What's happening in your mid summer garden?

We came from here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/994967/

Dahlias are coming!

I could add to the stories about Matilija Poppies. I have a quite memorable one, don't I Kathleen? LOL

Don't remind me - I cringe every time I think of it.

What a beautiful Dahlia, Doss!! Love the colors.

Yes, that is a beautiful Dahlia! Alas, I cannot grow Dahlias. Which makes me sad because I especially love the "cactus" Dahlias!
My black hollyhocks are in full bloom though. They were just fluke I decided to try the year before last and now I am in love with them!

doss, that really is a lovely Dahlia. I also love them and several are just starting to open this week. We've had some cool weather up until this past weekend, so the Dahlias are happy to bloom their heads open.

I finished my block retaining wall yesterday. I think I really like the new look. Those darned blocks were heavy too. Now I have to backfill behind the blocks and take out those little edge blocks near the backside.

I want to fill this bed with some 'bone' plants now instead of just annuals and perennials. If you have any ideas, please share with me.

Donna

Pictures, pictures, Donna!

Ooops, forgot to add the pics, thanks K.

See the little brick edging along the back? That will be gone so the walk way will be a little wider and easier to maneuver.

Really nice Donna. Looking good.

Donna, it's beautiful! Fits perfectly in that space and will be so pretty to look at from the windows. Can't wait to see it progress.

How about a small japanese maple for a centerpiece Donna? What a great job you did.
Love the black hollyhock PC. I'm jealous. Everything here is on sprinklers and they all get sick on me. that's a beautiful color.

I live on a ridge up in the mountains east of Santa Cruz. Since several houses just on the other side of this ridge, having literally slide down into the ravine on the other side, my landlord had a mountain of gravel put in next to my little house. My "lawn" is a thick cushion of crabgrass to hold it all in place. When it rains, all the water from the road leading away from my house, comes right down past me into the ravine behind me.
What to do with a hillside of mostly gravel!!?? Over the years I have gradually added perennial herbs, a pink penstamon, and my black hollyhocks. I will have to take a photo of it all now that the oregano, tri-colored sage, thyme, and savory have almost merged into a solid carpet. The black hollyhocks are in their own little pocket near the base. So they still have allot of drainage. The ones near all the fuchsias though, do get rust on the leaves from all the watering in that part of the yard and never look good.

Sorry about your gravel yard but it does sound as if you are making the best of it.

Ha, ha, don't feel too sorry for me! It is just the upper yard on one side of the house that is all gravel. You can't see it in this photo, but there is a large yard below. It was once a bare clay slope, but after working over 500 bags worth of steer manure into it over the years, it is now a lush garden that produces almost all of the food I eat.
I call this photo "My breakroom" and used to use it as a screen saver at work. The crab grass is actually very, very cushy to walk on. People are always a bit surprised! Sort of like walking on a futon. When my youngest neice was just three, she started laughing herself silly and took off so fast running on it that her mother didn't have time to react. The next thing we knew, she was rolling down the slope. That was before the fence....

This message was edited Jul 15, 2009 10:04 PM

In keeping with the theme, here is my beloved Lavender just before I started cutting it to dry last week. I find that if I do, it will put out new flower buds and I'll get a second show before the end of summer.

As long as the crabgrass works more power to it. It's a lovely garden. And isn't it great how wonderful the lavender is right now? I"ve planted some encroaching on a walk so you can smell the lavender every time you pass by.

Jackmanii clematis "working" the gutter downspout, as Singing Wolf might say!

What a lovely thing to do with a downspout!

Well I might have said it, but someone beat me to it! LOL!
I love hiding ugly metal fences, but I don't have a downspout. I guess we don't get enough rain to warrant one.
I will say that Jackmanii clematis, sure looks happy climbing up the downspout. : )
Really a nice photo, surfcity, you did good.
Can't show you what my garden looks like, but it is still growing. Mostly. I think I lost my big lantana, but have some starts out in the gh, so it's not a total loss. Just not getting enough water in that pot. Miss one day in this heat and boom, your potted plants whither and die.
Hoping when I get back from our trip that most of the plants will still be alive.
Do have one piece of news though. I was able to harvest my first bunch of bananas yesterday. Am handing them out, to family and friends. Will take some with us too. Next bunch won't be so good. Only a couple of sad bananas in that bunch. DH cut down the wrong stalk last year. It kept growing from the center, but wasn't strong enough to support the weight of the bananas. Got two more to go after that one.
Life is good! The 4 O'Clocks smell so wonderful that I just like to sit on the front patio around dusk and take in the fragrance. Much to my surprise the wisteria is still putting out a few blooms too. Honey bird, and h.bird plants are extremely happy. Hope to have new camera soon so I can show you.
WIB,
SW

Hey SW, you should try growing pineapples! I had them years ago in my greenhouses and they were so much better tasting when ripened on the plant, so sweet, no acid bite. Just keep the top of a pineapple you eat. When you cut it off, cut down into the core so you have like a cone of it. Let that dry out completely in a cool place. When the bottom leaves have turned brown, gently pull them off and you will see roots have started their way downwards. Then plant it!!
Beautiful Clematis surfcity! I LOVE blue and I have a horrid chain link fence all along the backside of the property. A clematis would be lovely there.
Part of my front fence is being covered in another one of my favorites, Plumbago. The Tiger Swallowtail butterflies just love it.. This isn't the clearest photo, still getting used to this new camera.

