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Chartreuse is one of my favorite colors for the garden. I love chartreuse foliage as well chartreuse blooms like Lady’s Mantle and lime green Nicotiana. This is a great color for white gardens as well as full color gardens.

Because these plants are plentiful in my garden, I chose to paint the garden furniture at the beach chartreuse. I actually bought this furniture at K-Mart – a great Martha Stewart design. They were originally a natural wood finish and I had them painted to give them some pizzazz!

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One of my favorite garden perennials is Lady’s Mantle. It is an old-fashioned, classic English garden plant and it thrives in my yard in both sun and shade. Not only does it come back every year, but it self-seeds and starts lots of new plants. I use the volunteers to fill in the bare spots in the garden and as under plantings for tall flowers like lilies and roses.

I am intrigued by the distinctive beauty of the leaves; they unfold like a lady’s fan and hold droplets of water that look like cabochon diamonds. The blooms are tiny stars and cover the plants in airy clouds of chartreuse.

I have been making lots of bouquets for the past three or four weeks. I love them in simple little airy arrangements in clear glass. I also use them as filler, like baby’s breath, to showcase larger blossoms.

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Last Friday, my friend Galina and I went out to several u-pick farms east of Salem, OR. We picked blueberries and sweet cherries.

The golden cherries are Rainer and the dark ones Bing. We enjoyed eating the sweet, warm cherries right off the tree.

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I love to spend the longest day of the year at the beach. Looking out to the sea with no earthly interference to the light, the day is lengthened and the light stays longer.

We watched the sunset amidst the dramatic clouds, feeling fortunate that it was not overcast and hidden like it can be this time of year. We savored the last fiery lines of light as the sun gave up the fight for light and the darkness began to rule the night.

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My rose arbor along my front sidewalk is in its full glory, saturated with blooms and filling the air with perfume! When I walk under the trellis, the fragrance is stunning and takes me out of this world and transports me to heaven.

The name of this climbing rose is City of York. It is a classic, old fashioned English rose, sometimes called The Wedding Rose.