Garden Update: Late July

Now that my gardens have been planted for a few weeks, I wanted to share an update about how they're doing. It's been a challenging time in the past couple of weeks with very high temperatures, necessitating daily watering. I've recently cut back on watering to every two-three days. Eventually they won't need much (if any) watering at all but since we're dealing with new plants and transplants, I want to give them a good start! Overall verdict: So far, so good! :)

In addition to the extreme heat, our area has also been hit very hard by Japanese beetles. These pests are covering the linden trees along our street, eating the leaves from the top down. We've elected not to treat the trees with pesticide because of the number of trees affected. The good thing is that the pesky beetles are so interested in the trees that they're leaving the rest of my plants alone!

 So far, everything in this bed is still alive and doing well. I'm concerned about the spacing of a few plants, but we'll see how they do going forward. 

 

I'm thankful that we have a very long hose on each side of the house so I can water all the flowers without dragging the hoses through the beds. There are only a few new plants that have to be watered with a watering can.

 

 The area on the side of the house was not part of this project and needs some work. I had a couple of transplants added to the bare spots but next spring it will need some tending. One bright spot: My grandma's tiger lilies. After last winter, I lost a few but those that remain are blooming well.

 

   This second bed is doing really well, but the new rose that had bloomed profusely no longer has buds. I have a second rose bush with no blooms so after researching online and talking with the Earl May guy, I think it must be a soil nutrient issue. I'm deadheading and just started feeding them so we'll see if that helps!

 Here's the other side of that same bed. I'm really happy with the variety of plants and textures here. My liatris, which were split and transplanted, are finally standing up and starting to bloom.

 

 This skinny bed along the garage is finally starting to show signs of life. The geraniums at the front all have leaves now (instead of brown stems!) and the lilies are almost all emerging. The peony at the right end is doing well and I'm anxious to see it bloom next spring.

 

 

The small hydrangea bush at the other end of this bed has just bloomed! We planted it last fall and for quite some time this spring, it appeared almost dead. It was very slow to leaf out but once it got started, it really took off!

 

 Although I haven't had a huge amount of blooms yet, I have had enough to make several small bouquets like this one I recently gave to a friend -- zinnia, coneflowers, daisies, and lavender, with mint and oregano to fill in around the edges. As long as I have flowers to cut, I'm happy!

 

jp