Performers.

It's been a hard season for the garden. A few weeks ago, deep in the middle of the hottest June on record, I stopped obsessing about the flowers. The tomatoes had not produced much. The squash were wilting at the first sign of direct sunlight. Even the agastache in the backyard was dropping leaves during the hottest part of the day. With a little rain since then, I'm more determined than ever to keep good records of the best performing plants this year. I'll use those plants to remake the perennial bed beside the driveway.

Echinacea has given one of the best performances this year. It blooms tirelessly through drought, excessive rain, and even holds itself tall when the wind threatens to level the surrounding plants. I give this one a 10/10. White Swan is the other variety I've grown all season. I'll be dividing those plants this fall to fill the voids from those that have succumbed to the ravages of a NC summer.



Rudbeckia fulgida is another keeper. Its stoic blooms remain tall and firm. The plants range from compact to sprawling, yet they rarely wilt once established. This one was divided from the first one I purchased more than 2 years ago. I'll be relying heavily on these for mid and late summer blooms. It gets 9/10. It does sometimes wilt and turn crispy if there's no rain. A quick shower brings it back to life.



Agastache. This variety is Golden Jubilee. Although the hot sun did fade the lime green foliage a bit, I still give it an 8/10. It's drought tolerant, easily pinched to create lush, full plants, and it attracts Goldfinches like nothing else. They've picked nearly all my plants of their seed. Self-sown specimens have popped up here and there over the couple of years I've grown it. I hope to add more varieties through wintersowing again this year. Pink Pop is still small and hasn't bloomed. The orange varieties are no longer with us.



Coreopsis. Specifically, the Full Moon variety has performed the best. I bought a plant several years ago when I picked up the Rudbeckia. Full Moon grows to over 30" tall and is covered in lemon buttery blooms. It's a great filler plant between the coneflowers and rudbeckia. I give this one a 10/10 even though it has suffered a bit during the hottest, driest part of the summer. A little rain or water from the hose brings it back to life almost immediately. Divisions are easy and each plant provides quite a few. It's normal for me to take 10 or more plants from each clump in the fall or early spring. I really like this one. I have never seen a self-sown plant.



Rudbeckia triloba. That's the tall one in the back. In front, R. fulgida is flopping where it can, but R. triloba stands tall. The flowers are smaller than most Black Eyed Susans. The centers are more brown than black. It does reseed heavily. I give this one a 6/10. It tends to look weedy if it's not cut back in early spring. It also reseeds heavily, but can be controlled by pulling out the tiny seedlings after a rain.



Black & Blue Salvia. Sold as an annual, it returned this year after one of the harshest winters I can remember. The key to survival is to let it die down naturally. Cutting the dead growth can cause rot to the crown. The bees and hummingbirds love the blue flowers that emerge from the nearly black bracts. I like it too. I give it an 8/10. It can look somewhat scrawny unless it's pinched as the new growth emerges in spring. I'm planning to take a few cuttings of this today. It should root easily.



Melampodium. These are one of my favorite annuals. They self sow freely, are easily moved when young, and bloom non stop until the frost takes them out. I give them a 9/10. I won't bother with collecting seeds this year. They're reliable without any help from me.



Amaranthus. Love this plant. Perilla is overly ambitious when it comes to reseeding. The tall red amaranthus here is not. Spent plants were pulled out last fall and shaken around the beds. Only a few came up in those areas, unlike the perilla. They transplant easily as seedlings. They have hardly wilted at all even on the hottest days. I give them a 10/10. The bold color against the yellow/orange blossoms that are so prevalent in my garden in summer is provided by the foliage. The goldfinches love these too.



With so much yellow, a few red hibisbus, amaranthus, and other annuals like tithonia are interspersed with dramatic effect. Yvonne's salvia hasn't done well this year, but I'll still plant it here and there. Salvia subrotunda reseeds, so I don't need to worry about that one. Cosmos...I think we all know how they are. I'll be doing this again next year.



I thought this was Inula. I was wrong. I'm hoping as the summer goes, a nice show comes.



Sunflowers have been disappointing this year. Partly I blame the lack of rain. The true culprit is the squirrel. My mammoth sunflowers have been taken down just as soon as the seeds begin to form. They are gnawed away about 6" from the soil. This one may survive since it's in a more protected spot, but I doubt it. I'll still plant these again next year.



