Heat, drought, Japanese beetles, caterpillars eating my baptisia and lupine foliage, raccoons eating all of my sweet corn, groundhogs eating my tomatoes off the vine...it's been a challenging garden season. July 2012 will go down in the record books; thus far it's tied for the second hottest month in recorded history in Iowa. In addition, we're in moderate drought.
Still, there is beauty. First, a few Iowa farmland photos and then a walk through Sunsplash Gardens:
Echinacea, loved by me, by pollinators, and by goldfinches
Rose of Sharon
Cleome
Phlox
More phlox
Hardy hibiscus
Rose and salvia
'Carefree Beauty' Buck rose
Sweet potato vine, butterfly weed, and sedum
Balsam
I lost a tree in a storm; now I have a little garden art.
Ammi majus from Judith at
Lavender Cottage, rudbeckia, and beebalm. I love the airy look of the ammi; it's similar to Queen Anne's Lace but is not invasive. It's an annual in my climate. Also love brushing against the beebalm; it smells so good (bergamot, like Earl Grey tea).
Perennial lathyrus (sweet pea)
I still have larkspur blooming. I kept dead-heading it, and it keeps re-blooming.
This is a foxglove that self-seeded from the Camelot series foxglove that bloomed near the garden shed last year. It's just beginning to bloom. I thought maybe it'd be just leaves this year, bloom next year, and then perish - foxglove are biennial.
Wilson seedling - purchased when I went to the daylily farm of
Bob Wilson. To see some of the daylilies he has hybridized click on the second link:
Bob Wilson.
My last hollyhock that's blooming. I've had problems with rust this year.
Verbena bonariensis
Hydrangea 'Pinky Winky' is starting her show.
Clematis 'Betty Corning'
Love my coneflowers!
'Janice Brown' is a stunning hemerocallis. One of my very favorites here at Sunsplash Gardens
Kitties on the porch; these are two strays we feed.
My Gracie
"Don't wear perfume in the garden - unless YOU want to be pollinated by bees!" ~Anne Raver
Linking to
Bloomin' Tuesday, Garden Tuesday, and
Tuesday Garden Party
