Early July Yard and Gardens

Today I spent a long time out in the gardens, watering everything nice and deep, and generally inspecting things to see how thing are going.   I was happy to find the flowers and vegetables mostly in top shape, thanks to my neighbors and my husband, who together did the watering duties while I was gone.

The front entry is doing well, with the bright pink vinca and petunias stealing the spotlight.

The front lawn looks great, and the foundation shrubs are hanging in there despite the intense heat.

I'm happy with the purple verbena in this spot - next year it will be even fuller and will be a great foil against the golden hue of the variegated shrub.

Over by the garage, the knock out roses that I put in this year in front of the boxwoods are being overshadowed by the pink dahlias that the previous owner had planted.  The dahlias look great, and I'm pleased as punch that the colors are all shades of light and dark pinks - my favorites!

Next to the driveway and gate tot he back yard, the flowers that I installed this spring have all come into their own.   Check out that huge dahlia on the right!  She's a rock star, at least 4ft high!  The bee balm is going gangbusters, and the lantana is coming along with shades of yellow and pink on the same flowers.   Considering that these plants were all put in just two months ago, I'm really happy with how they're filling in.

The back yard foundation bed is flowering freely with lots of impatiens.   The hostas all are blooming, drawing lots of bees.  The hydrangeas are flopping over with heavy blooms, nearly finished.  I've got a few new pots of plants waiting to be put in the ground over by the porch stairs (what else is new?).  

This little bed is struggling along in the intense sun that it gets all day long.  The bird feeder weeds keep  popping up - and just for fun, I've let one volunteer sunflower get three feet high!  It's almost ready to bloom.  

The Sweet Pepper Bushes (Clethra) are just starting to bloom.  Their fragrance was what made me buy them for this spot under the porch screens.   So far, you can catch their scent if you're right up next to them, but not enough are blooming yet to really have a strong fragrance from the porch.  Fingers crossed!

Tomatoes and peppers are fully productive - we've harvest five or six banana peppers, and three tomatoes so far, with about a dozen more which are going to be ripening soon (hopefully).

I really should pull the lettuce out - it's really bitter now, and not very tasty for salads.  The leaning tower of cucumber vine has produce four really long, very tasty cucumbers.  No new ones growing right now, but I'm hoping that the few blooms that it's putting out might grow us one or two more.  Definitely happy with this experiment, and will repeat the fun next year.   (I'm not showing the failed zucchini and yellow squash plants - their containers were too small, and they've protested by turning yellow and floppy and dying.)

The bird feeder bed is going great, with a cheery patch of shasta daisy 'Becky" going gangbusters.  I had to move the birdbath over to this flower bed, so that the squirrels would leave the bird feeders alone over by the porch stairs.   I am enjoying the pink phlox, and the daisies, and the vinca.  The blue hummingbird mint plant is growing and blooming really well, I'm very happy with that plant. 

Here's a panorama of the back yard - all in all, a great summer with good looking lawn, and gardens filling in slowly but surely.   

How about you? How's summer going in your yard?   Leave me a comment and show me the way to your blog, I'd love to see!

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Linking to:  

Creative Country Mom's Gardens:  Home Sweet Garden Party

Fishtail Cottage:  Garden Party

A Delightsome Life:  Home and Garden Thursday

Lavendar Garden Cottage:   Cottage Style Party