July Flowers

The North Border has been a riot of flowers.

Hello everyone! July has been a very hot, and very busy month for me here in Iowa. Weeds seem to spring up and grow to chin height in just a few weeks during this time of year -- they are a constant challenge to gardeners, as is the muggy heat index that makes us want to avoid all work outside.

But there have been some moments of beauty in our hot summer gardens, and I've been able to take a few photos of them, usually in the somewhat cooler evenings. Here are a few scenes:

The new Scented Garden around our patio has been a lovely place to sit in the evenings.

A closeup of scented sweet peas, petunias and
snapdragons.

Black-Eyed Susans in the Yellow Garden.

And some with green eyes as well.

The latest pot display near my front porch: Papyrus,
a Mediterranean Fan Palm, Agapanthus, white petunias
and blue-flowered Plumbago.

The White Garden, with 'David' phlox, Casablanca lilies and white coneflowers.

This is the first time I've been able to get Crocosmia to flower here. I planted bulbs one year, but they never even came up. I found three plants locally this spring, and they have put out flowers! I hope the relative warmth and good drainage in front of our south-facing house will allow these marginally-hardy plants to come back next year.

This flowering tobacco is monstrously HUGE in the Scented Garden. It smells wonderful,
but it sure does take over -- this photo was taken after I cut back many of the leaves and tied
it to the fence, to rescue the plants around it from being completely smothered.

As you can see in the last photo, the corn is getting tall around us -- summer is more than half over. I'm already making plans for changes to my gardens in fall, and thinking about fall bulbs, which will appear in stores in a week or two. Not long until school starts again too....

Hope you have been making the most of summer in your own gardens too. Thanks for reading! -Beth

Happy 4th of July!

My patriotically-colored flower pot display in front of our porch. This is the first year these Agapanthus, which I have been overwintering for two years, have bloomed! I thought that they and the Cyperus papyrus looked like fireworks, and the red-white-and-blue pinwheels were fun to add to their pots. They compliment the white Petunias, red Alstroemeria and blue Plumbago. Festive fun!

Happy Fourth of July! I hope you are enjoying high summer in your gardens. There are many things blooming here, and the extreme heat of a few weeks ago has moderated a bit, so it's been nice to spend some time outside again enjoying summertime.

In my last post, I showed some Before and After photos that showed some pretty weedy, unkempt garden areas, before I eliminated them. I promised I'd only show nice, flower-filled areas in this next post, so here are a few flowery scenes:

Volunteer hollyhocks in the Front Border, with farm fields in the distance.

Bachelor buttons in our front yard.

The North Border at sunset.

Asiatic lilies in the North Border a couple weeks ago.

Orienpet lilies the other day, with Achillea and self-seeded cosmos.

Phlox, yarrow and lilies.

The Yellow Garden, newly downsized and improved.

The Yellow Garden bathed in golden sunlight.

Lilies and coneflowers in the Rainbow Border.

Little Kitty in the new Scented Garden around the East Patio. It's lovely to sit outside with a cup of tea and enjoy the fragrant flowers. I'll post more about this new area soon. 

A beautiful evening looking across the Herb Garden to the view that sold us this house. 

Hope you are enjoying flower-filled summer days in your own gardens, and that you enjoy the holiday (for those living in the U.S.).

Tomorrow we will attend the local parade and potluck picnic in the tiny unincorporated town a mile from us. It's not even actually a town, just a four-way stop with a dozen houses, and the event is organized each year by the residents themselves and funded by donations in a can. It's become well-attended over the years, by hundreds of people, a retired-folks brass band, and dozens of parade entries, mostly spiffed-up classic tractors, nearby farm businesses and, of course, led off by area fire trucks and an anthem. It's truly America at its best and most independent, and I love to go every year. Now what potluck dish to bring....?

Happy Independence Day!