Still Life

The continual hot weather here means that the soil is drying out and the gardener doesn't want to go out in the heat to weed the garden. So "planting" metal ornaments sounded quite appealing!  Although these photos aren't very clear (I took them rather than the resident photographer who does a much better job of it) they show the latest additions to the garden.  The local dollar store had some cute painted metal cats (blue, orange and white) and I couldn't resist. I know they will probably be rusting within a year or two but hopefully that will still look suitably charming in the back yard….which sports a couple of flamingos which did cost considerably more….and are already rusting.

The blue cat sits in front of a flowering almond bush which has pretty pink flowers in spring.  There are purple heucheras behind the cat but they are not very visible in the shot. The orange cat has a Golden dwarf Japanese barberry bush behind it (stays small and compact, with bright lemony yellow leaves all summer), with the yellow flowered lysimachia and a vine which started as a piece cut off the vine which grows up the side of house.  The white cat really stands out in the early evening and is actually surrounded by purple flowers (magenta purple salvia to left, soft blue lilac coloured salvia behind and the remnants of some deep purple bachelor buttons to the right.)

I missed a great opportunity to capture a true cat "still life" earlier in the week...Spike was curled up in the chair by the front window fast asleep.  A dog was walking by outside and within 30 seconds all 3 dogs were gathered around the chair, woofing loudly. Even the pup added in a few yips for good measure. Through all this cacophony of noise, Spike stayed soundly sleeping. Sure enough, by the time I tracked down the camera, the dog outside had disappeared and woofers inside had headed back to their respective napping spots.  Even though Spike was still fast asleep, the irony of the "still life" photo op was gone!