Since It's Summer...

With the onslaught of 85+ degree weather we are having this week, I thought I'd take a minute to pay tribute to a few of the flowers I saw at the end of summer...the real summer.  I spent an afternoon at the Arboretum and saw these.  SO pretty and some very unique ones!  If only my garden could look like this.  Wait...if only I had a garden.  Wait...I'd probably only have a garden if it was guaranteed to look like this.  Vicious cycle.

I think I can name this one: Hydrangea.  This was probably the most common looking flower I saw all afternoon.  I've admired the blue ones in stores, but they really don't go with our exterior.  That and they always seemed to get ridiculously huge.  So, I guess the point is, I will continue to admire them in stores.

I thought this had such lovely petals and so many of them!  I loved the wispiness (yes, I just made up the word AND spelling.  Multitasker.)

I turned around and these were about my height and, quite frankly, scared the daylights out of me.  I think they are a form of day-lilies.  I thought the curled petals meant they were dehydrated, but they all curled, so I guess it was on purpose.  

They also came in pink, though I was more prepared and these didn't scare me at all.

I really had to study these.  Again, I thought the groundskeepers were a little lax in watering, but these petals seem to be the norm.  I especially loved the middle - it looks like it's almost glowing!

And talk about unique!  This caught my eye because I thought they were two flowers squished together!  Nope...just some type of Siamese Twin, I've decided.  Loved it!  Even the petals are split down the middle in color!  So cool.

This bee was absolutely frightening.  Thank goodness for a mega-zoom lens.  I was a safe distance away while he did his thing.

I just loved the repetitiveness of this flower.  One color, a crazy amount of petals.  Simply but very pretty, bright and fun!

These were located right in the entrance.  A little field area of them backed by dark purple leaves.  Don't they just seem to be peeking up saying in a tiny voice, "Look at me! Look at me!"

The flowers were located near this hut.  I really wish I could have seen this being built.  Doesn't it look a bit like someone peeking out of the ground?

This was one of my favorite flowers.  The center almost looks fake when you view it large and the petals were massive - some the size of my hand!  They remind me of poppies of which I've become a recent fan.

But I'll end with the flower that most reminds me of the transition to fall...

Doesn't the center look like an upside down acorn?  I saw acorns in abundance today so autumn weather must be somewhere around the corner!