Around the Garden June 21, 2020

I didn’t realize that it has been three weeks since I invited you on a virtual tour of our garden in North Georgia. It is fitting that today is the first day of summer and a grand day for a visit. Early this afternoon we had a short thunder shower which added a few drops to otherwise ordinary flower photos. The hybrid Day Lilies are in a mid blooming cycle and actually the blossoms were washed-out by the shower and became transparent around the edges— weird! The orange Day Lilies are almost all gone and since they started blooming early (end of May), they are the first group of Day Lilies to stop blooming but the hybrids are rushing on with strong stems, large blooms, and many buds to be.

A Hybrid Day Lily seems washed out by the recent shower but still resplendent in peach and gold.

Some vibrant Day Lilies weathered the storm in great fashion!

A new addition — Mandevilla after the shower.

Nothing…absolutely nothing… can stop the Butterfly Bush from making the world a brighter, better smelling place.

Roses are rebounding after the May Flush and a second blooming cycle has begun after I deadheaded them back to the first five-petal stem. The white and pink hybrid roses have hundreds of buds and I am waging a mini-war with Japanese Beetles who love the scent and flavor of unfolding rosy jewels.

A new addition is Citronella which promises to stifle and frustrate summer mosquitos.

Hostas have peaked and many are four times last year’s size and the contrast between blue, gold, and green leaves is amazing. I have transplanted many from last year’s late sunny afternoons to a semi-shade garden on the east side of my house and the migrants are calling out to their abandoned relatives to move over with them. Looks like this winter I will be busy!

Carolina Jasmine continues to bloom with their white spiral clusters and I am hoping they keep it up all summer. They are about to clash with the ever-growing elephant ear giants that seem to double in size every week. They will provide needed shade for azalea and Hosta as summer progresses.

Carolina Jasmine is tough to photograph but better pictures are coming.

Summer perennials on my sunny terraces are peeking through a maze of lush greenery and some I can’t recall if they were Purple Coneflowers or Black-Eyed Susans. I think the Susans had hairy stems and leaves and these don’t so I need to be prepared for a zillion purple coneflowers… time will tell.

The first Coneflowers bloom next to the Indian Blanket.

Promising summer perennials… what will they be?

Sweet Potato vines are beginning to inch closer to the terrace edge and tumble down to the next levels.

White Periwinkle contents itself with sitting on the rocky edge unlike its sprawling purple cousin.

As I related many times in weeks past, the surprise of my terraces if the St. John’s Wort. It exploded in furry yellow blossoms in May which are now reddish-orange seed pods – an amazing sight! new growth on some has led to buds and a few more blooms so I am hoping I will have a resurgence this summer.

The St John’s Wort seed pods. The leaves have turned dark green from a brilliant lime color earlier in the year.

One new blossom and a few lime leaves signal a summer resurgence!

Nemo swims among the Wort and rocks at the bottom of his terraced aquarium!

I have a number of tree sprouts that were mere twigs last Spring. A Crepe Myrtle is now 4 foot tall and just as wide and sprouting buds. What color will it be??? A Dogwood has grown a lot and Washington Hawthorns are holding their own. My rescue tree is a Southern Magnolia which was pitiful all last summer but has erupted with a half dozen new stems and many young, vibrant leaves. It is going to make it and now I have to provide a more permanent home for it… sounds like another winter project!