Finally, for Darla, here's the fragrant bed with the datura that were blooming last night. I'd guess this bed has at least 30-40 plants. Some are tall and spindly, others stout and branched. The effect is pleasing. The fragrance is subtle.



It's cloudy and 77 degrees. Rain is in the forecast for the next three days, storms could be heavy at times. One visitor is gone. The other is packing her bags. It was a good week.

It must be June.

A visitor on one of the butterfly bushes in the shrub island.



Black and Blue Salvia has really exploded this week.



Queen Anne's Lace snuck up on me this year.



Self sown petunias still look good. They get lots of shade until late in the afternoon.



The first Rose of Sharon. Purple will be along shortly.



It's 88 degrees and sunny. It's freaking hot.

Steamy Sunday

Another 1/2" of rain fell Saturday afternoon just as I was putting away the lawnmower. An hour later, the sun was out again.

The ditch lilies are still going strong by the front walk.



So are the rudbeckia in the perennial bed.



The first Four O'clock bloomed last night.



Monarda citriodora.



Black & Blue Salvia is blooming.



Three pink azaleas are way behind schedule.



The squash is right on time.



It's 72 degrees. The temperature is already starting to rise. By mid-afternoon, we'll be in the 90s.

Propagation

The cloner needs to be cleaned. I've got two rooted cuttings that can be potted up. The rest of the material still inside will be dealt with. Four oakleaf hydrangea cuttings have developed white bumps on their stems beneath the papery bark. I'll be potting them into soil today even though they have no true roots yet. It's how I managed to make this work last year, so I'm giving it another go.

Once clean, I'll be walking around the yard looking for things to mangle. I don't ask a plant if it has a patent or not. I just play with what I have in my own yard. Salvia caradonna has lovely deep purple stems that play well against the foliage. I've never tried this salvia before. We'll see what happens.



Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue' will also be stuck. I tried this earlier in the spring when I was pinching these plants, but the cuttings died. I think I need to increase the 'off' cycle on the air pump. Salvias tend to rot if exposed to too much water.



I would consider trying this blue Salvia farinacea "Blue Bedder". But it reseeds so easily, I don't think taking cuttings is worth the effort.



The long view. Standing at the top of the first set of stairs, this is the area known as the Perennial Bed. It's almost 2 years old at this point. I started adding plants in the summer of 2008. Right now, the majority of blooms are in the blue and pink families. Reds, yellows, and oranges will arrive in summer. There's a lot of foliage in there right now.



It's 64 degrees. The high today will reach almost 90. Starting Friday, there's a chance of rain in the forecast for the next 5 days. No chance today. The soil is already dry again. I'll be watering the potager this morning, as well as the seedlings I planted out yesterday.

10:10am - The cloner is clean and new cuttings have been stuck. I used 24 styrofoam cups to pot up the several rooted cuttings and the oakleaf hydrangeas. I hope they root. I have a pending trade with a gardener in Texas for some purple irises if I can succeed. The mother plant is slowly coming back from the roots, again.

I also stuck several types of sedums from the upright to the groundcovers. I want to turn the area around the yellow yucca into a succulent bed. It seems to be the one thing I'm missing in my garden. Hot and dry all summer, the area should be perfect for sedums. I've got a nice range of plants thanks to Jim and Jason as well as a couple of purchases last year.

It's 77 degrees and muggy.

Rain is coming.

We've got a good chance of rain this afternoon.



New things are popping up all over. The rain should kick things into overdrive.





The ferns I transplanted last week are starting to unfurl.



Black & Blue salvia is returning. This one is pineapple sage. That's the first time I've ever had this plant return from the roots. The three others show no signs of life.



Brugmansias have new growth too.



It's 61 degrees. There's a coolness to the air.

Saturday morning seed sorting.

I finally got my seeds organized last night. It was an exciting Friday night, let me tell you. I use a plastic filing box with hanging file folders to alphabetize my seeds. I'll sort through them after the swap seeds are mailed out, pulling the best candidates for wintersowing first. Direct sown seeds will be divided up based on the beds they'll go in, when they'll be sown, and varieties. I've been given lots of cosmos and zinnias from the swap. There's already a bag of poppy seeds I plan to sow today ahead of the rain/frozen stuff we're expecting tonight.

