A cool day in July

Looking at cleomes

Surely this July in Dallas has set some sort of record for low temperatures.  Even as I sit here writing, the windows are open!  In the middle of summer, in Texas!  No air conditioning on!  Earlier this month Mr. C and I took advantage of another similar day to stroll around the Arboretum, and I can't resist posting a few more photos.  Just as I can't resist snapping photos every time I go there, capturing that day's ephemeral beauty.  There's always something different in bloom or at its prime, as well as changing seasonal plantings.  I especially like browsing the two trial gardens.  That's where we came across the little bunny who seemed unfazed by the attention.  It's not the first time we've spied one there.  I do wonder how the Arboretum handles their wild visitors, such as raccoons, who are no respecters of gardens. Obviously, it's all those not-quite-behind-the-scenes hands toiling to keep this piece of Dallas always perfectly photogenic.

Ornamental peppers

Gebera daisies

Hardy hibiscus

Some type of lily?

Carpe diem

When the thermometer is thrusting past 100º this summer, these are the days one needs to remember in order to keep living here in perspective. We flung to-do lists aside last Thursday to stroll around the Dallas Arboretum, serene in its more subdued hibernal aspect. 

View across White Rock Lake

This spring-like weather is encouraging over-eager blossoms: forsythia, azaleas, tulip tips poking up through beds of pansies. 

Forsythia

Most likely next  month they’ll be rudely rebuffed by a lashing of frigid weather that we’re never quite prepared for.  So for now we’re trying to make the most of these blue skies and balmy temperatures.  Of course, what I really should be doing is cleaning leaves out of the flower beds, to grind up and return as mulch.  Well, maybe tomorrow...

Camellias