Autumn meets Summer

a wonderful sign that cooler temps are on the way is when the sedum changes color,

but there are still plenty of reminders of summer sizzle with canna lily blooms!

For the Birds

During the drought, one of the honeysuckle bushes dropped a lot of leaves and was over-taken by a morning glory vine. CG considered pulling the vine, but decided to wait.

This morning it was in bloom.

To the delight of a hummingbird.

Cannas are another favorite for the little fellas.

CG hopes to upgrade the backyard bird habitat this fall.

(sedum is a plant of choice for the occasional butterfly)

front of the house

not looking too bad

after a late summer drought 

it's been one of the better years for the river birch trees

(hoping they are close to reaching their maximum height)

the liriope grass seems impervious to low rainfall conditions

nandina bushes are semi-drought tolerant

a few azalea bushes were literally burned-up from the heat 

Iris Mart

CG has a wide variety of iris plants.

Many are gifts from family, some are traded from other gardeners.

It's also enjoyable to find on-line sources, place an order, and have the plants arrive on your doorstep within a week.

3 Spades for Iris Mart

(out of 5 Spades rated on the Can You Dig It Scale)

Iris Mart lists hundreds of different iris on their website, but too many were 'unavailable.' One type that was 'available' and ordered, did not get shipped (card was refunded).

Prices at Iris Mart are reasonable, with a lot of iris costing less than $5.

Shipping costs may seem high, but the order is pulled and packed within 24 hours, and on its way -so a few extra dollars for promptness is copacetic. 

If Iris Mart had 'real time' product availability for their plants, and gave customers a choice between premium and 'low urgency' shipping, it would be CG's preferred on-line source for tall bearded iris.

Picking Peppers

It's prime pepper plant picking!

From the 3 different pepper plants,

CG Jr will have plenty of pepper picking

to do in the next few weeks

HOT

How hot is it?

It's so hot....

CG is concerned that even the mild peppers will be muy caliente.

But at least it hasn't been too dry.

We've had over two times the average amount of rainfall for this month.

CG believes that the C.poppies drowned, and may not ever return.

Good news is that the river birch trees look great for this time of year-

and, no bag worms!

(other trees in the area have been heavily infested)

low growing crepe myrtles

if it weren't for the color, these might be one of CG's favorite plants

but these are a perfect fit for a wide, colorful border on the south side of the house

After a few years of being moved around to different spots, the three plants have grown together, and maturing nicely.

favorite

 these daylilys are CG's favorite 

(and he still doesn't know what kind they are)

 they were marked as Joan Seniors

(and they bloom the same time)

elsewhere...

lots of cannas didn't survive the extreme cold snap,

but there's still enough left of each variety-

so soon there will be plenty

 the dwarf burning bush bed and the back corner bed are looking good

but the forsythia bed  has a long way to go

Hemerocallis, et al

Currently, the daylilys have center stage in the garden.

Temperatures are consistently in the 90's, so much of the tending is done prior to 8am.

(some extra time can be spent in the splendid AC'd comfort of  CG's abode editing photos)

-farewell to the PD's...

and green thumbs are crossed that CG will be able to locate all of them when September comes!

elsewhere

An aster is primed for full blooming

(bagworms beware!)

Be Green:

Pepper plants are new for this year...

so far, so good!

Home gardening is fun, tasty, & great for the environment! 

Welcome to Peru

The Peruvian daffodils are back! This was the first year they wintered-over (indoors).

 The blooms are definitely not proportional to the size of the bulbs.

But they range in height from 24" to 32"

peak time for asiatic lilys

these were $1 walmart specials a number of years ago...now, they're ready to be thinned and spread their bold yellow color elsewhere in the garden

the red asiatic lilys are peaking and filling-in nicely