With all my seeds sorted, it's scary how many different kinds of plants I'm intending to grow this winter and next spring. I started counting with the A's and stopped when I got through the C folder. I had already reached 200 packs. I can't possibly sow all these seeds in containers like I did last year. I thought I was going overboard then. Turns out I sowed over 800 individual containers from 9 ounce styrofoam cups to lasagna pans. This year, I plan to try something different. Carla's returning my bandsaw on Sunday. I've got my parents and sister saving 2-liter bottles. I've got an idea.

In the garden, I plan to sow the seeds directly. I'll make a new hole, fill it with potting mix, and sow the seeds. They'll be covered using a cloche made from the top of the two liter containers. Yes, it will look tacky for the next couple of months as the seeds are protected by the bottle tops. No, I don't care. By mid June, I'll have forgotten all about that as the seeds turn into blooming flowers. It's the only way I can imagine getting all these new plants in the garden without having to transplant. Cutting out two steps in the process seems the most logical.

It's 34 degrees now, up from an overnight low of 24. On my way to the mailbox this morning, I noticed the Black and Blue salvia finally bit the dust. I hope it comes back. I've been told not to cut it down until spring. Water can get into the stems and cause the crown to rot.

I'm going to see a man about an old wood heater today on my way to the family Christmas dinner. It's a little over an hour's drive each way. I'm hoping the rain and slush holds off until I get home. I need to pick up coffee and cat food on the way too.

12:25pm - The kitchen is caulked. Aside from wiping down all the walls, it's ready to be painted as far as I am concerned. It's not perfect, nor will anything in this 63 year old house be. I've still got some details to finish, some quarter round to install, etc. I'll get to that in my own time just like everything else. I doubt I'll do any painting this weekend. I've got to finish other things first.

Also potted up two Honeycomb buddleia, a couple rooted lavender cuttings, some more lantana (either white or purple), and one Salvia leucantha cutting that had grown one long stringy root. Various other buddleia also got potted. I watered with transplant solution and will hope for the best.

If the rain holds off tomorrow, I'll be installing the plastic on the hoophouse and finishing the seed swap. I've run out of room on the light rack. Some things like rosemary and well rooted Miss Huff lantana can handle being outside for the winter. I may lose some foliage on those really cold nights, but overall, they should survive. Cotoneaster can also be moved out there freeing up a lot of space.

They were wrong.

Yesterday, the forecast called for less than 10% chance of rain. On Wednesday, the forecast was 60%. We got 1/16" that day. In less than 30 minutes, the rain gauge collected 3/4" of rain Friday. Someone had their days mixed up, I do believe.

In exchange for a rooted cutting of Turn of the Century, a customer at the store brought me 8 clumps of unidentified daylilies. She said I would be impressed next year when they bloom. I scattered them through the perennial bed yesterday after work. I also planted three clearance Black and Blue Salvia plants. They're past the bloom stage, but a little pinching should give me one or two blooms before the frost takes them down. Although we sell them as annuals, they're supposedly cold hardy to 0*F. We'll see.

For the top of the wall in yesterday's post, I like Nell's idea. I don't have Bath's Pink dianthus, but I have many clumps of Pink Maiden dianthus. They were wintersown and have bloom sporadically since spring when they put on their big show. Instead of saving seed, I scattered them around hoping for reseeders. I should be able to divide these clumps in the fall.



10:35am - lunch (breakfast). It drizzled a bit this morning at the store. No rain in the forecast. Partly cloudy now at 73 degrees. Very humid.

I collected seeds from the purple morning glory I tossed out around the China fir and along the edge of the gully. I also collected seeds from the red castor bean.



The green castor bean by the street is taller than the Thundercloud Plum.



Turn of the Century is blooming again. Magnus in the background.



The knockouts are flushing again too. Must be the rain.



Mr. Lincoln. I broke one of the blooms off accidentally last week. I've stuck it in soil to see if I can root it.



Coleus, impatiens, and hosta. All wintersown. Doing great.



Heading back to work. This evening I might try to till the corn/bean area for my fall veggies. Best planting days are August 17-18.