One-Hundred Three

THIS IS WHAT THE DIGITAL temperature sign read at approximately 6:15 yesterday evening as I drove past it. Tonight on the news, the weatherman said our humidity yesterday was 16%. Good thing because it was HOT! But it was a "dry heat." And it wasn't a surprise. The weather people let us know it was imminent and fortunately were also correct in forecasting a cool-down for today. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time with the hose Friday evening and Saturday morning, making sure my precious babies would be able to handle the day-long heatwave. And they did.  

Here's a little of what's going on in my garden.  

This is a Lobelia laxiflora blossom. 

And here is the entire plant in a container. It is one of my few new plants this year.
Apparently it's only marginally hardy in my Zone 8b garden so it might be a one-time
beauty. 

This is a third-generation Mimulus. I bought the plant two years ago.
It reseeded last year and then again this year. 

This little pink daisy is a miniature Dahlia.
The other pinky is Diascia integrima that has wintered-over for two years.  

This is Sedum 'October Daphne' in a hanging container.
It doesn't even need to bloom to make me happy. 

This particular clump of 'Firetail' Persicaria is huge, well over 6 feet tall. And the bees love it. 

In the photo below this one, the purply-mist towards the left is an
ornamental Oregano. Here is a close up. Bees love it too.  

This border is looking exceptionally nice with Verbena rigida in full regalia.
In front of the clump is a bunch of seedlings I need to dig up and replant.
This should give you a clue as to the conditions that please this plant.  

Phlox paniculata 'Bright Eyes.'  The scent is delicious.

Now we're on the opposite end of the garden. You can't see the pond but if you look closely
you can see the lily pads. The grass (Stipa gigantea) on the right,
is obstructing much of the view. 

This is the opposite side of the aforementioned pond.
In years past this area has gotten really dry by now. But this year,
thanks to all the rain in June, I've been able to keep it looking good.  

I almost forgot, again. (Sheesh!) The winner of the drawing for Ricki Grady's book, Bebop Garden was Jen of Muddy Boot Dreams.  Congrats Jen. If you haven't visited her blog, you can click on the link and be amazed.

Well, that's what's going on in my garden. I hope all of you have a wonderful week with friendly garden-puttering temperatures.