July First, First Bouquet of Summer

Still dripping from conditioning.

Yellow Helianthus.

Lime Green Sweet Potato Vine.

White Yarrow.

Purple Veronica.

Waiting for the Thunderstorms

It's after 5 p.m.

and the rumbling

is just starting...

a little late!

Sitting on the porch

watching the sky darken,

feeling the temperature drop

and hearing the rumbles increase.

The front planters look great

after yesterday's all-day

gentle soaking rain.

Around the corner of

the garage, the plants

are a bang of color.

The yarrow is taking over 

the asters and the Russian

sage which haven't

bloomed yet.

The purple of the second 

bloom of Veronica

and the yellow of the

Stella de Oro daylilies

make an explosion of color

on the garage side.

Around the corner

down below,

the daisies are not 

quite ready to bloom.

There are signs of 

hydrangea buds!

Beyond the corner,

tucked away is

the butterfly bush,

still only green but

soon will be covered

with magenta blooms.

The interesting poppy buds

replaced their delicate blooms

which survived the

last summer storms.

Lily buds are soon to split open!

Balloon flower buds

are ready to burst!

Sunflowers

in a barrage of color!

Besides the incoming storm,

I guess I'm waiting for

the best of mid-summer's

explosion of blooms.

Summer Solstice Garden Moments

At 5:44 p.m. today

summer officially begins

in the Northern Hemisphere.

Just a few sights around 

the garden:

The primrose path

(the opening on the left)

leads to the sunny side of

the house in the evening.

The foxglove look

almost eerie in the

last sun rays of 

the early evening 

on the edge of the ridge.

William's Japanese Maple

almost shimmers in the

low angle of the sun.

The Astilbe resemble

fireworks in the semi-dark

on the patio under the deck.

And the fairy garden is ready

for fairies to play and sing

and dance tonight 

as the longest day ends.

and summer truly begins.

What's Up in the Mid-June Garden?

My daughter gave me two tomato plants,

one she grew herself from seed.

It's called Pink Boar and 

is supposed to be very juicy.

The bigger one in the back is from

Natureworks but without a tag.

It will be a surprise!

That nifty new raised planter is

self-watering with rolling casters

and a black mesh mulch cover

made by Emsco Group.

The smaller plants are basil,

one of which my daughter

raised from seed also. 

After we assembled the patio garden bed,

we turned to the old self-watering planters

nearby.  The leaves of the Mandevilla vine

have turned yellow. I read that happens when

the roots are too wet.  I noticed that the bottom 

of the planter was still full of water from heavy

rains two weeks ago. So Larry got a plastic

tube and siphoned some of that water out.

Maybe this will take care of the

standing water and the yellow leaves--

or not!  We'll see in a few days.

I've never had this problem before

and I've used the white pots for

several years successfully.

"It's always something!"  ~Rosannadanna

Time for a Bouquet

First, the blooms need 

to be conditioned

in the utility sink.

Then some basic arranging

near the sink with cat mint

as the base and irises

adding some deeper purple.

Some peonies in all

phases of bloom

and some deeper

purple False Indigo.

Ready for dinner on the deck.

Peonies and Poppies

It must be June--

Poppies

and Peonies

and don't forget roses!

Recycling an Old Planter

Bringing an old planter back to life

 with summer blooms

is a good feeling, but 

I hope that it holds up 

through the season.

I try to choose colors and plants

that will hold up until fall and frost:

red, orange, green and yellow.

The blooms should do fine,

but the old ceramic planter

has a pretty big crack.

For the thriller, I chose a dracaena, 

Cordyline australis 'Red Star'

with burgundy leaves.

A big filler is a coleus

named 'Freckles'

with yellow leaves speckled

 with bronze and orange.

Another filler is a combination 

of petunia and calibrachoa,

trademarked Super Cal

"Premium Cinnamon'.

It is not supposed to be 

sticky like petunias!

'Goldilocks Rocks', a bidens,

is unknown to me. The

reviews are mixed.

It will be the first

to falter with so much

competition in the planter.

The spillers include

another petunia

trademarked Supertunia

'Honey'

which will mound (fill)

and trail (spill).

And the final spiller 

is a Ipomoea batatas

Sweet Caroline Bewitched

Green with Envy

I really wanted the lime green 

accent, but it's

a big filler too--

with sweet potatoes!

This planter has all the right 

ingredients: plants to take it

into cool weather, 

fall colors of cinnamon

and honey, burgundy red,

yellow, orange and bronze.

I have my fingers crossed

that the planter survives

the rising competition--

and doesn't thrill

me with a giant spillover!