A two-shower/three-change day

May 31st turns into a two-shower/three-change day.

 The sky is overcast with temperatures in the low 70s. It’s a perfect cay for planting.  Early morning is spent with zinnias.  Hybridizers had a field day with these natives of Mexico.  From a plant with small insignificant flowers, the zinnia has become a vibrant collection of colors -- yellow, purple, orange, brilliant white -- and an amazing shade of lime green.  By selecting and breeding plants that show pleasing qualities, in this case bright-colored flowers, scientists produced the modern zinnia.  Digging small holes on either side of water wands, I plant five flats of these beauties. 

Two flats of cleome are dehydrated.  It’s best to plant only well-soaked root balls, so I place both flats in shallow plastic trays, add water, and set them in the shade to drink.  Cleome’s common hame is “spider flower.”  The name is apt.  Along the stem, just below an airy flower, long, narrow seedpods swollen at the tip bounce like so many spider legs.  Though cleome reseeds easily, I buy new flats each year to ensure a reliable crop.

I shower and change then shop for summer reading.  The steady work of May will soon recede. Fewer hours in the garden means more leisure, especially during sunny midday hours.  

It’s pleasant on the patio when I return around noon.  Borer bees gather along the trim boards this time of year.  The size of a bumblebee, but shiny and black, borer bees nest in soft wood.  Activity in the eaves is tense and industrious as bees come and go from nesting holes.  To find the right opening -- each perfectly round and half and inch wide --a bee starts at the ridge post then hovers beside the face board like a helicopter.  It swivels to inspect each hole.  Sawdust drops to the deck as a females shoves construction debris from her chosen nesting site.  A brief fray occurs when a male bee collides with a wasp looking for her own papery nest. 

The bees snub me.  Their behavior reminds me of a human trait I dislike.  For the most part, we humans behave as thought we inhabit a world where only we matter.  We overlook other beings who share this planet.  But on the patio today, I am no longer the species taking no notice.  Today, another species takes no notice of me.