My July Garden

Looking back at July, two words come to my mind first: hot and dry.
It was the hottest and driest summer ever recorded in the Seattle area.
Somehow, a recent rain that gave a relief to the surrounding area avoided our neighborhood.
During June and July, we had just a couple of occasions when several drops touched the ground. 

Our sandy soil dried fast after every watering by our sprinkler system and hoses.

I already wrote about this hill. It's all penetrated by the roots of a cedar growing nearby.

The plants here have stunted growth, and I move them, one by one, somewhere else.

The lanterns took Rhododendron rex and Brunnera's place.

I usually keep Euphorbia heads almost until spring (above), but this year they reminded me of fall, and I cut them off early (below).

My Terrace garden (cutting garden) was the area that required less water than my other gardens.

It paid to plant drought tolerant  plants this year.

Monarda, as always, was a magnet for hummingbirds, together with Thalictrum.

Verbena bonariensis  was competing in height with Eupatorium.

Roses enjoyed the heat.

White flowers, as this perennial phlox, bring visual freshness to the garden.
Red phlox will bloom in August.

This area, at the corner of the house, is an entrance to a narrow shady part of the garden - a kind of a tunnel between two sunny areas.
 It's one of my favorites, and that is why there are so many pictures of it.

Agapanthus and Gunnera m. attract an eye first.
I suspect that the Agapanthus will need to be moved one year since Gunnera threatens to cover it totally with its giant leaves.

Agapanthus 'Danau'  is still in the pot. It's too hot to plant it now.

The great advantage of container plants is that you can move them from place to place.

'Danau' is travelling between the fountain spot and the front plantbed.

In such hot weather, fir trees drop their yellow needles more than ever, and the ground gets orange,
as in the next picture, on the left.

Tree fuchsia looks pretty pitiful in the afternoon sun but jumps back after being watered.

If you remember, we placed re-bar arches and planted grapes to create a canopy for the plants.
Those plants lost shade after the big alder was cut down in 2013 (My Shade Garden Tragedy and Revival).
Grapes are doing good.

These are grapes in a different area, in the terrace garden.
I am wondering if they'll have time to ripen.

The big front lower bed looks good any time of the year:

Hydrangea is starting to change color toward the green:

Here, mophead and lacecap hydrangea branches are intertwined together:

At the end, several vignettes from different parts of the garden

I hope we'll have some good rain in August.

***Copyright 2015 TatyanaS