Hanging in There, not Dead Yet!

Drought and burning temperatures persist. Here is what my front garden looks like now:

The arborvitae ferns (in the foreground) are turning brown in the triple digit heat. The azaleas above them are turning yellow, definitely not a good sign. The good news is that neither the ferns nor the azaleas are dead yet, and the temps are predicted to be 15-20 degrees cooler next week. We may even get some rain this weekend. So if we can hang in there a little longer, things may get better. 

The 50% chance of rain makes me nervous. I would like better odds. Too many times black clouds have hoodwinked us with unfulfilled promises. I took these photos just last week, but the deceptively dark clouds passed over without releasing a drop:

I usually can find beauty in the garden, no matter what. I can appreciate the dead stuff, but it would be easier if the following shots were taken in November or December:Nature created this collage of prematurely dead leaves.

A dead branch fell on a chair in my woodland garden, creating an accidental composition that appealed even to my drought weary eyes.

Leftovers from a squirrel banquet made me genuinely smile. Someone really enjoyed those pinecones!

Despite the premature aging in the garden, there are spots of color. Autumn crocus is a delight. I put these in only a couple weeks ago, and already Colchicum 'The Giant' is blooming. These were an experiment, and I plan to plant more:

Spider lilies (Hymenocallis) appear like magic every year, supplying bright color for very little maintenance:

Eupatorium coelestinum, also called hardy ageratum and blue mistflower, are favorite wildflowers. They will reseed themselves around but are easy to pull, and I do not consider them invasive:

Somewhere in my closet are long-sleeved shirts. I am looking forward to digging them out. I may even sit a pumpkin or two outside to celebrate the new season, once the temps drop enough so that they don't cook in the sunshine.

Best of the Rest: 2018 Garden Images

Every year I like to go back through all the year's garden pictures and choose unused photos from each month. I select only shots I made of my own garden. These are images that never made it into a blog post, for various reasons, but perhaps deserve a look. At the least, they provide a review of the year. So to celebrate the passing of 2018, and to look forward to a new garden year, here are the best of the rest: 2018. 

January:I tucked sprays of Arizona cypress around ornamental kale in a pot to make an attractive winter arrangement.

February:The small yellow blooms in the photo on the left are forsythia, and the white flowers on the right are from the Serviceberry tree (Amelanchier, also called Juneberry. Its edible berries ripen in June and taste a bit like blueberries. But the birds love them, so I let them have them.

March: A fern's newly emerging fiddlehead; ferns have an important presence throughout my garden.

Here is a March view of the walk in front of our house.

April:Left: Trillium in front of autumn fern. Right: Enkianthus blooms.

May:Left: Turkey tail fungus with resurrection fern. Right: Virginia sweetspire.

June:A large gardenia shrub on the edge of the woodland garden fills the area with sweet fragrance each June.

July:A beautiful heucherella and its bloom.

August: Bugs love the hot, stressed-out conditions of August!

September:Garlic chives, on the left, and spider lilies, on the right, both flourish in September.

In spring 2018, we had to remove the beautiful Japanese maple that grew in front of the house, as ambrosia beetles had killed it. In September we replaced it with 'Rising Sun' redbud, seen here on the left.

October:A female American robin enjoyed this birdbath. Her mate was nearby in the grass.

November:The tree in the background with the heart-shaped golden fall foliage is a native redbud.

December:Once upon a time this Cryptomeria japonica was a living Christmas tree. After the holidays, we planted it in the front yard. Look at it now!

Did you have a favorite month? Happy gardening in 2019!