Monday In Bloom

A scorcher Sunday!  Man oh man, it’s the kind of oppressive heat that you just don’t stay in for long.  I took my pictures as quickly as I could and came back in.  Several of my pictures were kind of washed out, and my daughter and I think a haze might have developed on the lens, like what happens to your sunglasses when you go from cool air conditioned air to the hot, humid outdoors. 

I had to laugh at the “no rain for 2 hours” thing.  Less than an hour later, we were getting buckets dumped on us.  Which was good for the plants, but it didn’t break the heat any.

I’m losing more pansies.  I have come to the conclusion that one of the packs I picked up was probably diseased or something, because near as I can recall, all the dead/dying ones are from the same pack.  It just seems like it’s been a much rougher season plant-wise than in years past.  We will marshal on though.  There’s just a couple months left, three at best. 

Overall, things seem okay.  The lilies are fading now, but the things I deadheaded last week are now beginning to bloom again.  The new plants I put in the ground this season seem to be doing well, so that’s a relief. 

This is still my happy pot.  I love the graceful lines of it.

The marigolds are still holing their own, despite being front and center where the sun hits.

The potato vine has some new growth on it this week.  I credit fertilizer.  The sweet alyssum though are still pretty puny.

I’m so glad I put this pot near the door!  It’s so nice to walk outside and see a bright spot of color greeting me.

Pansies in re-bloom.  These pansies are doing great, thankfully!  Which is why I suspect that I got a bad pack with the others.  If something was wrong with the pansies in general, this pot would also be heading south.

Only a few more blooms left on the lilies.  The grounds crew that comes in to cut the grass keeps nipping my lily leaves with their weed-whacker.  I think I may have to stake the lilies next year to keep them from leaning so far forward.  But, the sun!  They are reaching for the sun! 

Such is the state of the garden this week.  How’s yours doing?

cross posted on my daily blog

 

 

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To see all my pictures from the garden this week, you can click either the link or the image below. Thanks for looking! 2016 Garden Weekly 12 | Flickr //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

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Monday In Bloom

It has been one of those weeks.  Lots of days in the 90s, so definitely too hot to really do anything in the garden.  Even today, Sunday as I write this, it was in the mid 80s, with moderate humidity so just on the cusp of being tolerable.  I did manage to go out and get some deadheading done, and I was kind of ruthless about it too.  I realized I lost another pansy.  I also realized that I’ve not been wrong in that suspicion that things aren’t what they should be.  Google photos gave me one of those “this day last year” photos in an email, and last year at this time, my Sweet Alyssum was bigger than the hanging pot that held it.  This year it looks hardly more than it did when I planted it a couple months ago.  Perhaps I need to start fertilizing or something. 

The daisies have departed but I may get another bloom near the end of the season, if this year is anything like last year.  Right now, the lilies are holding court, but it looks like that will only last perhaps another week or so. 

As you can see, it was a warm day.  We had lots of storms in the early morning hours, so things were still on the muggy side even by the time I went out to play in the garden, and still fairly overcast, too.

No more daisies.    But lilies!    For a while longer at least, but in the meantime, they are the star. 

Things are still looking a bit lush over in the side patch.  I don’t have any pansies over here.  The salvia, dusty miller, and coleus packing decent pops of color. 

These globe amarynth are just too cute for words!  Bright, bold blobs. 

At least the coleus seem happy!  They’ve been growing well and holding on to their bright colors. 

I think as long as I have this pot, I’m going to put the spikes in it.  The combination just works for me.  *happysigh*

The marigolds are still merry.  These sturdy little guys are growing on me.  I’ve not been a fan of marigolds in my life, but the last couple of years, I’ve grown to appreciate them.

The ivy is finally starting to hang over the post in a noticeable way.  Hopefully I’ll have some nice long legs on it before the season ends. 

That’s how my garden is growing this week.  Not thriving, but doing reasonably well.  How’s yours coming along?

cross-posted on my daily blog 

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To see all my pictures from the garden this week, you can click either the link or the image below. Thanks for looking! 2016 Garden Weekly 11 | Flickr //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

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Monday In Bloom

It was a pretty decent day for garden putzing, so putz I did.  I got a lot of deadheading done, but my back decided enough was enough with that insane bending over crap and I didn’t get to the last 2 pots of pansies.  Maybe tomorrow, if the weather isn’t as screaming hot as the apps tell me it will be.

