Summer Flowers

With days of steady heat and humidity, the garden is settling down into more cautious growth.  We finished our first thorough watering of the labyrinth area, and will now be monitoring each section, using soaker hoses as necessary, and spot watering those areas that need it.  Some of the newly planted perennials have been lost because we didn't realize how much water they needed for the first few weeks.  Most are doing fine.

There have been a few butterflies passing through.  This one stayed around for a day before moving on to tastier options.  There have been fewer butterflies than many years in the past, for unknown reasons. 

The day lilies in the North garden, far from the rampaging teeth of the deer, are doing well.  They will need to be divided and replanted in the fall, and some either given away or move to new locations.  I can see them from my desk as I write this, through the porch door.  There should be enough buds to last for a month before they wind down. 

We have been keeping the deer away with smelly sprays, and placing the garden cart across one of its favorite paths.  I am not sure how long those strategies will last.  I hope that the Lily of the Nile, with 6 fat buds, gets a chance to bloom.  All got eaten off last year.

The early Hardy Hibiscus is open and blooming.  The three hibiscus varieties provide major color through the summer and into the fall.  I have been battling slugs, and the deer chewing off buds this year, but for now the pests are in abeyance. 

Wow, I think that is the first time I have used one of my Word Power words from high school.  Do you remember that first set starting with "a?"  Abate, aberration, abet, abeyance . . .  Of course, as I typed that in, I had to check the spelling of aberration because I used two "b's" and one "r!"  So much for Word Power!

Back to the garden.  Fortunately, the grass is growing very slowly and doesn't need mowing.  And I have no chigger bites so far, so our very cold winter appears to have brought them under control!