Gearing Up for Summer

We got a good soaking inch of rain three days ago, and now several days of beautiful sunny, dry weather.  Sunshine is predicted for the next week too.  Gorgeous early summer weather, although we'll want some rain by later in the week.

I love the way the new Forest Pansy redbud pops in the distance.

And the tiarellas just keep blooming!  It's been since mid May, weeks and weeks of foamy flowers.

The little dwarf goatsbeard, Aruncus aesthifolia, never did anything for years.  It bloomed in tawny little spikes, but the plants stayed little lumps of green in the garden. This year, finally, they have really bulked up and are blooming profusely.

I put the largest of the goatsbeards into a clay pot on the porch, and it is big and leafy, but just starting to bloom now.

I moved the allium bulbs today, and put them in the middle of the Drive By Garden.  I'm still planting more and more of the Rhus aromatica there --- so much real estate to fill and for them to spread into.  I've lost track of how many I've planted now!

I must do something about the curve of the garden in front of the patio wall.  This looks goofy.

Containers are giving me fits, but I have moved stuff around, took out the lettuce and pansies in the big bowl and put the struggling Bonfire begonia in it.  All my containers are struggling, although the Pretty Much Picasso petunias have filled in.  The basil in a pot is wimpy and stunted, and nothing else looks very good in any of my attempts at container plantings.

Although I have to say the purple Jackmanii clematis in the big pot is nice. And the Alba Luxurians clematis is very nice and full.  The flowers this year are not as pretty as the first year.  They are limp, but not like delicate handkerchiefs, just kind of droopy, small and blah.  But the plant is full and lush.