Bob Jensen's Set 4 of Favorite Summertime Flowers --- Sunflowers
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Fall Foliage Map --- http://smokymountains.com/fall-foliage-map/

In early September the days grow markedly shorter up here and some foliage colors (mostly reds) are
showing up in our green forests. This week I will feature some flower pictures in our summer.
Summer 2014 was cooler and wetter than a lot of summers. It was not that there was so much rain.
The vegetation is still green and lush in September mostly because our summer rains were so well timed.
Our furnace probably kicked in more often in August than any other August that I can remember up here.

This is me in my outdoor planting and weeding uniform

Erika in the early springtime phlox

In Spring 2014 I hung six birdhouses from the pond garden arbor
Only one of the bird houses was rented this summer --- for five baby wrens

Later in the summer a climbing rose reached the bottom of this bird house

These are the older bird houses on the south side of our cottage
Our bluebirds did not return this summer

The clematis vine gets better every summer

This is the first summer I planted sunflowers.
Mostly I planted the dwarf sunflowers that only grow about two feet tall,
but I also planted three tall sunflower seedlings.
It seemed like it took forever for the small seedlings to double and triple in size

Behind the dwarf sunflower plants is a mature butterfly bush which I think is a hydrangea

Eventually green blossoms formed on every sunflower plant

Eventually the green developing blossoms matured into sunflowers

Did you know that young sunflowers turn as the sun moves across the sky
But after the sunflowers bloom the plants lock into place
Note the adjoining white-flowered bush that butterflies and bees love more than sunflowers

This is a spectacular year for my 40 matured New Guinea impatiens that I will feature
in a future edition of Tidbits.

This year I planted four Japanese maple trees that I ordered from Amazon
They are quite delicate, and I worry about getting them through our hard cold winters
This winter I will wrap them in blankets of burlap
Each summer we stay in a bed and breakfast on the Atlantic Ocean
where there is a spectacular mature Japanese maple.
But winters on the coast are not so severe as winters in the mountains where we live.

These are the tiger lilies of summer in our back yard

Before our wildflower field was mowed in August the weeds were higher than my
head because of all the wonderful rain we had in Summer of 2014

This is what the field looked like beside my barn after mowing the weeds down
The golf course is on the other side of the fence
There are no golfers this summer while the bankrupt Sunset Hill House Hotel
seeks a buyer. The golf course managed by the hotel fortunately can
never be developed into anything but a golf course due to deed restrictions.

This is a view of the empty hotel at the other end of our wildflower field

This is a lookout beside the hotel

Erika has beautiful domestic roses
But she's at war daily with the Japanese Beetles
If it were up to me we would never plant another domestic rose
The beetles don't bother our wild roses or any other flowers except for Erika's roses

And there are quite a few perennials that I don't know (actually can't remember) the blossom names

We have quite a few French lilac bushes (the most aromatic of all our flowers)

This is my wonderful polka weigela that blossoms for about a month
A few blossoms hang on for the rest of the summer

Set 1
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits//SummertimeFavorites/EarlySpringtime/EarlySpringtimeSet01.htm  

Set 2
www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/SummertimeFavorites\EarlySpringtime\Set02\EarlySpringtimeSet02.htm

Phlox  --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2009/tidbits090807.htm
Also see Springtime --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2009/tidbits090603.htm

Set 1 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits//SummertimeFavorites/EarlySpringtime/EarlySpringtimeSet01.htm

My Walk Down Lovers Lane --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2009/tidbits090623.htm 

Set 1 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/SummertimeFavorites/Set01/2010Set01.htm 

Set 2 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/SummertimeFavorites/Set02/2010Set02.htm 

Set 3 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/SummertimeFavorites/Set03/2013Set03.htm

Set 1 of Wild Roses --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/Roses/Wild/Set01/WildRosesSet01.htm
Also see  --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2009/tidbits090807.htm

The Life Cycle of Our Peonies in 2012 ---  
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/Peonies/Set02/PeoniesSet02.htm

Erika's Domestic Roses --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/Roses/Domestic/Set01/DomesticRosesSet01.htm
Also see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/Impatiens/ImpatiensSet02/ImpatiensSet02.htm

The Seasonal Life Cycle of Bob Jensen's Impatiens
Part 1:  May-June
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/Impatiens/ImpatiensSet01/ImpatiensSet01.htm

Erika's Roses and the Seasonal Life Cycle of Bob Jensen's Impatiens
Part 2:  July-August
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/Impatiens/ImpatiensSet02/ImpatiensSet02.htm 

Also see Summertime --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2009/tidbits090702.htm

Fall Foliage Map --- http://smokymountains.com/fall-foliage-map/

More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

I see from my house by the side of the road
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope,
The men who are faint with the strife,
But I turn not away from their smiles and tears,
Both parts of an infinite plan-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
Sam Walter Foss (1858-1911)

On May 14, 2006 I retired from Trinity University after a long and wonderful career as an accounting professor in four universities. I was generously granted "Emeritus" status by the Trustees of Trinity University. My wife and I now live in a cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm

More photographs and history of this (White Mountains) area --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

All my online pictures --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/PictureHistory/

Bob Jensen's threads --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/