Offspring In The Neighborhood!

Not long after we moved here to New Hampshire, really just a few weeks, I was out exploring while my kids were in school and I was driving down Washington Rd. in Rye off Route 1 and noticed some blood red dahlias growing inside a stone wall.  I thought it was such a gorgeous sight.  And year after year, those same dahlias kept appearing every late summer when I took the time to drive down that road.  Well guess what?  I now have some of the offspring of those dahlias growing in my own Rye yard this late summer!  And I have noticed those same dahlias growing in many yards in this village of mine.  Here is how this happened.

In early May this year I was driving down Central Rd heading to Portsmouth and I noticed a sign at the end of a driveway announcing that there were free dahlia tubers to be had.  I slammed on my brakes!  I had already ordered quite a few dahlias to plant but free ones?  Yes please.  More dahlias!  The gentleman giving them away said that almost 20 years ago he had planted a dozen dark red dahlias over at his parents house on Washington Road and since then they had multiplied into the hundreds and hundreds as he dug them up every late fall and gave away the offspring each spring.  Now I know why I see them every where and I am so pleased to have some of my own to carry on.

 The Washington Road wall where I first noticed them.

 Now the neighborhood offspring displays.

This pic above and the one below are the ones in my yard.

And now I will end this post with a few pictures of summer New Hampshire gorgeousness!

 From a foggy walk the other night above and below.

 A glorious Pee Gee Hydrangea hedge on Cable Ave in Rye.

 The sun near dusk lighting up boats in New Castle Harbor above.

 New Castle Harbor

 New Castle Harbor.  Did you know they just opened a Green Bean restaurant right at this location?
 Our Rye yard apple tree makes stupendous pies!!!

Carmelizing cherry tomatoes from our garden in butter and sugar and oregano, then adding balsamic vinegar and cooking to reduce, then roast in oven at 400 for 1/2 hour.  We ate these tonight over thick toasted Poilane sourdough (from the famous bakery in Paris - we still had some in our freezer from our December trip carried across the ocean in my backpack), and pesto made from our garden basil - Yum!

Come Along On A Morning Walk With Me

There is a 3.5 mile loop that I like to walk - most of the time I or we seem to do it in the evening hours but the other day when we had a bunch of family staying at our house sleeping in very late I took off while no one would even notice I was gone.  Come along - it's quite lovely.

Leaving the yard, turning a corner and there's the ocean just beyond that far tree.

Looking backward at my house.

This is a very large and old maple tree on the corner.  If you look carefully to the right of it at a tree in the next yard, you barely see a guy mowing his lawn right in front of that tree and you can tell how huge this one in front is - the girth is tremendous and it has a twin on the other side of the driveway.

Then comes a marsh and below across the street a lovely golf course.

This route I start on a back road that eventually loops to the sea.

Peeks in to yards I pass on this back road.

There's a glimpse of the sea through this yard as I get closer.

This gate leads to the perennial gardens at the historic Fuller Gardens.  This place has a glorious rose garden, japanese garden within a dark Rhododendron forest full of little bridges and koi ponds that eventually leads out in to a bright and beautiful perennial garden.  As I zoom in the two pics below you see a glimpse of it and you aren't able to see more unless you pay to enter.

Across the street from the Fuller Gardens.  Below is a non denominational tiny church next door.  Adorable and only holding summer services.

At this house I turn a corner and I'm at the ocean.  Across the street at this corner, a new stone wall is being constructed.

Have you ever smelled a beach rose?  Like myrrh and clove.

Two very large homes next to each other (the one on the left can't be seen here) with lawns that blend together have their lawn people cut with differing patterns to distinguish the property line.

Little surfers in the distance as I round the bend.

Here I am passing the entrance to my street but I won't go down it, rather I keep going along the ocean path.

This one looks out across the street at the scene in the pic below.

I leave the sea and turn down Sea road appropriately named.

Another huge tree I love to look at.

I'm crazy about gates within stone walls.

My neighbor across the street - I cross daily to look at their gardens.

And home!  Dan is running errands and the guests are still asleep!