The calendar says Sept 4th,
3 days after Labor Day,
the traditional “end of summer”.
In my garden though, summer is still here!
Each morning, I get to enjoy seeing the flowers that still grace the space outside my kitchen door.
And thankfully, my basil is still growing beautifully!
It’s been awhile since I’ve attempted some macro shooting (even though I don’t have a macro lens) and I decided I needed practice. You, my dear blogger friends, are my guinea pigs. As fall approaches, I’ll definitely be practicing more!
In the meantime, I want to thank you for inspiring me with your craft, whatever it may be; for making me laugh; for causing me to sigh with both happiness and in thought, and for being here on WordPress with me!
Life on the Bike and other Fab Things 
I love yellow flowers. They bring such happiness to the world. 🙂
I completely agree with you! The plan is to put MORE yellow in the yard next year! and some sunflowers 🙂
Beautiful. It’s time to hang onto those precious floral ornaments as long as you can.
No doubt about that!
Wow! Your basil is gorgeous (as is your photography!!!!)! Do you make pesto?? I didn’t grow it this year but have in the past and frozen pesto batches……freezes beautifully. We seem to eat a lot of that and roasted garlic (our final yield this year was pretty good!)!
I do love Pesto and make it several times a summer, freezing the leftover. It’s so deliciously yummy, I feel like I need to get a mini-food processor and make fresh every day 🙂
You grow your own garlic? how cool is that! Never tried, but a friend of mine has had good success with it.
We’ve grown it for many years…….all my recipes get a healthy dose of it!! LOL! Just have to remember to get it in the ground in the Fall!!!
Well we hit 92 degrees down here in Charleston SC area so I agree wholeheartedly w your title Laurie. And I’m insanely jealous of your beautiful basil!
Oh my, 90 degrees. We’ve only hit that mark a few times this summer (not typical for us). My son moved from Charleston to Atlanta, so my explorations of your beautiful city are on hold for a bit.
By the way, I’m not sure if you are a reader or not, but my bookgroup just read “The Invention of Wings’, which is about the Grimke sisters of Charleston. Have you been by the Grimke home?
Yes, loved the book and have been to the home. They were amazing!
It’s a consensus. Beautiful photos and we are all on our way over to taste that basil.
Oh wouldn’t that be fun, Bruce? We could have such a delicious blogger dinner party (casual of course!)
The flower images look great Laurie but the basil looks absolutely delicious. Now I’m going to have to make Pesto tonight 🙂
Yum! I do love some pesto! In fact, I was just telling Doreen that “I feel like I need to get a mini-food processor and make fresh every day” 🙂
Don’t forget the Pine nuts Laurie 🙂 When I used to grow basil we ate a lot of pesto. I don’t grow anything now because of all the bunnies that visit our yard.
Depth of field on the Basil is excellent
Thanks Mate (you know how I love to say that … does it totally annoy you?).
I’m thinking I could have just posted the basil picture 🙂
Calling me mate is fine, with my background it is just like a nickname 🙂 I intend to try some macros with a tripod to see how much depth of field I can get, if its any good i will post them 🙂
Wow ~ your basil looks so good! I haven’t had good luck with my basil this year…
It’s been such a treat! usually I can grow enough to keep up with my insatiable appetite for basil, but this year, the crop has been abundant. Maybe all the rain? I also grow it in an Earthbox, not sure if you’ve heard of that or not
http://earthbox.com/earthbox-systems/the-original-earthbox-gardening-system.html
Your basil looks delicious! It appears summer has returned here in Ontario the past few days. I am certain it is not for long but taking advantage of the warm air while we can!
No doubt you hang on to those warm days for as long as possible! I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to do some basil sharing 🙂 come on down if you want some!
Bruce got it right, ha ha. Glad you’re on WordPress and I’m happy to be a macro shot guinea pig.
Ha!! Well, Ms Guinea Pig, Let’s have a basil party!!
Thank you, Crystal!
It’s all looking glorious today in your garden LB. We are sadly on the downhill slide. I’ve had to empty one pot it’s so gangly and spent. Oh well, it was a fun party while it lasted. I don’t know what the pink flowers are but that’s an amazing shot, love all the crystal clear water beads. It’s like dripping in diamonds.
I am in owe of your Basil. Look how fresh and green and shiny it is. I’ve obviously only bought it half wilted at the market. Still tasty with dinner but yours is the Farrah Faucet of Basil, sooooo pretty. 😀 Thanks for the tour and have a great weekend! wok
I don’t know what that pink flower is either – a friend gave it to me for my birthday and it’s been just gorgeous all summer. We’ve have so much rain that all my flowers (and I’m no Alys in the gardening department) have just been beautiful!
I LOVE having the Farrah Faucet of Basil 🙂
XOXO
Glorious photos, Laurie. I was just thinking about you and your basil the other day. Yours is still going strong.
Mine flowered while I was in Canada, but I’m pinching the flowers back anyway, hoping to get a few more weeks of production from the plant. That smell never gets old.
I wish I could share some of our east coast rain with you!! I’m sure that is why it’s been so prolific this year.
Ah! That smell! I like to rub a leaf on my pulse points like perfume (although, really, if I think I’m going to attract a man, I’d best use bacon – another fave!)
You may attract a tall, dark and handsome Italian who loves that you smell like basil.
Good heavens LB – what stunning photos! And are you really expecting us to believe that basil is real? It is so perfectly green and shiny that it cannot be – where are the insect bites, the brown edges, the dusty specks, the dying leaves, the aging plant? What kind of magic are you sprinkling over your garden? I would like some please 🙂
It is pretty spectacular, isnt’ it? All credit to Mother Nature!
By the way, Pauline. A young patient of mine came in today and told me that she’ll be spending 3 months in New Zealand volunteering with an organization called WOOFF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). Have you heard of this organization? It sounded so cool!!
http://www.wwoof.net/
Beautiful!
❤ Summer!
Thank you!!
Wonderful shots of a lingering summer…..my basil is being munched by something other than me at the moment!
Oh I sympathize ,,, basil is one of the few things that survived the darn critters!