Pinus S Glauca Nana Ninebark Mums Daylily

I had hoped the extremely hot weather was behind us a few weeks ago with a slight cool down that came in. I mean it seemed only fair since we'd been putting up with 90's since May, but no. Not quite a week reprieve and it's back. Supposedly today is the last with a 94 and we're to be in the mid 80's tomorrow. The rain as usual missed us and stayed either North or South of me.

My Pinus Sylvestris Glauca Nana on standard. Mums on either side of it with Hosta Golden Tiara front center and minis on either side, with Hosta Pandora's Box on left and Hosta Cracker Crumbs on the right. These mini Hosta have really been interesting. You'd think with them being so small that they would have burned to pieces in the first week of over 90, but these little guys are really tough.

The Daylily Austintatious is reblooming for me. It barely quit when it decided to send up new scapes and started blooming again. It's paired up with the Girl holding a Yorkie statue. This Daylily has been nice to have in the ground this year. You don't know how much you appreciate something until you have a summer like this one. I will always keep this one now. It's come through the heat and decided that was not going to stop it from putting out the blooms.

The big and beautiful burgundy Mum. I personally love the color of this bright burgundy. It doesn't bloom as early as my Pink which is a really early bloomer, but it's well worth the wait and will continue blooming like this. You can just see one of the blooms of Salvia Sensation Rose showing in front of this in the center. Blooming again as it pretty much does through the season here with deadheading.

Two Ninebark Diablo with Coreopsis Moonbeam in between. I'm leaving room with all my flowering shrubs to spread and grow taller and wider over the next few years. For any of you that follow my blog, you know by now that Physocarpus Diablo is one of my favorite shrubs. I Have them on both sides of my yard. I have found they are a great shrub to have, the flowers are gorgeous and the foliage stays burgundy. A big winner. Of course the Coreopsis will hold it's blooms until a hard frost.

Have been involved with a small remodeling project in my bathroom with new shower faucet which meant the small remodeling afterwards. Still a few things I need to decide on for the window framing but will do that myself once I make a decision. Plus had some some odds and ends done around the property including some roofing and roof vents for the dryer venting, but I am set up for winter now after they caulked and things to make sure everything on the roof looked good to withstand another season. Always nice to get all this done and out of the way.

Gardening with Yorkies Heuchera Sedum Mums

Gardening with Yorkies is always an adventure. They do love the outside and checking everything out. Pagan is the one that follows me around all morning when I go out for any possible photos and picking any weeds that sprouted up from the day before.

My beautiful Yorkie Pagan showing her stuff off. She is such a busybody that it has been difficult catching her in a decent garden photo. Yorkies are very curious and always checking things out. Posing in front of a lot of different things, some no longer in bloom, but all grouped as part of my Cottage Garden. Have a Hydrangea Tar Diva in the background and burgundy Mums blooming on left and pink Mums blooming on the right.

Sedum Matrona starting to bloom. I really like the red stems on these.

One of my many Coral Bells. This one is Huechera Melting Fire with one of my Yorkie statues. Melting Fire is one of my favorites. It really holds it's burgundy color throughout the seasons and since this is on the SW corner of my house that is saying a lot for it. I love Heuchera, not just for the colors of foliage but a lot of them are evergreen here as this one is.

This is it for the Lilies blooming this year. They actually bloomed a little later than the reds did, but appreciate the blooms. I had the Tiny Orange Sensation Asiatic Lily in pots and put them in the yard and they decided they liked it and went ahead and bloomed for me. I do have a few Daylilies that are reblooming. That is the only way to go now is the rebloomers other than have to have favorites.

Spent my day yesterday digging up all the Iris and dividing them. I hate dividing them. It's not only a lot of work, but too frequently you don't get blooms the following year. I'll hope for the best from them next year.

Heather Hill Heath Summer Bloomers

Heather and Heaths are beautiful evergreen shrubs year round in my zone 5/6 area. I love Heather, these are such beautiful plants with their fine needle foliage and are evergreen. Most are smaller ranging in size from 6 inches to 18 inches. The ones shown here that are blooming right now are Heath Erica's except for the one Williamsii and are all summer bloomers and tolerate alkaline soil. My soil being both neutral and clay, these are a few that have worked out for me.

Mrs Donaldson is a beautiful Heath Erica and is putting out full blooms now that are lovely and is one of my favorites.

Heath E. Yellow John. This is one that I got strictly for it's stunning yellow foliage, but the white flowers are also lovely and are just starting to open some buds. You can't ask for more than lovely blooms, lovely foliage, and evergreen.

This lovely Heath Williamsii is Ken Wilson, another stunning plant when in full bloom. You can see how lovely already and just starting to open up buds.

Heath E. Ida M Britten has been in bloom a little longer and starting to lose some of hers now but still lovely.

Heath E. Mrs D F Maxwell is a lovely Heather and just starting to display and open some blooms. She's another stunning one in bloom.

Hydrangea Shrubs in Full Sun in Zone 5/6

Hydrangeas in bloom even in spite of the current heatwave affecting the country. It's just not possible to keep enough water going to the plants in my gardens and I'm at the point I'm surprised anything is still blooming, although I am sure seeing a lot of burn on everything. All these Hydranga are in full sun and do quite well.

I purchased this Hydrangea Vanilla Strawberry last year. Wasn't happy that I bought a potted plant online and received it bareroot with one of the major roots broken which I had to prune off. This Spring it did come back but part of it did not and obviously was affected by that root, so I am happy with my one whole bloom and gorgeous it is and and it will add the strawberry pink coloring over the next weeks.

I absolutely love Hydrangea Limelight and have two of them in my yard. These give you blooms that last until hard frost. It's one that I would never be without.

Hydrangea Quickfire blooms the quickest of my Hydrangea and I do really like it, but I don't get as many blooms and since I have several I am taking one or two out.

Hydrangea TarDiva. Lovely smaller blooms on these compared to Limelight. I like these also, but when you have Limelight, it's hard to notice the rest.