Summer solstice

Well, just as I am getting ready to leave, a whole wack of new 'neighbours' are moving into my garden... I have two Northern Flicker woodpeckers, who have made a home for themselves in our maple tree. A branch came down recently and it turns out that carpener ants or some sort of beetle has infested our beautiful maple and has started to kill some of its boughs. The good thing about this is that the remaining dead trunk at the top of the tree has provided the birds ample space to make a little nest hole, and they're busily clearing the tree of all the evil parasites that are causing it to fall down. So a win-win for my garden I think. :) I also had a bluejay come today, just before a thunderstorm, and he tried to scope out the woodpeckers' hole. Lucky for him he decided against it because the male returned home about two minutes after the Jay left, to take shelter just before it rained (and Cricket and I did shortly afterward as it started to pour right after the thunder rolled above us)...
We're coming up on summer solstice, and, as I have read, this is a holiday to celebrate nature's abundance. I do have to say that this year has been a rewarding year so far in that all my plants that were transplanted to their new homes last year (and in a couple cases, two summer's ago), have started to flourish again (just before I have to move them again). My rose buds are opening, my peonies, while they have no flowers this year, are big and bushy looking, my wild and upright thymes are speading like wildfire, and my lovage is taller than I am (must figure out what you actually do with this herb)... Even my gardenia, which I thought was never going to make it, as started to sprout fresh new leaves. Other plants will probably benefit from the move because my new yard offers a lot more sun, whereas our current yard is very shady. So my mints, lavendar, basil and lillies will probably be happier (and bigger).

Another flower I intend to plant more of is allium - I planted a few purple ones last year (and it's a shame I let two of the bulbs die because I couldn't think of where to plant them). They opened up into beautiful big flowers. I'll have to post pictures later, as I've lost my cord for the camera... :(