I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! it was really hot here. Summer sure is in full swing. I actually had to water the garden with the hose for the first time all year – can you believe that?

People say I have such a green thumb, but I struggle with plants and areas like many people do. This is an example:

This is my calycanthus bush. I planted it 4 years ago and it was going gangbusters growing with lots of blooms. For some reason, it is dying this year. It starts with stems and looks good, then they wilt and die. I don’t know what the problem is. I cut it way down in hopes that new growth will come out, but it seems to be doing the same thing. If it doesn’t turn around, I will take it out this fall and put in a different shrub.

I have new alliums this year. Of course, I cannot remember the name of this one and it isn’t on the sites I usually order from (so likely out of stock), so hopefully I can find out the name.

You can see all the snapdragon sprouts in the background low down, too. I get soooo many of those. These are really cute!

The drumstick allium are blooming in front. I split up my big clump last year and just put bulbs randomly around the garden all over, which is fun because I forgot where I did that and get surprised.

Those are nestled in the not-yet-blooming balloon flowers.

My shasta daisies continue to come into flower:

They are so happy and fun 😀

In early spring, the garden is really purple shaded. Now it is more white:

A couple pops from the Cheyenne Spirit coneflowers:

The new bed for the bird feeding station is shaping up nicely. The snapdragons are blooming back there:

I love this color, too.

The new yarrow has flowered as well:

My first time growing yarrow. It’s native to pretty much everywhere in the US and great for pollinators.

This weekend is heavy duty weeding in all the garden beds. My surgery is next week, so I need to get the beds really cleaned out since I won’t be able to do that for a bit.

Have a great weekend and stay cool!