Beautiful, Candee and Welcome! Such a lush setting. Love it.

It does well every year now without too much work, well unless you were to look really close

Your gardens are beautiful, Candee. Mine are in a lull now due to the weather conditions. I guess we all know that cycle ... especially this year.

Tam, the Monarda lambada is going great guns in all this heat!



Dinnerplate Dahlia 'Akita' is in its first year. Seems relatively unfazed by the heat and humidity.

Candee ,beautiful cottage gardens

Janice ,Those kids are my Grandchildren...LOL..My youngest too..7,10, and 17,19..They are my stepgrandkids,but they are my grandkids...gramma Tam I am....

last of the orientals

look at all that dead grass...

in the above photo this is the lower left.Under construction,been soo hot have not worked on it at all,need to move 300 lb boulders

oh Carole great ,mine too was doing well until all the sunflowers toppled over them,interesting Monarda isnt it.my hyacyinth bean is blooming.Did i send you Peppermint twist phlox? if so it didnt come true ,mine turned out deep hot pink ..not pink and white striped...Its really pretty and bright tho..LOL

Oh, rocks! Love rocks. I have a rock project underway here, too, but yes -- it's been way too hot to work on it lately, even though my stones are much smaller (I'm edging beds and fooling with a new gravel area and water feature).

Candee, your gardens are lush and beautiful, sure doesn't look like the drought is negating its beauty! Love your arbor and trellis too!

Tam, I LOVE that long shot of your garden, it's stunning! The part you're working on is going to be gorgeous- those rocks are awesome!

Tee, I'm not familiar with that Salvia, it's lovely! Is it annual? Dahlias have been hit and miss for me, some take the heat like troupers and others just don't like it. The Georgia Dahlia society webpage lists varieties that tolerate heat and humidity. If or when I endeavor to add more Dahlias to the garden, I'm going to be selective and use that list as a reference.

Does anyone have experience with salvia "Black and Blue" outside, in the north? I planted one by my daylily bed as a conversation piece (for all the visitors who think daylilies come in "blue!") three years ago. It has come up every year. I am in zone 5b to 6a. It comes back in the same spot exactly, and I use Snapsot, so I don't think it is from seed. It just today started blooming, so it is taking it a while to grow to blooming stage. I love the plant. If I **knew** it were reliable overwintering, I would buy a couple more, plant next to it, make a real "stand" of them. DG plant files comments that it is invasive in the south, but this one does not budge from it's original spot. I don't have a place to overwintering plants indoors. So, if I get them, they have to make it outside. And, these are not even mulched, other than the snow!

The butterflies are all over the Silphium perfoliatum (Cupplant).
Every year I think I should take out that plant, as it takes up so much space, but when the butterflies arrive, I realize it will always have a place in my garden. It blooms through Fall and sometimes there are over 20 butterflies on it at a time. Planted from seed.
Salvia Black and Blue and Agastache.

As you can see the Morning Glories are having free rein this year. LOL.

Beautiful everyone and thank you. Drought and heatwave, but the gardens still doing well even though unattended. Morning glories are my worst enemy. I threw a few seeds around 12 years ago and haven't been able to get rid of them yet, they twine and choke a lot and that drives me nuts. Wish I could learn to let them go like you Janice, your gardens look great.
Song, yours looks good considering the weather we have been having and as for rocks, well I love those boulders and I truly have rocks for brains, have hauled more stone and rock than one person should ever be allowed in a lifetime. LOL

Hi Juli, re Black and Blue....first year plant and in the South. But I have lost alot of Salvias over winter here.

Tam and Neal, you are right ... it's Monarda lambada. Probably why you haven't heard of it, Neal. LOL. Apparently, I had Salvia on the brain today. Sorry, my bad. Our grass is starting to turn brown and crunchy too, Tam. I'm already a bit weary of toting buckets of water.

Neal, that Monarda lambada is a perennial. Tam sent it to me. I believe it was winter sown? I debated on the Dahlia but this one seems to be loving the current summer weather so far.

Peppermint Twist phlox has yet to bloom for me here. Not sure why but probably the weather again.

Speaking of Morning Glories, there is a white mg that is growing wild around the corner. It has grown up a telphone pole clear to the top and is now headed down the wires. I smile every time I drive by it.

Tee, that Monarda looks alot like M. Citriodora. cousins perhaps?

I think they must be fairly closely related. This one gets about 2' tall, I think, and also thrives in clay soil. In some places our soil has a lot of clay ... and as you can see, M. lambada is thriving. I'd like to try the M. citriodora too. I believe it grows taller?

Don't you just have to love plants that do this well and look this good when facing west in the blazing mid-afternoon sun and drought?

Love-in-a-Puff vine and Vinca minor.

Here is my Monarda Citriodora on June 21

Ah, well I love Monardas too! And I'd like to find some that tolerate drought better than some I have.

Juli, I've had Black and Blue Salvia for several years now. In the more exposed beds they don't spread much, but in a protected nook by the entrance they've formed a big clump that started blooming in late June. They have tuberous roots kinda like a Dahlia. They're super easy to root as cuttings too.

Janice, I love that M.citriodora!

Neal, what zone are you? I know you live near Paris, where my daylily friend John Rice is. He does not get very much snow. I bought another salvia this year, a red one, also from Baker's Acres. I will have to find their catalog to look up the name. It is planted it where it is more protected, so I hope it lives through the winter too.

Thanks, Neal. First year from seed. Annual, from what I have read. Will see if they self sow. I didn't save any seed so we'll see...

This morning in the garden ...







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The M. lambada is on the left in the above shot ... if you enlarge it.