The Mid July Garden


annuals, Botanical Photography, Cottage Garden Flowers, Cut Flowers, Flower Arrangements, July flowers, Roses, Water Feature, Water plants / Tuesday, July 19th, 2016

Japanese maple grown from seedling-8746My rain drain corner-8899View through front big container-8743

As we progress into the month of July the picture looks very different from this time last year when we were threatened with a nearby forest fire.  Due to varying weather patterns the garden is looking very lush and green and the blooms are very vibrant.  In particular the hydrangea paniculata has almost doubled in size with its heavy white conical flowers.

 Hydrangea Paniculata increasing in size-8937

The shasta daisies and lavenders are beginning to fade but in its place come an array of summer perennials and annuals.  First up is the perennial phlox which is a great mid border plant.  I mainly have the purple blooming variety but did discover a little gem the other day at the Fintry Fair  (courtesy of Willowbrook Gardens in Armstrong – www.willowbrookgardens.ca) which has vibrant orange/pink blooms.

Phlox-8801 Mauve Phlox-8803 Perennial tall phlox-8617 Orange pink mid border phlox-8844

I am starting to get a second round of roses flowering which obviously adds to the summer colours.

Pink & yellow rose-8819 2nd blooming pink and yellow rose-8822

The perennial gallardia (mid border) and helenium (back of border) are also in bloom and when intermixed with the annual rudbeckia make a lovely display both in the garden and in flower arrangements.

Heleniums-8797
Heleniums
Gallardia (Blanket Flower)-8340
Gallardia (Blanket Flower)
Annual rudbeckia-8557
Annual Rudbeckia

Annual rudbeckia-8654Orange-yellow bouquet-8946Orange-yellow bouquet, window-8955

As far as the annuals are concerned, I still have poppies blooming and now the sunflowers are in flower.  I particularly like the burnt orange variety which I started from seed earlier in the year.   I almost forgot the cosmos and I have both pink and white varieties this year. 

California Poppy big bold colour-8964 My poppy corner-8791 White & Pink double poppy-8468Sunflower-8864Burnt Orange Sunflower-8784Cosmos-8526White cosmos side view-8679

I would say at this point the garden is looking its best.  Once the hotter temperatures do arrive, hopefully soon, the flowers and lawn tend to get very stressed.

Even though we only have a small water feature I am forever fascinated with the pond life.  We have a small number of gold-fish that almost eat out of my husband’s hand and I love watching the birds bathing.  We recently had nuthatchers nesting close by and there are plenty of orioles and black-capped chickadees to observe.  I was happy to see just the other day that my first waterlily is in bloom.   

Raindrops on the pond-8905
Rainfall over the pond

Lacy leaf maple branch over pond, water lilies-8923

 

Nuthatcher-8651
Nuthatcher

1st water lily -8970

 

Now is the time to relax and enjoy all of the hard work that has been put into creating this little piece of paradise.  Happy summer days.  Soon we will be busy harvesting the fruit and vegetables.  

My happy place-8810

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