Peony Season

 I always look forward to the first day of Peony season.

Crocuses

 

I spent some time today dividing and transplanting ornamental grasses and doing some cleaning up.  Crocus flowers only open up on sunny days.  So far the repellent granules are keeping the deer and rabbits from snacking on them which is making the honey bees very happy.  There are precious few flowers for the bees this time of year.

Yesterday I saw my first flock of migrating robins and I can hear the red-winged blackbirds.

Some More Dahlias

 All of the Dahlia varieties have now begun to bloom

Spartacus

Lady Darlene and Center Court

Peaches N Dreams

Binky

And some other pretty things

Heuchera Planter

Celosia

Black Eyed Susan

Flower of the Day

 In high summer, when a lot of things are looking dry and tired (Daylilies), the Echinacea has time to shine.  These are quite orange when they first bloom, but after a few weeks they fade to an antique rose color.  

Prima Ginger Echinacea

Flowers

Let's just take a moment to enjoy the flowers that I have successfully defended from the deer.

Stella Supreme

Anzac

Anzac

Happy Returns

Chum

Sundried Tomato

Black Eyed Susan

Sweet Sugar Candy

Prima Ginger Echinacea

Sugar Shack Button Bush

Swallowtail Butterfly

The First Monarch of the year

Purple Clematis

This is the prettiest thing in the garden this week. It is the third place I’ve had it planted and its third year in this location. This is in the evening light.

Winding Down

At this point in the raised bed garden I have six beds empty and mulched.  I keep up with the weeds, and admire the beautiful soil.  All ready for next season.

But there is still food in here.  The pole beans rallied.  You can see that the yellow Monte Gusto beans on the left look a little haggard.  But the Seychelles are deep green and producing well again.  I just kept them watered during the hot spell and they began to flower again.  Even the yellows are beginning to flower a little.

And we have as many peppers as we can eat.

The Clarimore zucchini continues to flower.  There are fewer male flowers so I am losing about half of the squash to poor pollination.  Still plenty.

The herb bed had a blank spot in it so I put a packet of nasturtium seeds in.  Last year I go no nasturtiums at all.  So I am enjoying these.

This is the first year I tried Dara (wild carrot) from seed.  I only got two plants.

But I love these so next year I will try again and be more careful with them.

The Zinnias are gorgeous.

More of these next year too.

I did not adjust the saturation on the above photo.  These Sayonara dahlias are even more vibrant in person.  It sort of overwhelms the cell phone camera.

The Dahlia patch is looking stellar.

Sometimes the cool nights can tweak the colors a bit.  Below is a Lady Darlene which is usually red and yellow.  This one is fuchsia and powder pink.

Preventative Measures

If I were to ignore this pot of peppers, I would soon come out to find it broken over and dying.  Pepper plants are rather woody and tend to snap under the weight of the peppers.  Especially after a rain.  There are five plants in this mass, and I was running short on grow thru grids so this pot didn't get one.

Twine will do the trick

That should keep them from breaking.  The peppers are getting quite beefy and will soon begin to turn orange then red.  Then I will give pickling a try and also eat them fresh with hummus.

The Black Eyed Susan Monster will absolutely need to be divided.  It is on my list for next spring.  If I were to continue to ignore this, it would also begin breaking over and, probably, begin dying in the center.  As it is I think it will need to be reduced to about a third.  I have new spots already prepared for the divisions.

And now for some pretty flowers

Snapdragons and Zinnias

Celosia

Gitt's Crazy Dahlia

Cafe' Au Lait Dahlia

Ice Tea Dahlia

Lady Darlene Dahlia