is canopied in green this time of year. I also like bare trees against the sky in the winter but the shade is great in the summer. The shot above was taken this week in the subdivision where I live. The shot below was taken this week at Duke University and the sea of green is also apparent there. At first I was pleased that I was able to take a bunch of photographs of the cardinal below and then I started worrying about him because he wasn't moving at all. I ended up walking onto my deck to make sure he was ok and he flew off so I was relieved that he didn't seem injured. There are so many flowers starting to bloom that each day I check to see if any new ones are adding their splash of color to my garden.
We are continuing to have rain at least a few days a week which is keeping everything fresh as the heat sets in.I was please to see the first morning glories of the season blooming. I do so love them.
Only a few of the purple cone flower are blooming but there are lots of buds holding the promise of more to come.
I took the last shot outside my dermatologist's office building. I always enjoy seeing the planters filled with colorful plants in the summer which many offices have.
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Nature Notes and Weekend Snapshot: Wildlife is a buzzing

Saturday I went outside into my back garden to try and photograph the colorful moths and butterflies for my nature notes/weekend snapshot post.
I have so many plants attracting the colorful moths and butterflies the it should be easy to photograph them but there are also a zillion bees.The bees are more interested in the flowers than they are in me but the quantity makes it hard to walk through them. I had a big fat bumblebee land on my shirt. It didn't sting me but it took awhile for it to move which was a little unnerving.The blackberries are starting to set their fruit and I can't wait. I love blackberries and I have a lot of them.The next shot shows the bottom part of my garden close to my house and the blackberry vines are a large mass to the left and the butterfly weed, yarrow, hibiscus, purple cone flower, orientalis, coriopsis, black eyed susan, and others are on the right although most aren't blooming yet.Facing my greenhouse and storage building which are up the hill in the back away from my house, you get an idea of how hard walking through the wildflowers and perennials which are filled with bees as well as butterflies can be.It's hard to see what's blooming until I walk through my garden and up to specific beds. The larkspur is in bloom which is a favorite of mine.A few coriopsis are beginning to bloom, although only the large ones not the miniatures.
Some of the gerber daisies started blooming quite early which I've posted about before and there are still some yet to bloom. I like it when some of the blooms are staggered although these daisies will bloom off and only until the autumn.The white yarrow is blooming although the yed and yellow yarrow aren't blooming yet.I'm pretty sure I've posted the early hydrangea blooms but they are becoming bluer and fuller by the minute. The cardinals continue to pop in and out of the trees like temporary flowers.
I'll end with a shot from my morning walk on the greenway trail near my house and boy is it green.Please visit Nature Notes and Weekend Snapshot for other participants.

Nature Notes and Weekend Snapshot - Sights of Late Spring

This has been a pleasant spring where I live. Maybe a little on the wet side but that beats the alternative. It's also been cooler than usual but now that it's getting hot, I am reminded why I like the cooler weather. There is so much going on in the natural world. This rabbit stopped in front of my neighbor's garage for an extended photo shoot.
I often meet the neighborhood cats before I meet the new neighbors they are attached to. The cat below is new to the neighborhood or at least new to my deck. It's amazing how many different cats come and hang out on my deck until I ask them to please leave so the birds can come out of the trees for a bath.
Alright little robin redbreast it's safe for you once again. Feel free to come down for a dip.
It's also nice to see the children outside playing although it makes me nervous when they skate board and ride their scooters in grocery store parking lots as these kids were doing today.
The little buggies are starting to hang out with the flowers. I enjoy finding them in macro shots where I didn't even know there were bugs until I downloaded the shots.
The bugs in both of these shots are the size of seeds and I actually thought they were seeds when I took the macro shots.The hydrangea bushes are started to form their flowers although they are a ways off from the bright blue blossoms they will have in a few weeks.
It's also nice to see my ornamental grasses beginning to grow back and form plumes. The plume below is on a variety called orientalis which I like because of it's redish almost purple tinge.I was pleased that my iceplant survived past droughts. It died back early during a previous drought but continued to return in the spring.The last shot is almost unrecognizable as an iceplant flower because they are so tiny and I got so close with the macro shot that it almost looks like a daisy. The shot above is also a macro so the actual flowers are even smaller than that shot too.To visit other participants, please go to the home of Nature Notes and/or Weekend Snapshot.