All Day Drizzle

The forecast mentioned only possible showers, but I awoke today to a steady drizzle that went on all day.  It never got above the mid 60s.

It delivered about a half inch of rain.  It wasn't a soaker, but it fell softly for hours and hours, and that has helped freshen things up and wet the top layer of ground.  I'll take it.

Muggy and Damp

A storm rolled through and we got 2 tenths of an inch to wet the surface of things. Temperatures had been oppressive, in the high 90s for a few days, and now after the storm it is cooler. Very damp and muggy, but quite cool, in the 70s.  Whew.

Time to make a mid summer reassessment of the garden.

• The Karl Foerster grasses have to be moved from Meadow's Edge.  I think I will put them in a line along the patio wall near the faucet.  Hmmm.

• The red carpet roses are too tall along the edge of Northern Exposure.  And the geraniums are too blowzy at the entrance to the gravel garden.  So, take out that section of geraniums.  Put one of the roses there --- more structure will help at that end of the line along the walk.

(This was back in June, the geraniums at the corner have gotten much larger and floppy.  Pretty, but too much for that spot.  Move one of the red carpet roses there.)

• Move the other rose back more under the sweet bay magnolia.  I do like the pop of red there, but the two bushes are too much and they are encroaching on the walk.

• Fix the curve of the garden as you approach the patio, so it sweeps from the walk around the wall.  Make it more of a reverse half crescent.

• Move the Nicky purple phlox to the middle of the Birch Garden.  It will fit there better and add some midsummer color to the middle of that garden.  It's too big for the narrow strip by the gravel garden right now, and it is crowding the fothergilla and other plants.

And I think I need to make the small curved garden in front of Meadow's Edge bigger.  Both wider (a little) and longer, with something else planted beyond the rosemary.  Simply repeating more Russian sage would be nice at that end of the strip, and give it some rhythm.

Blooming Early

It's another hot dry windy sunny day.

We got a tenth of an inch of rain last night.  Pfffft. Not enough.

A cute dwarf sunflower is blooming by the patio wall.

It's too early, but the dwarf Jim Crockett Boltonia is blooming, looking like a little aster.

It's too early for the fall anemones, but silvery buds have formed and there will be flowers well before fall I think.

It's early for the Rose of Sharon too. It's blooming now, in mid July. Many things seem to be way ahead of schedule.

Black eyed susans have opened up, and these are tidier than the former Goldsturm variety that was by the patio wall.  Those were replaced when they got black leaves from a soil bacteria.  I like these (Rudbeckia fulgida var. fulgida) better even though they have smaller flowers and a more open habit.

The bottlebrush buckeyes are exploding in white flowery rockets. These are right on schedule.

Strange summer.  Hot summer.  Dry summer.

Chance of a Little Rain

Another hot day, in the 90s, strong sunshine, and no rain.  It's been 19 straight days with no rain and high temperatures.

The forecast says a 60% chance of rain showers tomorrow, with a possibility of one tenth to one quarter of an inch!! After all this time a tenth of an inch is going to kill me.  It will run off the mulch.

It would have been the day of the garden class (which got canceled).  Can you imagine traipsing around in the rain in a parched looking garden after 20 straight days without rain?  Ha! The irony.

The buckeyes are starting to bloom.  The big fluffy candles are sticking up every which way.  I'll get pictures of the whole big line of them when it cools off, or after some rain, if we get it.  They are truly large, impressive shrubs this season.

Whew

The garden class and tour is canceled for Sunday.

Whew.

It was getting too stressful with no rain and such heat and I couldn't keep things up.  I am relieved.

Now I can relax.

I am disappointed, as I had looked forward to this all year, but in the last few weeks I got overwhelmed and just didn't want to do it.  Maybe another time.

Whew.

Sunny, Sunny, Clear

I am exhausted, just as I was last year, trying to water.

Hours and hours of hand watering just wets the mulch.

The sprinklers run, but the grass is browning out, with patches turning golden in big swaths.  I ran the soaker hose under the buckeyes for four hours, but it just wets a tiny little strip that winds under the plants.

