What's In Bloom?

This month for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day -- July 2010, I have many wonderful sun-loving plants in bloom. My garden is popping with the bright flowers of Zinnias, as well as Coneflowers and Agastache, and the long-blooming Scabiosa, Salvia and Lavender is going strong. In addition, my new Hydrangea 'Endless Summer' is beginning to bloom.




The zinnias, planted amongst the long perennial/shrub border, were taller than I had expected. Next year, I will choose shorter bedding annuals because I feel this area looks too cluttered from a distance, although up close it actually looks fine.


In other Gardening News...I widened the rightmost portion of the border by about a foot, to allow for a third row of perennials. I read somewhere that a border should be at least as wide as the walkway it abuts, and that totally made sense to me. There are now 5 Sedum 'Autumn Joy' on the back row, replacing 3 Holly shrubs, then Dianthus 'Baths Pinks' in the middle row, and a mix of Carpathian Bellfowers 'White and Blue Clips' in the front to serve as edging.


A lot of gardening work got done throughout the month of July, with much of it performed in 95-105 degree heat! We had a period of 10+ days with no rain, so I also spent many mornings outside wielding the hose. Thankfully, the drought finally broke and we at last received a few heavy rains to green up the garden again.