Unlike many parts of the world our area has been getting rain this summer, and if I can just review my mental records of last year’s weather, the pattern hasn’t been much different than this year.  Last year we had cold, crap, crap, crap, a nice day, too dry, dry, too dry, rain, crap, and then rain, and I think this year is similar.  Maybe more humid but I don’t keep as accurate records for the humidity.  In any case the plants, both good and not-so-good, are enjoying this summer growing weather, and the gardener is sick of mowing.  He loves the green sward of lush turf when freshly mown but that lasts two days out of six, and on the seventh day he can’t rest because he’s mowing again.  But green is a nice setting for lush and colorful flowers, much nicer than straw is.

The border along the street is wild and buggy and probably messier than a border along the street ought to be.  Maybe it should be shorter with more mulch.  One out of one teenagers will agree.

With all the focus this year on getting the garden to a point where it looks nice, plus rain helping with the annuals and a decent mulching last year to keep the weeds at bay, I have to say the garden looks nice and sometimes on a cooler, bug-free afternoon with the light just right it looks amazing, but that’s one biased viewpoint.  That same person can ignore a bunch of messy spots and unfinished projects, but as long as the sun hits the rudbeckia at just the right angle and gives them a summertime glow… that’s amazing.

Brown and orange are not my go-to colors,and this might not be the perfect lighting, but when they show up in these comfortably warm temperatures I’m 100% on board.  Rudbeckia triloba ‘Prairie Glow’ is currently in the lead for orangy, although I do need to pull out some of the plain yellows, particularly the shorter-petaled, rounder flowered ones… which I do not like…

There is plenty of color this week, in multiple shades, on plants which are not wilting and browning, but even in a normal summer there are some plants which I’m always happy to see rolling into August.  Agapanthus are on that list.  If you’ve followed this blog you might be tired of the bragging but here they are one more time.  My growing clump of agapanthus ‘Blue Yonder’, fully hardy with no protection down to winter lows around zero F (-18C), and carefree in a full sun spot with decent soil.

Agapanthus ‘Blue Yonder’ in full bloom with another week or two to go.  A deep color and plentiful secondary buds to extend the show, but not as fertile as some of the other hardy agapanthus and as a result I haven’t had any seedlings from this one… yet…

There’s a good chance I’m just lucky with this agapanthus, but I’m seeing a few more of these around as more cultivars have been introduced.  A gas station had two huge clumps of probably ‘Galaxy Blue’ and ‘Galaxy White’ planted along the street and based on nothing else remaining of the rest of the landscaping, I think these are pretty carefree… until they’re not, and I’ve heard of others having mixed results so…

Windblown black eyed susans and the cannas and coleus I planted just before heading out to Buffalo.  Not impressive but I think in another month they will add to the list of AMAZING 😉 -apologies for the trashy mulch of lawn clippings.

Speaking of mixed results, border phlox (P. paniculata) were a favorite here until they decided they hated me, so since then I’ve been through anger, denial, acceptance, and some serious self-reflection as I try my best to figure out how it’s my fault.  I don’t know.  All I know is they’re relatively awesome again this year even if I lost most of the heirloom named sorts which I had spent years collecting.  I did rip out two of the three ‘Limelight’ hydrangea which were taking the bed over, and I did toss some fertilizer their way this spring.  I think, because like many things here they’re done by the seat of my pants.

Phlox paniculata seedlings taking their rightful place in the summer border.  Better gardeners may scoff at the unimproved colors but I’m pleased.

Since I’ve lost most of the named forms, what I’m left with are the terrible inferior forms which garden books, and probably the internet too as AI steals mankind’s knowledge base, warn you about.  “Muddy colors” and “magenta” are what you get and apparently that’s my taste.

Muddy and magenta phlox seedlings, plus the last ‘Limelight’ hydrangea since I need at least one in here.  The darker-eyed and anything which veers towards reddish are favorite phlox seedling colors here.

Don’t get me wrong, I covet the dark purple and saturated reds of modern phlox cultivars, but they don’t hang on forever in my garden like these survivors do.  Also the modern hybrids seem to be bred with a shelf-life in mind and a height which works well in a gallon pot on a big-box nursery bench, and I like phlox you can walk through, so strong stems and up to five or even six feet height are more my taste.  Okay 3-4 feet tall is probably more sensible but I don’t mind higher.  What I do mind is mildew and anything under 2 feet.  I rarely have any mildew on these, and toss the ones which show signs.

Phlox with a nice white star in the center are also popular in this garden.  We had a few cool nights recently and that makes the white more distinct, they seem to fade in warmer weather.

If you’re still reading it probably means you have some tolerance or at least a curiosity in gardeners with poor taste so we might as well take a look at the waste area in the far back.  I did plant things and throw down topsoil but the “things” were daylilies and cannas, and with the exception of some classic zinnas, the area still leans towards weeds…. especially after the rain.  It also didn’t help when I allowed Jimsonweed (Datura stramoniom) to come up and flourish, but it looked so lush and healthy and I kind of like it for some odd reason, in spite of its stink when brushed up against and the millions of seeds it will produce if allowed.  I did pull dozens, but enough remain and I enjoy the white and purple flowers which open each evening and fade each morning.  If you have a little time to kill it’s a fascinating plant with its medicinal and spiritual uses (<-click for the Wikipedia entry) and you might already know that the common name derives from Jamestown weed, where soldiers sent to Jamestown Virgina to quell a colonial rebellion, ended up high for over a week after “consuming” the weed.  Another fun-fact is that even in colonial times growing Jimsonweed in the garden was considered inappropriate.  It was used for incantations, and the European witches were using it for their witch’s flying ointment, so I can only assume those colonial witches were doing the same.  All this makes me wonder what the neighbors really think about whats growing in this garden and what the gardener is really up to.

Super-tasteful dahlias and cannas alongside the zinnia patch, with Jimsonweed beginning to tower over the daylily beds on the left.

So before we spend too much time going on about getting high off weeds and AI starts recommending Jimsonweed plantings for medicinal and hallucinogenic properties, lets finish off this post.  I shall highlight only one daylily.  ‘Jersey Spider’ is an unexceptional gold color with large flowers but is an excellent plant.  A long season with plenty of rebloom on additional stalks makes it a favorite.

The daylily ‘Jersey Spider’ looked great 24 hours ago with even more rebloom stalks plus seed pods to play with for next year… except a deer or two wandered by last night and beheaded the plant.  It’s amazing how they sense my favorite plants just to destroy them.

So you got off easy with only one daylily photo.  Let me end with a longer shot which still looks nice even though I haven’t yet added to the berm plantings.

The pots were looking nice yesterday as well.  The deer also grazed some of the succulents so it looks worse today but whatever, at least they haven’t shown any interest in the petunias.

So a pretty upbeat post in spite of the deer assault last night.  Things look nice and most of the worst of the work is done… which should be good but it also gets me antsy.  What should I be doing with my time?  The houseplants love the heat and humidity and maybe I should take cuttings and divide things.  Do I have enough annuals?  I set up the drip irrigation in spots, and adding more containers really doesn’t add any more work so maybe I need more pots?

I would order mulch but every time I think about it, the tuition bills yell at me.  Hopefully the beds can handle a skipped year or two while we work through this.  Maybe a GoFund me is a good idea.  Not for college bills but for mulch of course, and if it takes off I’ll add a water garden and greenhouse… never mind.  Stay cool, hope you get the rain you need, and hopefully August brings you all the enjoyment and relaxation you need.