Other Plants and Flowers

What is growing in my garden besides Vegetables and Dahlias?  

Plenty.

My Geraniums are finally beginning to look respectable again.  They were gorgeous in June and then the July monsoon hit and they almost gave up.  They looked pretty pitiful.  They lost a lot of leaves and the flower heads were small and continually ruined. They almost disappeared altogether in these deck planters.  The Sweet Potato Vines loved the rain and got huge, drowning out the struggling Geraniums.  Each morning I would separate the vines and pat them down to give the Geraniums a shot at some sunshine.  A few times I pruned the vines pretty good.  The Geraniums have finally re-emerged along with the Ivy and are looking more like I intended the planter to look.

These two Heuchera plants were struggling in different spots in the landscape, leftover survivors from earlier plans.  I transplanted them to the rich soil in this partial shade area and they are thriving again.

The Riverbed is looking nice this time of year.  It is peaceful to sit and watch the grasses sway in the breeze.  The Johnson Geranium in the foreground is one of three I transplanted this spring.  This is the third spot I've put these particular plants in.  The last place they were thriving and getting huge but we had to remove an ornamental Lilac Tree which was dying and these were at its feet.  That whole area is now in the midst of a redesign and the Geraniums can spread as wide as they want to out here.

Little Bunny grass

These whiskey barrels are next to our fire pit area.  Last year Petunias volunteered in them and looked nice so this year I planted the Daddy Mix Petunias on purpose and changed from Fireworks fountain grass to Cherry Sparkler.  I had in mind a completely different scheme for these planters and was finally going to get around to it next year - but maybe not.

Durango Marigolds and some Portulaca volunteers

Last year this fire pit planter was full of Figaro Dahlias.  This year I seeded Profusion Mix Zinnias specifically for it.  The Zinnia seedlings were taking their sweet time so I saw some red and orange Celosia at the nursery and decided to try that instead.  The Celosia plants struggled at first so I went ahead and interplanted the Zinnias.  Then they both took off.  Even after all these years I still expect my annuals to look amazing in May.  But in real life they really don't look like much until July.  Then by August you wonder why you were so impatient.  I've ended up pruning the Dahlias back pretty hard to let the Celosia fill in.  Next year I am going to start Celosia instead because they really do look like flames.

And finally, yesterday's tomato harvest.  The pink tomato needed a few more days, but we are getting rain now so I picked it early to avoid having it split open.

I'm going to go make a BLT for breakfast out of the yellow Sparks tomato right this minute.