A Hot Time in the Old Garden

72°f at 8am, heating up quickly. Already 87°f at 11am.

I have some much garden work to do, and it is so hot that getting it done is difficult. I dodge out each morning to do what I can. Today it was watering,  followed by some weeding and cutting back the iris. I do like iris but cutting back the blades in July is a miserable task. I am making slow headway, as those iris seem to be everywhere in my gardens. I need to get back into the vegetable garden, perhaps tomorrow morning. And stringtrim.  Ack! So much to do and just me to do it. Larry mows and helps a little in the vegetable garden but

not as much as he used to. And the flowerbeds are strictly mine.

Enough with the bellyaching! Here's a look at what's in bloom now. Everything is suffering from the heat.

The Mandevilla is growing slowly but is full of blooms. This is a non-climbing variety.

A tiny miniature rosebud peeks out around a dog-barrier fence. These little garden fences have worked well to keep my dogs from cavorting in my flowers. 

The last little lemon lily bloom looks forlorn, surrounded by faded blossoms. I need to do cleanup in there.

Coneflowers seed themselves and come back each year. Not always in the best spot! I move them when I can.

Coreopsis, Shasta daisies, geraniums daylilies and coneflowers make a colorful mix right now. I have been trying to get more flowers that bloom despite the heat of high summer into my gardens.

I planted this little balloon flower last year and thought it had died, but here it is, soldiering on.

Coreopsis is one of my summer favorites,  and so dependable. Did you know this plant is also a favorite for making natural dyes? It can provide a range of shades, depending on the mordant used.

My ild-fashioned phlox have been with me for almost 50 years, since I dug them up at an abandoned cabin site. They have moved themselves here and there. The begonia is in a cracked crock. I have several I use as planters and they are excellent for that purpose.

I babied along this white phlox for five years, keeping it watered when it looked bad, adding fertilizers, talking to it, pampering it. And finally! It looks like it is well established at last. Now i planted another, bought for $2 marked down and looking pitiful, and I am babying it the same way. Will it survive? I don't know but it's worth a try.

This the most stunning and graceful daylight, a kind of peachy yellow with giant blooms.

I forgot that I planted any glass, but they are coming up in such random places that I begin to think I handed the bulbs to Larry or a grandchild and said to just stick them in somewhere!

My first zinnias to bloom this year. A friend gave me a nice clump of them, and they are earlier than my own that I planted from seed.

Another cracked crock. Down in front is butterfly weed I planted last year. I was sure they had not survived the drought but there are two strong plants out of the three i planted, which makes me very happy.

I still need some photos of the vegetable garden. Maybe tomorrow!

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