I can not even believe that it’s time to share my July Garden. Holy smokes, what a summer! It’s especially been a great summer for the kids, which is what I had hoped for, I think they’ve enjoyed it, and I feel insane. Like I’ve said, August is gonna rip in the not-having-much-to-do department.

My goal for this years gardening season was to focus on having more late summer blooming flowers, and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of doing just that. There is always tweaking that needs to be done, but it feels like it’s getting there. Last year I planted two Clematis on the fence hoping to fill in the gaps where we can see clearly into the neighbors yard. Last year the Clematis bloomed once and then nothing, I was disappointed because it was advertised as a continuous bloomer. This year the Clematis bloomed in the spring and then nothing, and I was bummed yet again. Hold up! Just this week I noticed that they are re-blooming, uh, Yay-yer! Also, as a note to myself : Scoops, one of your Clematis is struggling, so make sure not to pull it out this fall or next spring, k?

I added a climbing rose to the garden which I am super excited about. I planted it near our Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangea tree, and am hoping to train it to grow back along the fence. We have a concrete pad near our garage and there isn’t much dirt-for-growing-things available along the fence because of it, so I’m really hoping this rose does the task of filling in. The rose will be most prolific in the mid-late spring and then will re-bloom sporadically throughout the summer. Oh, and did I mention that it has the prettiest light peach colored flowers?

I also planted some Astilbe, this will be my second attempt at growing Astilbe in my garden, I don’t know what I am doing wrong, but they just don’t seem happy in my yard. I planted 5 new plants, three of which are this barely pink Delft Lace variety and two of which are a smaller raspberry colored variety. All of the plants leaves are browning and curling and I think they all hate me. I guess we’ll see what next spring brings. If they do come back, they will be blooming in July and August, and that would be great for me.

Because of the photoshoot earlier in July, I had the luxury of planting quite a few different types of annuals in the gardens to add some color where it was lacking. One of my favorite combinations is right on the corner of the garage, and consists of two of these light pink Kangaroo Paw and one Globe Amaranth. I purchased the plants right at the end of annual season and got everything 50% off. I’ll have to remember that for next year, because I really like the look of these two right here in this spot.

I’ve been especially good when it comes to watering this year, and it shows.

First of the season.

I’ve started planting my Zinnias out by the Alley because it get so much sun there and they love it. Plus these ones grow pretty tall and they help to make the garbage cans feel not so garbage-y.

How do you guys feel about Hosta flowers? I’m on the fence? I keep the prettier white orchid looking ones, but cut back a lot of the purple. They tend to look a bit spindly, and I prefer a more manicured look. ‘Dats just me.

At the start of the spring I bought two packs of creeping blue sedum that I had never seen for sale before. I had high hopes for them, and now that they are beginning to take off and grow, I really love them, especially pared next to that purple Heuchera leaf.