But today, it was nice.  My daughter hung out with me, and I learned that our upstairs neighbor will be moving by the end of the month.  This makes me sad.  They’ve been really good neighbors for the two years they’ve lived here.  Please pray we get new neighbors more like them, and NOT like the neighbors we had before them. 

Things are still looking pretty good, although the daisies are exiting the stage.  I deadheaded 9,338,643 dead and/or dying blooms off the plant.  Well, okay, maybe not exactly that many, but it sure felt like almost that many blooms! 

The little side patch is filling in pretty nice, too.  It looks pretty lush, and those crazy blue pots that I felt like such a fool for buying seem to be pretty good at catching the eyes of passers-by, lol.  I got them because I needed something fast for the leftover plants I had, but I’m thinking next year the icy Dusty Miller would look really amazing against that bright turquoise.  Or maybe some white Sweet Alyssum.  Too early to plan?

The snapdragons are blooming! 

Even the coleus has flowers on it!  And it’s getting so tall! 

This is the pot I re-did last week.  So now there are five, but it still looks pretty good.  I think the remaining plants are doing okay.  They seem much healthier now since I sprayed them with my concoction. 

The potato vine even has a flower.  I love the color of these.  It’s so delicately pink, and with the purple leaves of the vine, wow.  I’d love to plant some under a Redbud Tree some day.  

See, the daisies are leaving.  Sadness.  I guess they’re making way for the lilies. 

Um, excuse me, Mr Tree?  I see your leaves changing there, and I just wanted to let you know, because clearly you’re not aware, that Autumn isn’t for TWO AND A  HALF MORE MONTHS!  Stop that!  Enjoy the Summer, Mr Tree, and put your reds and golds away for now!

That’s the garden this week!  How’s yours growing?

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To see all my pictures from the garden this week, you can click either the link or the image below. Thanks for looking! 2016 Garden Weekly 10 | Flickr //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

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Monday In Bloom

I’ve been a bit busy in the garden this week.  I got my stuff in to make treatment – an insecticidal / fungal soap solution.  The garden has been doing pretty well, so I’m pretty relieved about that.  I also turned most of my pots so they faced the other way.  Have to sun the buns, you know.    Got a bit of deadheading done, too.  We had a couple of days where the weather was actually really gorgeous.  Imagine that!  Chicagoland!  In July!  Nice weather!  Usually you can’t use all those words in conjunction with one another, so those days were a real treat. 

Sunday it was 73° when I went out to take my pictures.  That’s about 22° for you Celsius-inclined folks.  It was a nice day, pretty comfortable actually, for someone who doesn’t do heat very well. 

The lilies are blooming now, at least one new bloom, sometimes 2 or 3, every day.  The flowers are so big and yellow.  They are making the daisies compete for that top spot.

Clearly the pink polka dot plant likes a bit more sun than it was getting in the other corner.  I will have to make sure to keep the pots alternated every few weeks. 

Snapdragons!

I am really loving these globe amaranth.  Their color is really bright, and they just seem to keep popping those little globes.  They’re so cute!

Oh how I love the pink and purple salvia combo! 

RIP on the pansy I was trying to hard to save.  The other pansies have been responding really well to the treatment I’ve been giving them, but I just didn’t get all the stuff in time to save the one.  It was just too far gone.  I’ll be re-doing this pot this week.

This plant makes me so happy when I look at it.  I think you can’t be sad when you have a bunch of daisies.  They’re like kittens of the flower world or something.  Is it any surprise that I long for a yellow and white kitchen?  Someday I will have one, and I’ll make a little plaque for it and call it “Vanessa’s Daisy Café.” 

The new lavender is settling in really well.  I’m hoping it will survive the Winter into next year, unlike the ones it’s replacing.  This one is a bit closer to the wall, so maybe it will get a little more protection from the cold. 

The creeping phlox is still creeping along.  It had its bloom time in April, but it really fills in the space with that lovely green in the meantime. 

The veronica really seems to be taking off now, too.  I’ve been treating the new perennials like annuals, with extra watering, until they get a full season in.  I like to give them some extra babying to make sure they’re happy in their new home. 

Can you see all the buds on the lily?!  Every day I’m greeted with a happy lily face, with lots more coming up behind it. 

That’s how the garden is blooming this week!  How’s yours coming along?

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To see all my pictures from the garden this week, you can click either the link or the image below. Thanks for looking! 2016 Garden Weekly 09 | Flickr //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

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