Going on Vacation

My husband and I leave tomorrow for a much needed vacation to sizzling Washington, DC (to see our daughter), and the Jersey shore (Cape May, not Wildwood).  My computer is on my 3rd floor, which at 10 AM is a comfortable 90 degrees.  At 3 this afternoon, I plan to bake bread on the windowsill.

Before I leave, I want to show a gift from my husband.  We bought a cut-leaf maple several years ago and planted it in a shady part of the garden between two patios.  The tree was surrounded by a motley grouping of hosta and sweet woodruff.  A few years ago, my husband decided to re-arrange the hostas into groupings.  The yellow-green hostas are in the front of the tree - they were all over the place before he got to work.  The same with the sap green hostas to the left.  You could barely see the sweet woodruff.  What he achieved is an almost perfect design.  There is change of texture and color (from the maple down to the hostas, then finally down to the sweet woodruff).  There are big enough blocks of each plant or planting to satisfy the eye.  The beauty of the maple stands out because of this arrangement.  By the way, the sweet woodruff and hosta will spread.  However, the way this area is arranged it will not be a problem.  Each species is robust enough to stand up to its aggressive neighbor.

Here is another picture.  Unfortunately, my photographs do not do justice to the scene.

Finally, I need to add a few pictures of filipendula.  In my post on same, I blathered on and on about how gorgeous the pink of the flower is.  You may have been scratching your head at that one.  That photo was taken before the flower had really hit its stride.  Here are two more photos that do more justice to its glorious pink color.