This week in the garden will actually encompass the last two weeks. As it is now the middle of mid-summer, a few new flowers have opened up. Sometimes I get so caught up in finding new flowers, I forget to take shots of the overall view. Here is the side yard with all the pretty crape myrtles in bloom.
Side Yard Mid-Summer
In the side yard, I have a couple of Joe Pye Weed plants that are easily 6 feet tall, or taller!
Joe Pye Weed Blooms
The flower heads have been covered with bees since they opened up- here’s a detail of the flower.
Detail Joe Pye Weed
Also in the side yard I have a few garden phlox blooming. I noticed in looking back at my pictures from a year ago that I had a lot more in bloom, but unfortunately, most of the garden phlox this year were completely eaten up by phlox bugs. So early in the fall I will cut them all down and dispose of them, and keep an eye on them next year.
Double Pink Garden Phlox
Some of the varieties of liriope are blooming now too- both a purple and a white flowered variety.
Liriope Flower
This white variety is growing on the hillside, down the middle “rock slide” area.
Liriope with white flower
I did a lot of work on the hillside this weekend, and spent over four hours pulling up the unwanted houttuynia. Here are the before and after shots:
Before – hillside of houttuynia
After- hillside
In the after shots you can see the rocks and some smaller plants that were hidden, as well as more definition in the ferns.
Before – hillside lower garden
After – hillside lower garden
I had to be very careful down at the very bottom because there are quite a few miniature hostas that are mixed up with the houttuynia. The hostas I want to try to keep!
Also on the hillside, another bush started blooming- I think it’s Clethra Alnifonia.
Clethra bush
The bees sure do seem to like it too-
Bee on Summer Sweet
Taking a break from all that weeding, I had a pretty view from sitting on the bench in the lower garden.
View from the bench
You can see the cardinal flowers and black eyed susans are really at their peak now. While I was sitting, I saw a hummingbird come up to at least half of the cardinal flowers.
Cardinal Flowers and Black Eyed Susans
The sedums are starting to set buds as well, and this is the first one to flower:
Sedum Blooming
Here’s a detail of the sedum flower:
Sedum Flower
In my last “This Week in the Garden” post I had mentioned that one hardy begonia just started flowering- but this week it’s really going! I also saw several more pink buds today.
Hardy Begonia bloom
The top of the hosta stairs is still looking beautiful- this is one of my favorite vignettes in the garden:
Hosta Stairs
Both in the vegetable garden and in the front side bed, I have several of these Texas Star Hibiscus blooming. It’s a striking plant, but I’m not sure I like how it looks in these spots. I may end up moving it around.
Texas Star Hibiscus bloom
And while I was weeding in the veggie patch, this not-so-little guy jumped near my feet.
Pickerel Frog
Right now I feel like it’s mostly a battle just trying to keep the unwanted plants at bay. I haven’t had too many weeds to pull not counting the houttuynia. And I’ve even managed to score a few vegetables this week! I pulled two little cherry tomatoes, a red ace pepper, and one zucchini.
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