What's Working Well This Year
The agastache purple has and trailing verbena, both purchased in spring from White Flower Farm, have both done really well and are happy out front. I'd like to plant some more of this in the bed under the bay window next spring. If I were doing it again I wouldn't plant this agastache so close to the sidewalk, because it's getting big. The trailing verbena has also done well in both hanging baskets.
The phlox David's Lavender from Whiteflower Farms is just now starting to bloom. I planted it bareroot in the spring. If the flowers hold up in the heat, I'd like to get some more for out front. It's nice and tall.
The cosmos Claire started from seed indoors have just been superstars. I will plant these in abundance next year. They've been great for cutting, and can withstand the driveway heat.
As long as I keep them pinched and watered, the impatiens are no-fail no brainers under the pergola. I'm wondering what all white would look like next year.
The geraniums in the window boxes are really more work than I expected. I think I picked these all up at San Gabriel Nursery. I have to pinch them every single day to keep them from looking scraggly. But boy, do I love the red. I will keep these going forever, but wish they would clean themselves better. The ivy geranium don't get the brown dead bits as frequently, but need pinching to remove the faded flowers. Both seem to rebloom wonderfully. The ivy geranium is not as heat-tolerant as what I've got going in the windowboxes.
I planted two bareroot Rosa Moondance this year, too late in the spring to bloom much this year, and both are doing well. The one closest to Claire's room was mailorder from Whiteflower, and the other I bought here at Armstrong Nursery. I've got some powdery mildew problems from the sprinklers hitting the bottom leaves I need to deal with. If the climbing Antique Sombreuil don't work out, I may rip them out and replace them all with this floribunda. We'll see how it does next year.
Man, the hydrangeas have turned out to be the total rockstars of the garden, and I don't do a thing to them. It's that drippy faucet and all the shade. I'd like to try these in the corner if we get rid of the peach tree.
What's Not Working Well This Year
The individual blooms on the antique sombreuil are gorgeous, and this is the closest thing to a peony I'll ever grow in this climate, but the blooms are few and far between, and so fragile that they only last a couple days. These plants are only on their second summer, so I need to see what happens next year, but so far they aren't earning their keep. If they don't produce a better spring bloom next April, I'll rip them out and replace them with good old icebergs or maybe moondances.
The trees in the back are all making me nuts. The peach tree is a mess, the whatever-it-is tree in the middle is a mess, the two fruit trees are messes, and the camellia trees are the biggest mess of all. The whatever tree and the camellias are big leaf-droppers all summer. I'd love to pull out the peach tree and plant hydrangeas back there and make a bird sanctuary with some tall birdhouses and feeders. (Rat feeders.)(I had almost forgotten.)
Comments