PC, you DO love blue! (Me, too.)

Lovely lavender and cape plumbago. What type of lavender is that? I have some French lavender, I think, sometimes call "lace leaf", which has a purpley flower, but I like yours, too.

SW, if you're looking for a good all-purpose, easy-to-use camera with great picture quality, try a Canon G10. (We recently got the G10 to replace an old, clunky G2.) It won't take pictures of wolves in Yellowstone a mile away (where we go on vacation every year), but for almost anything else, it's really a surprisingly good camera. I use it mostly for taking business pictures in a studio setting, but it takes good garden pix, too.

I also love scented flowers. Which is actually a new thing for me. Up until about ten years ago, if it was in my yard, it had to have a function. Fruit, vegetable, or herb!
Thank you surfcity, it is simply English Lavender. Which actually does better when not treated like a drought tolerant plant ;-) Even though it is certainly capable of surviving extremes. My experience with the French and Spanish lace leaf lavenders is that they are more for show, none of them smell all that wonderful to me. But then, I just met a lady with quite a collection of lavenders up on their hillside and was floored by the varieties of blue and all of their truely distinct scents!! I had no idea! Now I am going to have to find some of those for my hillside.
Meanwhile, my Peacock Orchids/Acidantheras/Gladiolus callianthus depending on who you are talking to, have finally started to bloom. Soon, two large containers will be covered with these scented little glads. A gentle scent calls and you wonder what that delightful aroma is, then you discover it is coming from these guys!

Those are really lovely and I've never seen them. And fragrant too. What a treat.
Can't wait until you can get a camera SW. I'm sure that there's a lot to see in your garden. ''

Went to find camera, but people at the store couldn't find the one I wanted. I decided to go with the Nikon 90 point & shoot. Might change mind, but I can use same memory card, and while it has less features than the Canon, it has more resolution (12 vs 10). Probably got that wrong. It does take 15 frames a second! Found the other camera's not in my current budget, and way too heavy for me to lift for any length of time. Operating on the KISS principle, decided that baby steps are right for me. I'll still check out the Canon G10 too. Thanks for the suggestion, SC! : )
Will take stitches out myself. Need at least another day or two for me to heal.
Leaving in morn. for OK. Currently have a couple of three pineapples growing in green house. One is promised to Weegy. Mama pineapple had a second litter. Only one pup in this litter of pineapples. LOL!
We harvested first melon too!
Way late, and need to finish packing in morning.
Saw first tarantula tonight!
WIB,
SW

If it fits your grip, you can hardly go wrong with a Nikon, SW. KISS is good. :-)

I've got some nice things blooming! My first plumeria of the season, California Sunset. (is yours blooming Kathleen?)

Vanda orchid.

Morning Glory from Marie.

These next 2 Dahlia's are from my dd's boyfriend, he bought it for 2.50 at Lowe's where he is a manager of the outside gardening! What a connection huh?!?!!?

The 2 dahlia's were planted in the same pot, I think there's 2 different ones it one pot, yes?

The 2 dahlia's were planted in the same pot, I think there's 2 different ones in one pot, yes?

Double posted, hmmmmm.

This message was edited Jul 18, 2009 12:19 PM

Nice, Louise! What a nice boyfriend!

My California Sunset is getting ready to pop, and I have one yellow bloom from last year's co-op this morning - it smells yummy.

Yes he sure is, Kathleen! He always buys me a great little mini rose for Mother's Day and holidays. He's a keeper, not because of the plants, he's just a great guy!
Don't all plumeria's smell yummy!?!??

Beautiful plumerias! In my dreams, I have a greenhouse again and can grow plumerias and collect fibrous cane begonias again........ My specialty was once ferns. I had eleven greenhouses covering over an acre and over 50 varieties. Plus my plumerias and fibrous begonias. Here are two photos of days in heaven. This first one is one half of one greenhouse.

This message was edited Jul 18, 2009 1:21 PM

It was muddy, but it was heaven.

I love that California Sunset plumeria--absolutely gorgeous! Going to have to put that one on the wish list! None of my plumies are blooming yet, although our week of 100 degree temps seems to have them happier than they've been in a while so maybe it won't be too long.

Wow, now that's a greenhouse!

Thank you. If I had enough to share I would, ecrane.
Yes, the plumeria are sure loving this heat!

Here's a pic of my humble "Oranges and Lemons" gallardia, paprika yarrow and calylophus.

Trying to blend in.