Gardens in Late May: Not Bad

My flower gardens always look best in late spring and early summer. After that, they seem to go rapidly downhill, for a host of reasons. But right now, things are looking pretty good. My perennials coming along nicely and most of the annuals I've planted for color seem to be doing fairly well, with the exception of the begonias. We had a very rainy period a couple of weeks ago and I think they got a bit waterlogged. Hopefully they'll come out of their slump. I certainly know how they feel (the slump part, not the waterlogged part)!

I like to take pictures of my flower gardens in various stages over the summer so I can go back and assess what is working and not working, then make changes for the next year. I've found that unless I make the effort to take photos and write some notes, I forget the details. (Actually, I pretty much forget everything.)

Of special note is the bright pink hanging basket of purslane in the lower right corner of this collage. I had never seen this particular plant at the green house and to give it a try this year. Purslane is relative of moss rose with foliage that looks like a sedum, or succulent. Of course, this means that the plant can absorb a lot of water and prefers dryer conditions. Well, I didn't think about that during the recent rainy week. It got absolutely soaked...way too wet. The foliage started to yellow and the blooms disappeared. So I moved it to a full sun location and let it dry out. This morning, I was rewarded with a full basket of flowers. Success!

I'll continue to document my various garden successes (and failures) as the summer continues. Gardening is a trial and error process around here!