We are just over halfway through July, and the garden looks amazing. Of course don’t look too close or you’ll see all the weeds I’ve been unable to dispatch because of the heat. But having a metric crap-tonne of plants does make those weeds are harder to see at first glance!

Right now, the big show offs are the daylilies

I have a few several more, including a new one added this years, that are still to bloom .The show with these guys usually goes well into September.

The Asiatic and Oriental Lilies are blooming their hearts out too. A few of them (especially the Yellow Stargazers, have really been ravaged by the little red asian lily beetles, but the are still blooming their hearts out.

Marina, my beautiful blue rose of Sharon is starting to bloom. It’s really grown and filled out this year. I’m so glad I got my hands on it.

My native bee balms are in bloom. These guys really attract the humming birds. I did the Chelsea Chop on the puple one, and boy has it made a difference – usually it’s flopping all over the place, but it’s nice any tidy this year. I did it on several other plants, and the result is the same! I will be expanding it to a few others (daisies, and yarrow) next year!

I”ve been meaning to share this neat plant with you for a while. It’s called Cleome – or Spider Flower. It’s an annual and I got a white one from a local nursery last year to try out. (I’d seen seeds before). I planted it in the catio and it grew HUGE! (Taller than me) and bloomed all summer long. It was amazing.

So when I went back to that nursery this year, I was thrilled to see she was selling them again. I got six! As you can see, they come in three colours, white, pink and purple. And they are gorgeous! They also reseed.. after I bought these ones, I found several coming up in the catio. The hummingbirds like these too.

The only downside they have small hidden thorns, so you have to be careful how you grab them. Still, they are going to be a staple in my garden from here on out.

In other news, the yellow coneflower didn’t get pushed out – he was just hiding! I’ve got to dig him up and give him a better spot.

And last, the Butterfly bushes are starting to bloom. Hopefully these bring in more of my winged beauties, I feel like they’ve been noticeably absent in the garden so far this summer.