The problem is that this Sunday the New England Wildflower Society is coming, and we have had no rain for weeks.  And no rain in the forecast, unless you count a slight chance on Sunday itself.  That would figure.  The forecast up to Sunday is sunny, clear, bright, dry, sunshiny and unclouded.  Sunny, sunny, clear.  Sunny, sunny, clear.

So I am trying to keep things from looking awful.  I want to add some mulch and stake some floppy things, remove the tired containers (sweet peas are gone by and the new canna needs repotting) and tidy up a bit, but all I do is water.  Then I'm too tired.

Here's the thing: they may not get enough signed up to hold the class, so it may be canceled.  I hope it is.  I can relax a little and let the grass go dormant, which it is doing anyway.  And let the containers go.  And forget about obsessive watering.

Sigh.

Hot Pink

Hot, no rain.  There are brown patches on the lawn although we are sprinkling every night.  Sprinklers don't reach the back of Meadow's Edge, and when I looked last night, the turtlehead was limp, the thimbleweed anemone was also limp, and the Miss Manners physostegia were flopped over, looking sparse.

The river birch has dropped a ton of leaves and is yellowing.

I watered.  It's not as bad as the terrible heat and dry weather last year, but it feels similar.  Waiting, waiting for rain, plants going limp or brown, leaves dropping.  And in one week the Wildflower Society will be here.  But they need a minimum number to hold the class and I don't think they'll get enough to sign up.  (Probably will cancel.  I will be relieved.)

Guess who likes the hot dry conditions?  Hot pink sedums and hot pink gauras along the front walk.

I was quite surprised that the gaura even came back this year.  It is dropping its delicate pink blooms all over the heath, and it makes it look like the heath has tiny pink flowers!

I bought a canna lily at Wade's called 'Australia'.  It needs a bigger, more dramatic pot.

Good grief.

Nasturtiums

It's been hot and humid, and breezy at the same time.  In the 80s.  Not terribly uncomfortable, but we do need rain, and the sun is strong.

The nasturtiums are bulking up and blooming.  (And the little dwarf Boltonia, but I need to get some pictures of that.  It's crowded in among the nasturtiums further along this garden.)

I think I like the Alaska Mix better.  These are 'Gleam' and are all orange, which is nice, and I do like how they hug the curve of the gravel garden and mound up under the inkberries..

One has sent out a runner and is climbing through the inkberry holly.

It makes the green shrub look like it is blooming!  (By the way, the plumbago is blooming soft sky blue inside the towers, but the plants are still too small to see.  The pretty flowers are hidden in there.  Last year they were tall towers at the end of July, with blooms all over, arching across the opening.  So I am thinking that in two or three weeks these will take off.)

The ornamental oregano, Kent Beauty is looking soft and pink in the container by the patio.  I have two other pots of it, but they are way behind and only have a few paltry stems so far.

I do like the floppy shaggy look, which is actually quite refined up close.

And speaking of ornamental herbs, doesn't the rosemary look nice and full? And I love how the red carpet roses and sweet bay magnolias look. The trio of magnolia, roses and baptisia make nice forms and a nice composition all together.

What's Happening

The heat and humidity gave way to drier, breezy air tonight.  We need rain.

The sweetpeas are finally blooming.

The red carpet roses have been blooming for a long time.  They are softly fragrant.

The herb garden in a bowl looks really good.

The front walk is colorful.

I like this picture of the west walk garden, with all the deep layers of greenery.

Hi, July!

Hot, sunny, humid, and hot.  It's a hot start to July, in the 90s.  I have been needing to water for the past several days.

I love the deep blue lobelia plants that I grew from seed this year.  I have several in pots around the gravel garden too.

The crocosmia really are pleasing me, finally.  This is a plant I tried in a couple locations, and never got it to winter over.  Never got a big stand like Gwen's next door.  But this little group around the light post is coming along and I like it.

I finally have sunflowers.  But for all the work to grow them from seed, dig out 20 spots in the meadow, cage them, water them . . . not much to show, and the wild ones growing in the rock scree up the hill are nicer.  These are really kind of small.

Daisies by the patio wall are blooming.

And how cool are these black pansies?

I always love the way the Albury Purple St. Johnswort holds the water drops.