Mid July, who can believe that? One nice thing about having gardens is that it gives me something to look at when I slow walk my way outside. I made the mistake yesterday of walking too far since I decided I wanted dinner at the food truck fest last night. We parked a couple of blocks away and I was exhausted and overwhelmed by the people and heat and all that. At home, it’s nice and quiet and I can insulate myself. When I was in the hospital, John watered my gardens for me. It’s the first time he has ever really had to do that in a long time and I have more garden. He said to me something to the effect of “you have a *lot* of garden”. 😀 Oops. I don’t think so.

Anyway, on to the blooms. Going from left to right along the front of the house. Petunias:

These were extras from my tippy pots and are just in a container by the garage. So pretty.

I let my snapdragons free seed and they have moved into the very front of the garden bed this year. There are a ton and they are just starting to get a few blossoms on them.

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My liatris:

The blue balloon flowers going crazy:

In front are the pink ones, which are a bit taller. I need to research if they like being moved because I would like them behind the blue ones if possible. I noticed a pink one ready to pop last night:

And sure enough, this morning there it was:

I think this is my favorite shot of the garden this year so far. Total happenstance. It was a little breezy and I quick lowered my phone to take a picture and it came out great.

Cheyenne Spirit coneflowers:

I’m officially calling these my favorite coneflower. I have a bajillion seedlings, too, so they are going all over the place this fall.

Turning around from here, this is the view back where I came from:

I just love looking at all the pretty colors. It’s a cottage garden, that’s for sure!

We got a new toy today. I ordered this on Prime Day.

It’s a cordless electric mower. With my whonky shoulder, I can’t do the pull cord on our gas mower. Solution? Electric push button start. Now we aren’t on fossil fuel, either. It’s soooo quiet – John is out mowing right now and you can’t hear it. We actually had a conversation while he was mowing. Of course, I can’t use it because of surgery restrictions for a few weeks, but I can’t wait to try it (garden dork). Now to see if a full charge will do the front and back yards.

I’m seeing more bees now. Not as many as last year, but now that there are even more flowers, they are coming around more:

Go bees! I hope everyone stays cool this weekend. We will be in the AC and watching the Tour de France with me biking vicariously through the riders on TV.