Welcome to High Summer! I was a picture-taking fool today, but I can’t help it. The garden is absolutely beautiful right now. Such a change, suddenly. There are tons of colors all over the place, and everything, it seems, is in bloom.
My window boxes in particular are all very full, draping down nicely. I’m just in love with the lantana in the upstairs balcony boxes. I grew up with huge lantana bushes all over my grandmother’s yard, and here in zone four, my only hope for them is in boxes like this. But still, they are wonderful. The hummingbirds seem to love them as well.
Some particular things in bloom – the iceland poppies, next to the bridge. Very cute, but the plants themselves don’t look very healthy or vigorous, unfortunately. I’ve got to buy some compost or something so that they make it through the winter. Actually, I’ve never been able to get these things to bloom more than once. I need to read up on them to see what it is that I’m doing wrong.
This is my first time with dwarf daisies and galliardia, and I put them around the base of one of the crab apples, and they are both blooming madly this week. Very cute. The plants look very healthy and hardy, and I should probably split them already next spring.
Have I mentioned that I hate the way the trampoline looks out on the septic field? However, the kids won’t be here forever, and they both love it. It’s getting a lot of use from both kids and all their friends, actually, so while I wish for this very pretty garden only setting, this is still a yard, and I’m not bitching to the kids about not liking the way it looks. However — as soon as it stops being used, it’s out of there!
Both the white and lavender versions of spirea are blooming this week. Frank’s had a lot more experience with these things and doesn’t particularly like them, but they are new to me and I think they are quite pretty. I haven’t a clue how I’m supposed to prune them or what, and I must remember to read up on that.
The honeysuckle that we planted at the base of one of the pergola posts is still very small, unfortunately. We need to figure out a trellis or something for the legs of the pergola, because nothing seems to be climbing up them at all. Actually, I’ve heard it will take a couple of years for the honeysuckle to really take off, so I’m trying to be patient.
The tall (as opposed to creeping) phlox and the Black Eyed Susan’s that I planted just this spring are both blooming, which is a bit surprising. I thought I’d have to give them a year before I saw anything, so I’m quite psyched about them both. Very pretty, they are.
Shoots from the glads that I put in are up, which is exciting. Unfortunately, they are planted in the worst soil imaginable, by the old well. It seems everything else I planted in that bed is dead, so we need to amend that soil desperately. So seeing the glads survive at all is encouraging.
The stand of phlox that we got from Bashears is looking quite vigorous, but not blooming at all. The dead white pine tree behind it looks horrible, though, and we’ve got to get it out of there. I’ve been trying to watch for black spot on the phlox, and haven’t seen it yet, which is good.
The hydrangea is blooming, too. The bush is quite small, but absolutely covered with blooms. Everyone up here has these huge bushes around the foundations of their house, so my silly little one foot bush looks ridiculous, but I want one, and you have to start somewhere!
One of the benefits of high summer blooms is that we can see the stuff that was planted temporarily over by the old foundation and has yet to be moved. There are all sorts of things that were almost missed that I need to find places for. Mostly hosta, day lilies and yellow flowers, but still. I like them and must find places for them soon.
I like my summer flag, just for the record. That big red poppy just screams summer to me, even though I don’t have any actual poppies growing in my garden. I want them, though! I just haven’t figured out where to put them, and I need to get better soil before I try. I’ve managed to kill a dozen plants so far, so I’m cut off, officially, from buying more until I get this soil better amended.
The blue allium bulbs are the only ones that came up from all of the ones I put into the planters in front of the porch. They are quite pretty, though! Nice and tall, pretty blue. I think they need more sun than they are getting, though, so I guess I’ll move them out into the main garden when they are finished blooming.