White.

In spring, white is a refreshing color in the garden. In summer, it offers a bit of a reprieve from the heat. More will arrive soon in the form of Four O'clocks, datura, and daisies. For now, small snipets can be found here and there.

Lantana.



Confederate jasmine and the chimney trellis.



The foliage of Miscanthus "Cosmopolitan".



Nandina's flowers. These will turn into the red berries that persist through the winter.



In the shade, Dusty Miller looks white instead of silver.



Nigella.



The first Shasta Daisies are starting to open. They're scattered here and there through the yard.



Blackberries.



Ligustrum. Similar to the sickening sweet smell of Chinese Privet.



Echinacea "White Swan"



It's 57 degrees. The high today should reach the mid 80s again. More sun. Rain in the forecast for the weekend.

The unknown hybrid tea.

I got it for cheap. I can't remember when. It's blooming, finally. It starts out yellow, which I missed. There are currently 3 open blooms.

Going



Going



Gone.



In the perennial bed, nigella is looking fantastic.



It's 59 degrees. The heat was on last night. The forecast calls for slight chances of rain all day, the highest being 30% around 3pm. We had a sprinkling of rain last night. Weather.com says we received 0.01" at the municipal airport just outside of town.

As I sit at my desk, I can see a male cardinal feeding a fluffy baby at the edge of the potager. He takes seeds from the bird feeder and flies back to where she sits. He's been doing this for 15 minutes now. There are baby bluebirds in one of the boxes out back. The same box that was used last year. I need to refill the birdbaths before work.

2:56pm - Home for lunch. It rained for about an hour this morning around 11am. More rain likely this evening and part of Wednesday morning. The rose above now has a nearly open bloom. It's yellow.



And a new bud has started showing color. Things happen quickly with just a little rain and cool temperatures.



It's 61 degrees.

That sickening, sweet smell.

That's how the customer from Maryland described the odor he and his wife were smelling "on the back roads around here." The culprit is Chinese privet. It's an invasive species that grows wild everywhere, including my own backyard. At the corner, just beyond the red dogwood tree, there's a huge specimen.



Down the street, the butcher with the BushHog took out native Sweetshrub and Mock Orange, but left the privet.



And the honeysuckle.



In my own yard, Ligustrum howardii is about to bloom. The fragrance and flowers are very similar. I'll deadhead my plants once they've bloomed to keep them from reseeding.



The colors in the garden this time of year tend to be more pastel and muted. Pink, blue, and white dominate.



I didn't really plan much of this. It was more an effort of plunking and running with wintersown containers and the scattering of seeds.



Nigella has bloomed in many parts of the perennial bed. Dianthus Pinks Maiden join the chorus.



The cool colors are welcome at 79 degrees. It's not even 10am yet.



In the background, the freshly mowed path produces its own fragrance.



It's sunny and humid. The high today should reach 84. Dragging hoses and moving the sprinkler will take up the rest of the 2 hours I have before work. Still no rain in near forecast.