Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

Welcome to my garden in July! The hanging baskets have filled out. The wintersown Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate have reached the bottom of one of the baskets and have just begun to bloom.


The Nikko Blue hydrangeas are past their prime. I love this transient color as they fade.


The Strawberry Jar Experiment has been wildly successful. I didn’t have to raise it on bricks. The nasturtium foliage exploded over the asters. Interspersed among the leaves are orange and yellow blossoms.


My newest hosta, given to me by a Special Gardener and then nearly destroyed when I stepped on it, is blooming. I’ve never seen striped hosta flowers.


The Entry Garden continues to disappoint. The only annuals that germinated and grew were Bachelor’s Buttons.


Muscadet gets more spectacular every day. I have high hopes for the rest of the lilies. I’m slowly learning what grows well here. Yarrow and lavender, both past their prime now, in particular love this bed.


I think this is probably the last GBBD for the pansies. They have held up amazingly in the heat.




The squirrels seem to have lost interest in digging in my containers. Both the New Guinea impatiens and the impatiens have grown up enough to hide most of the damage.


Here’s another example of unplanned plantings. I love the look of the Echinacea and Lunaria.


Right next door, Shasta Daisies.


I don’t know what these are. They came as a freebie with a plant order years ago. No matter how much I abuse them, they come up faithfully year after year.


I can’t figure out how the liatris survives in my shade garden with just a tiny bit of sun every morning.




The reds of the Hummingbird Garden surrounded by . . .





Rudbeckia is everywhere!



Here’s another successful experiment. Morning glories climbing the trellis to which I added string.


Morning glories climbing the Ugly Green Fence. And more rudbeckia.


The petunias are nearly hidden now by balsam. . .


. . . and more wintersown Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate.


Zebrina struggling out of the weeds.


The poppies are also holding up well in the heat. There are the usual singles as well these doubles and in the background, picotee.

These yarrow are really strange. I moved them to this border last fall and they bloomed prostrate like this. I attributed it to the fact that they had just been transplanted. They are doing the same thing this year. I'm going to be moving this yarrow again this coming fall to the Entry Garden where the other yarrow has done so well. It will be interesting to see if it continues its prostrate habit.

Canterbury Bells that refuse to die.



Rudbeckia galore!


Canterbury Bells and Echinacea


Not only have I seen many fewer bees this year, but also almost no butterflies. My butterfly bush is in full bloom and as you can see, there is not a butterfly in sight.


At the base of the butterfly bush a few Johnny Jump-Ups peek out oblivious to the hot July weather.