Hello friends!

Currently, I’m seeking some refuge from the warm & humid weather which has been visiting us all week. Today was supposed to be the first day all week to be without the dreaded high heat index, which made gardening and outdoor activities really tough, but surprise, it’s still here. Rain has been a frequent enough visitor to put us well outside the cautionary fire threats and warnings we saw all of June. The upcoming week is forecast to be a bit cooler and more seasonable for this time of year. All in all, it’s been warmer and drier than is customary.

All the hydrangeas except the ‘Limelight’ panicle variety are fully open and look stunning, despite quite a few bouts with rain showers. I did what I could for the ‘Annabelle’ mop head variety, which flop too easily into the dirt due to their enormous bloom size with the slightest bit of rain. Not sure why the others haven’t flowered yet, as by now they should be well into several weeks of flower. 😦 I’m sure it’s a weather-related issue from the drought of early spring, stunting growth and curbing plant vitality.

Pekka doesn’t get out into the garden too much these days, but when he does, he manages to come up with a few great ideas. One of his latest endeavors was to reconfigure one of the gravel pathways near where we park our covered trailer. With just a bit of tweaking, he managed to reposition the path to create an easier trek up the small slope which is there. This allowed for the rose bed alongside the farmer’s roadway to be extended ever so slightly. There’s room in this established raised bed for a couple new roses!!

This goes to show, just when you think you have no possible room left to put in another plant, there’s always room if you put your mind to it! 🙂

Let me share a few of many summer blooms which are delighting me the most.

Actually, nearly everywhere you look, there’s something flowering right now in our garden. From the hydrangea, to roses, daylilies, and clematis. The large clumps of phlox are putting on a great show. It’s taking me a bit longer than I’d like to get all through the garden to deadhead, and tidy up after the last drizzle and high wind which never is very kind to tall stemmed plants. It’s been tough going, with the heat index causing me to wilt pretty fast once the lunchtime hour arrives. Heat stroke can be avoided! So I duck inside and wait it out, like I’m doing right now – hoping to get back out there once late afternoon approaches. Mosquitoes and horseflies are the bane of my existence. It never fails that I end up getting attacked by one group or the other, and sometimes both, with temps and conditions so humid. Yuck!

Summer heat and the occasional rain event have done their magic for the plants. Several are still a bit off on usual quantity of bloom, height, and flowering time, but all in all we got there with a few days to spare in the month of July.

Pekka is off work the month of August, but we don’t have holiday plans. A small group of garden visitors are coming during his holiday to see the garden, but other than that, it’s smooth sailing for the foreseeable future, with the usual bit of garden tidy-up and maintenance.

It would be wonderful to hear how your garden is performing, or how your summer has been thus far. I really get an uplift through the comments, thoughts and perspectives people have been kind enough to share. Hope to hear from you!

Until next time ❤