The shift from summer into autumn is beautiful. The sun crosses the equator, day and night become nearly equal in length, and slowly, darkness begins to overtake daylight.

I can’t help but look back at summer–the season that led me back to a place I had left twelve years ago. It was humid and hot and strangely nostalgic. Days on the back porch looking out over my favorite potted plants. Evenings shore fishing with my son while rainbows appeared out of nowhere. Dinners with friends. Concerts. Bass fishing, bike rides, and long walks along the golf course with water views.

It was simply… the summer we settled in.

My favorite potted summer plants:

Roses came from my grandparents’ home in Conway, South Carolina, on land that has been in our family for generations. This particular rose sat right outside their carport. It was a favorite. Simple and sweet. It blooms all summer long and even into autumn. A reminder of our unbreakable bond.
Zinnias are a great summer flower. They happily stretch to the sun in bright bold colors.
Yarrow is drought tolerant and you may have seen it grow wild on the side of the road or an abandoned house. Either way it’s great for a garden or pot. The feathery fern-like foliage is so pretty and the blooms are in colors of yellow, white, and red.

This was my first year planting types of Globe Amaranth. They are wild, fabulous, and will be a staple in my summer garden for years to come. I planted Whirling Butterfly Gaura and a Spike Speedwell, a gorgeous perennial with upright spikes of densely packed purple-blue flowers.

Foxtail Ferns were my surprise of the summer. Full sun, watered a few times a week, and almost no fuss… it absolutely thrived. Even the little birds seemed to love it.

Unlike the other homes we have lived in, with their beautiful English-style gardens, this house is mostly potted plants. We believe we’ll only be here for a short season, and I can’t quite bring myself to put my family roses in the ground. I’ve planted and dug them up enough times already. For now, the pots are home.

Maybe there’s something fitting about that. We’re here. We’re settling in. But we know this isn’t forever.

I’m a dreamer. Always have been. While everyone is reminding us to live in the present , part of me will always wonder what’s next. And I think there’s room for both–the present and the dreams.

And then there were the evenings.

Watching sunsets turn into full moon-nights. Lying on the sand as if I were sixteen again, not a care in the world.

perhaps, time is deepening here. you are traveling through the layers of becoming, and it is shaping you. even in the waiting, may you be the one to notice the spiraling galaxies and turning oceans…all that is beautiful in the way it spins into motion. -Morgan Harper Nichols

And before you know it, autumn has arrived.

With Love,
Erica
Salty Blonde Living