I can’t take full credit for these petals.  Cosmos and zinnias, yes and yes. From seeds under lights in April to these pollen pin cushions, flush with color as the warm days hang on –  I helped them get started.

The lisianthus (the pink rosey blooms) and the snapdragons, though – someone else started those seeds back in January or February, and I bought them from the nursery in May.  I squeezed them closer together than the recommended spacing.  I tried to keep them cool, with water on the hottest, driest days.  And I watched skeptically as they hardly grew at all.

Then, one day some of the buds were more colorful than a few days before.  And then, yesterday, there were so many spires of yellow and white and sunset pink – and goblets of petals untwisting in rose and coral, that it was time to bring them home.

Summer, finally.