Happy 4th of July. July is when things start to pop in the garden after the June lull, so I thought this might be a good time to provide a tour or overview of where things are right now.
Here’s a view from the street. That’s a ‘Mary Todd’ Daylily blooming in the Parkway Bed. Otherwise this bed is full of green plants that bloomed in spring or will bloom later in summer or fall.
And here’s the view from the Sidewalk. The only real masses of color right now are the ‘Raspberry Wine’ Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) and the ‘Jackmanii’ Clematis, which is past its peak but still has plenty of blooms. The ‘Raspberry Wine’ is blooming in the Sidewalk Border only, but there are other Monarda species/cultivars elsewhere that have yet to bloom. But just wait, there’s lots more color coming.
Here’s a view from the street at the other end of the Parkway Border. The front yard is about 95% dug up for beds and borders. There is a grass path 2-3′ wide that separates the Driveway Border, the Sidewalk Border, and Front Island Bed. The path keeps getting narrower as I cram in more plants.
I try to keep the Asters and Rudbeckias in the Parkway Border cut fairly low. Fortunately they respond well to being cut back. Similarly, I try to keep the Sidewalk Border from getting overgrown right along the sidewalk. Also, I line both sides with brick to signal that this is a garden, not an overgrown weed patch.
Here’s the Driveway Border, seen from the sidewalk. Those little pops of magenta, if you can see them, are Wine Cups (Callirhoe bushii).
The view from the front door.
There’s also ‘Eye-yi-yi’ Daylilies, probably my favorite variety. The Daylilies in the garden are just getting started.
Closer to the house, but harder to see from the street, ‘Betty Corning’ Clematis is adorned with its last blooms. And along the edge of the Driveway Border, mostly self-sown Hoary Vervain (a plant that desperately needs a new common name) (Verbena stricta) is starting to bloom.
Here’s the Lamppost Bed, providing a closer look at the Wine Cups.
This is the bed on the other side of the Driveway, which I call either the Left Bank Bed or the Crabapple Bed, seen from the neighbors’ lawn. There’s some more Daylilies and at the far end a patch of Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa).
Butterflyweed and Daylilies.
Here’s the other side of the Left Bank Bed. The Alliums are done blooming, but the seed heads remain.
Looking across part of the Left Bank Bed to the other side of the driveway.
Before long masses of color will start emerging throughout the Front Garden. I’m thinking of making this sort of overview a regular feature every couple of weeks or so, at least into September. And the next post will be an overview of the Back Garden. In the meantime, stay safe and enjoy your holiday weekend if in the US, and if not – enjoy your summer.