Pictures for the Week of 7/24 - 7/28/23

[Gayle]

I'm heading to bed shortly so going to try & start posting now.

Blue River Hibiscus is blooming; 1st choice wouldn't load but this one did  Crazy

[marnee]

Gayle, wow that is one big beautiful Hibiscus.

My hanging baskets today.


What I would like to know is how do they keep the ones on top of street light poles around the city looking so good?

[tasty]

I've often wondered that same thing Marnee.  Yours are pretty.

What a lovely hibiscus Gayle!

[mnwildflowers]

Gayle-Wow! That is massive. 

Mary-Pretty petunias. I too wonder how they keep them looking so good. 

Sunset the last two nights while out fishing. The sun shrouded in a haze of smoke from the Canadian fires. So many acres burned. Just awful but does make for beautiful sunsets. 

[bwatcher]

This is my main flower bed that I have kept watering, TRYING to not have too many plants die. Yeah, that didn't exactly happen. I've lost mostly phlox, a few coneflowers, but for the most part, the majority are still all alive and blooming. I figured having to replace whole plants was more expensive than the water bill is going to be. It's thick enough that I could afford to lose a few. We did get a little rain, so this brown lawn doesn't look near as bad as it did a month ago. I actually mowed it a few days before I took these. 
These pictures are looking to the south off of my front deck.
This is the left side up next to the house.
 
Middle, straight out from the deck.

Right side of the deck, looking to the south from the steps.

I've also been fighting with the Japanese Beetles. I still have 3 days to go to reach 1 month since they showed up and I'm almost at 1,300. Yeah, and I just saw my neighbor stuck one of those bags in her front yard, so I'm PRAYING that doesn't draw even more into our area. Those bags use pheromones to draw the bugs in, so IF they show up I hope they go to HER house. My big bed is probably only 75' from this bag. The JBs are also after my Morning Glories. 
This is my birdfeeder/flower area. This is looking out my bathroom window.


I'll work on taking more pictures as the flowers progress. I think my poinsettia will be history before the end of summer, but I did put 2 Nasturtium seeds in the pot and they just came up. 

[tasty]

Lots of colour from your flowers, Mary 🙂.

[luvmyb_b]

Wow! Gayle, that is one gorgeous hibiscus bloom. Really pretty too. 

Such cheery baskets, Mary M. Lovely. 

I have to say, Melissa, those sunsets are incredible! I can almost feel the serenity of the moment you captured in the photos. 

bwatcher Mary, I LOVE the shock of color in your yard and pics! Very nice. 


 This little beauty is a volunteer. I have no idea how I got such a mass of 4:00s to come up in Faith's Corner because I didn't plant any on purpose. I thought I would plant the tubers I saved from last year but never did. All I can think of is that there was seed in amongst the stone that DSis#3 took up before laying down cardboard and replacing the stone. I started out with a mixture of seed colors, but over time I think I mostly saved the red because it was my favorite. Now I wish I had some variety. Maybe I'll get another surprise and find peach or yellow & white blooms too. 


 A wider view of Faith's Corner. I am stupefied by what is growing at the right top of the pic. It appears to be a volunteer New England Aster coming up. I couldn't figure out what it was or where I'd seen it before. All of a sudden, I realized the leaves looked like my NEAs. I've had more mysteries this year that have been fun to figure out. Since I mixed all of my potting mix from last year, I'm getting all kinds of surprises. 

[grandmazn8]

Gayle,  that is a huge bloom.

Beautiful flowers and sunsets.

This is the flower arrangement my aunt ended up with. Not what she paid for so after I sent the pic to my cousin she emailed the company and got a refund. I don't know how much they refunded her. Then I found out they also sent a basket, but it hadn't been delivered when I was there so don't know how that ended up.

[plantdoctor]

Gayle....very pretty hibiscus bloom.
Mary Marnee...I love your yellow petunias.  In our city hanging baskets we order a variety of petunias that get good sized and require no deadheading.  Every day when they are watered it is with a weak solution of fertilizer.  I should take some pictures of them.

Melissa...Lovely sunsets.  I noticed the round ball of sun here last night as it was getting ready to set.

Mary BW...Your yard is beautiful with all those colors....and I know it smells wonderful with so many phlox in bloom.  I have only had JBs 1 year and that was '12 or '13....a year that spring and unusual heat was early and never seemed to let up.

Karen...Love the red 4 o'clock.  Aren't gardening mysteries fun?  Faith corner is very colorful.

Leslie...a pretty bouquet, but if it isn't what they ordered, I am glad they gave a refund.  I spy the yellow rose in there!

I am growing flowers to dry for DGD's wedding next May.  I planted mix statice seeds which I have done before.  Other years I just got purple, lavender and an occasional white, but this year I have those colors plus 1 yellow and 1 magenta pink.



I need to start cutting off milkweed pods or I will pay for it next year.

[luvmyb_b]

Love the statice, Charlene! I'd forgotten all about that beauty. Best wishes on the wedding flowers!

[Gayle]

I've never seen statice in person or grown it.  I may look into that.

[mnwildflowers]

Marybw-your yard is so colorful.

Karen-isn’t it great to have surprise and bonus flowers? You have lots of pretty color in your corner right now too.

Leslie- it’s too bad that the arrangement wasn’t what they paid for but it is very pretty

Charlene- that status is really pretty and I’m sure it will be lovely in a dried arrangement.

Bees enjoying the white swamp milkweed. 

[plantdoctor]

Melissa...I also see bees on the swamp milkweed often.

Stargazer Lily

[marnee]

Melissa, beautiful sunsets and great photo of the bees on the swamp milkweed.
Mary BW, your flowers are gorgeous.
Karen, I love those red 4 o’clock. I just have yellow ones and so far, they are not doing much.
Leslie, pretty flower arrangement. I like the idea on taking a picture of the flowers and that was a good way to tell if it is what they ordered.
Charlene, those are gorgeous flowers, I would love to see the dried arrangements when you make them. I also love the Stargazer Lilies.

I am happy my hydrangeas are still blooming.
 

[luvmyb_b]

Yep, Melissa, it is great fun to get garden surprises! I am clearly not versed in swamp milkweed. I thought it was usually purple/pink. I like the white because it is unexpected - to me. Another garden surprise. 

Charlene, your stargazer is what I was expecting mine to look like. I love them! I've grown kind of fond of my oriepent, though, because it is close enough to this. 

I'm happy your hydrangeas are still blooming also, Mary M. They are gorgeous! I'm envious.