Oy with the crazy summer schedules! I still was able to run outside early this evening and snap some photos for Bloom Day. Early morning and early evening provide the most interesting lighting when one is out and about with a camera in the garden. I love how the coneflower shot turned out. Anyway, here we go:

Thank you as always to May Dreams Gardens for hosting this fun event! Be sure to head over there and check out everyone’s beautiful July blooms.

Oh yes, I just made a corny poppy reference. Just yesterday, the very first of the white, oriental poppies opened on the Lot. This morning there was another. This year, Audrey II has a lot more blooms than last year. She has doubled in size. Unfortunately, through a combination of sale prices, ill planning, and pure panic, I dropped a cone flower and cornflower in front of the poppy at the end of last season. Both of the perennials are too tall to be in the front of the bed, and are blocking any view of the poppy. Both will have to move.

Speaking of the cornflower, when it bloomed I had no idea what it was. Ms. A and I looked it up this morning as we sat in the garden and chatted over coffee. We believe it is a Centaurea Montana. While looking it up online, it seems to be referred to as both a perennial cornflower and perennial bachelor’s button. Argh! No wonder gardeners prefer the latin names of plants.

Anyway, it was visited yesterday afternoon by a ruby throated hummingbird. This is the second time this season he’s dropped in at the Lot. The night before, he stopped by to check out our chives and archangel that are in bloom. I wonder if the Centaurea is something he’s interested in, or if he’s newly arrived and still shopping the neighborhood market.

In other Lot news, the jupiter’s beard, rose campion, and foxglove all have buds. The peonies are so close to blooming, with the first one beginning to unfurl just this morning. Some allium opened in the back alley bed. All the roses on the lots are full of buds this year. One of the little clematis I purchased has given up on me finding it a home and has begun to bloom. The clematis from last season is busily growing up the pergola.

Yesterday morning I planted the tomatoes and Italian sweet peppers purchased from the farmers’ market. The kale, five color swiss chard, ace pepper, thai basil, and genovese basil were planted this past Saturday morning before the rain appeared. Just yesterday, the pole beans, okra, and cucumbers broke through the ground. We will need to get some supports in place for the climbers. We attempted a cradle last year for the cucumbers, but when the cucumbers began maturing on the hammock-like supports, the weight of it uprooted the plants. This year, a more vertical approach will be taken.

Right now, my planting plans having been rained out, I’m relaxing on the front porch of the Lot and enjoying the thunderstorm rolling through. It’s one of those great, warm, light rains that allows you to sit outside and enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of the storm. This is the south side of the Lot that faces the street. While sitting here, I realize we do not spend nearly enough time out here. This is a viewpoint of the Lot I seldom see.

While enjoying an early happy hour and the arriving summer, I notice the shrubs in front of the house are too tall for their location. Instead of being able to sit on the porch and just look over the tops of the shrubs to across the street, there is now a wall of green. I could grumble about the shrubs being planted so close to the house, but realize I would have done the same exact thing as a beginning gardener. It took me almost two full seasons to not  ignore the size measurements on plant tags! Even now I occasionally try to go for blissfully ignorant so I can squeeze a beautiful plant into the diminishing space.

This fall will be the time at least one arborvitae will need to be removed. We’ve grown fond of the low maintenance shrubs, but the one mentioned has now grown to the height it is interfering with the house. When asked what I should do to address the problem, Mrs. R began her answer with “Well, beyond the fact it’s a fire hazard…” Yes, she is right, it must go by way of chainsaw. I’m going to try to detach myself from it throughout the summer and instead focus on a flowering shrub more suitable for the space. The location is the southwest corner of the house, receive sun all day, and is about 4′ square. Right around the corner on the west side is my Other Half’s nemesis, a climbing rose. Instead of replacing the arborvitae with another shrub, a better solution may be to plant some tall sun-loving perennials in it’s place so there is no competition with the rose.

In other news, my Other Half and I enjoyed another fresh, garden salad today for lunch. We were able to have one at the beginning of last week as well. The spinach, chives, radishes, and burnet from the garden were all ready to toss in a bowl to liven up some romaine lettuce and carrots purchase from the grocery store. Not being a fan of really spicy veggies, I am enjoying the mild radishes we’ve planted in the raised beds. The chives have bloomed as well, so we had fun snipping the blooms from the stalks and using them as a edible, decorative garnish to the top of our salads.

Now showing on the rest of the Lot are a variety of other perennials. The tall bearded irises are in bloom and the Siberian Iris just opened up yesterday. I’ll be breaking out the garden stakes tomorrow. The Archangel is now in full bloom. This is the first season I’ve owned the plant while it is blooming. It’s really pretty with the modest, yellow flowers and bits of blue Forget-Me-Nots peeking up between the blooms. The cheddar pinks just began opening today. The Snow Angel Coral Bell has delicate, red/pink color blossoms hovering over it’s foliage. The Columbine is in bloom, as is the Bugle Weed. The Poppy and Peony will be opening any day now.

The thunderstorms we are having right now are supposed to dwindle shortly after midnight. Tomorrow calls for sun and a high of 80 degrees. I will not be able to move perennials like I’d planned because the soil will be too wet. Instead, I plan on finishing deadheading spring bulbs, feeding some Lot citizens and planting a whole-lotta seeds.