The heat is consistently stifling everyday now. It is energy sapping. Some days have breezes that provide relief but that is the exception. It will be this way until mid September so I have to buckle up and bear it.
The main jobs now are deadheading and removing the occasional plant which has succumbed. The sawflies are under control so the roses are happy.
The garden is still madly blooming. All the stored up rain is driving it. The mainstays of rudbeckia, echinacea and Shasta daisies are magnificent. It did rain some this afternoon so there is hint of cooling in the air.
As usual, I will be posting my blog with the SOS group tomorrow. Come take a look at beautiful gardens with 6 photos each. Here is the site. https://gardenruminations.co.uk The rules are there. Perhaps, you would like to post 6 of your own.
The Purple Heart loves the heat. It is a Tradescantia hybrid if you are unfamiliar. Others in this group are know as spiderworts.
The Indian Summer is a rudbeckia that I have grown for 3 years now. Some survive the winter and others are a reseed I think. The large bloom is spectacular and the foliage is hairy so it tolerates the heat well.
The coneflowers are butterfly magnets. Here I am featuring the Pipevine Swallowtail which is new to my yard. I planted its host 2 years ago and I am very pleased to see this butterfly.
The Mexican hat is one that I grew from seed this winter. It is a prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera. It has a cousin which has abundant larger yellow blooms. I like this one which is much smaller but with a distinctive bloom.
This prostrate lantana is really coming into its own the last 2 weeks. I was gifted six small plants this spring and I am very pleased with the growth habit.
Finally, I have a swamp milkweed, Asclepius incarnata, to show you. I bought it 4 years ago and I thought it was a no show. I think I had been it out thinking it was goldenrod. It has survived despite my misdeeds. I am grateful.
Happy gardening! I hope the rain and the sun are meeting the needs of your garden.
Discover more from Fine for Friday
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Hooray for the Spiderwort, that is an apt name for the variety, I enjoyed the variegated one that I had for a few years, but lost them, when it got too cold in my shed for them, where they were over wintering.
These die back completely and return in hot weather.
The coneflowers and the swallowtail match very well together, and your photo is perfect! I tried Mexican hats last year with success. They are cute flowers. I was expecting bigger flowers, but since there are so many of them, the result was there.
Yes. I also expected larger flowers. They are cute though.
The Mexican hat flowers are similar to my clasping coneflower – small flowers, but a lot of them. I catch bumblebees sleeping under the flowers to fend off the morning dew. I think my A incarnata will bloom soon, but in the meantime, it is hosting quite a few monarch caterepillars. Great pictures, especially catching the swallowtail!
The swallowtail is gorgeous, you are so lucky to have such amazing butterflies. I love the little Mexican hat, I’ve never been able to keep the going, perhaps it is time to try again. The purple heart is gorgeous, just up my dark street!
The swallowtail … exactly the reason I plant Zinnias!