Spring flowers

We had one nice dry day.  It was great.

But mostly it just rains and rains this year.  It's been awful for the farmers.  Here is a picture of a field at Sptringhill Farms.  We get their tomatoes at the farmers' market.  I fear for this year's crops and for the farmers.

Garden in early October

Garden in August

 I cut down quite a bit of the bee balm.  Bee balm is pretty tough here and does okay with things like being cut to the ground.  I moved a few pots in to fill the space a little.  Looks pretty good.

Here is the other side of the front.  Our yard is so small.  It doesn't look like it here, though.

The cosmos lady

We just had three days of 100 degree weather.  These photos were taken before the heat spell.

Cosmos 'Diablo'.

This year I shared my seedlings and there are three houses up the street with this cosmos blooming.  I am so pleased about that.  Makes me feel like kin to the Lupin Lady, Miss Rumphius.   My neighbor gave me that book some 30 years ago because she said it reminded her of me, always sharing my plants.

Quoted from Amazon

Barbara Cooney's story of Alice Rumphius, who longed to travel the world, live in a house by the sea, and do something to make the world more beautiful, has a timeless quality that resonates with each new generation. The countless lupines that bloom along the coast of Maine are the legacy of the real Miss Rumphius, the Lupine Lady, who scattered lupine seeds everywhere she went. Miss Rumphius

 received the American Book Award in the year of publication.

The heat pretty much finished the bee balm.

The cleomes have too much purple.  My fault.  When I thinned them, I had a strong preference for those with purple tinged leaves.  But there are some later pink ones coming along.

Roses in August

This has been a peculiar season.  It started dry and warm and then in very early June we had a hot spell with 100 degree temps.  The roses were early and in full bloom when the heat hit and it pretty much finished their flowers.  Then it cooled off for the rest of June and all of July; it hardly hit 80, many days not even 70.  It's been a great summer.  The best we've had in several years.  And now we are having a second rose season.  The flowers aren't as plentiful or as large but they are delicate with gorgeous colors.

This beauty is blooming with  salvia Amistad.  I think they look great together.  There is bee balm on the left and a big hardy fuschia on the right.  Hummingbird paradise.

Front garden in July

We are having wonderful summer weather.  It's been mostly in the 70's.  This is the first normal summer we have had in several years.

For a small yard, we have a lot of bee balm (for the hummingbirds and bees).  This is the patch on the left of the stairs.

 And this is to the right of the stairs

South side of house

Front garden

I like to sit on the steps and gaze at my front garden.

Garden

 The weather has been fabulous.

Cleomes getting big....

Birth of a rinky dink project

The hot spell is over and I've taken the parasols down.  I pulled the rebar out in most cases.    In a few cases, where it was difficult to figure out the placement for best protection from the sun,  I left the rebar in place.

But I didn't like the bare rebar that I could see from the back door....

So I got some old light globes out of a box in the basement, stuffed them with bubble wrap and put them on top of the rebar.   That looks better.  However, I'd like to add some color.  Any ideas?  It has to be simple because I will be taking these off and putting the parasols back when the heat returns.

S

Can you spot the hummingbird?

The bee balm is really blooming now and the hummingbirds know it.  They visit all the time.   My camera mostly sees their wings as a blur.  There is a humming bird in every one of these photos.  Can you spot him?

From very hot to quite cool

The hot spell ended and we are in a cool period.  I can't imagine being a plant and surviving the searing sun followed by a definite chill; highs of 100 have been replaced by highs in the low 60's.  The garden did suffer from the heat.  Leaves were scorched.  The roses lost most of their flowers in the heat.  I wonder what will be next in this gardening season.

The parasols served well in the heat.  It even looks hot, doesn't it?

The rest of the photos are post hot spell.

The day lilies have begun to bloom.

And we have bee balm starting to bloom.  Some of it is very tall.  I think this one is over six feet.  It's probably one I did not pinch.