The Garden in July

Summer seems to be positively flying by. 

But what a lovely summer it has been so far! Hot, but not unbearably so, with cool breezy evenings that have often made me want to reach for a sweater. 

Our rainfall seems to have been perfectly timed; arriving on more weekdays than weekends, and always when the garden seems to need it most.  

The month of June somehow vanished with barely a picture taken.

The peonies bloomed a few weeks later than usual, and put on a beautiful though fleeting display.

Sunny yellow Evening Primroses and little purple geraniums always provide a nice backdrop 

for the big showy magenta peonies in the front garden.

Evening Primrose, Oenothera tetragona: Height: 30-50 cm, Spread: 30-40 cm. Not everyone is a fan of this plant because it spreads. It does well in sun or part shade, and it has happy yellow flowers, so I like it. 

Evening Primrose's unruly spread is best kept in check now when the plant is in flower. I edit my flowering clumps to a manageable size by yanking out unwanted plants and find the plant stems give easily. 

Roses filled in where the peonies left off.

Explorer Rose 'John Cabot' : This rose has glossy foliage and arching stems that can reach 3 meters in height (Note: can be used as a climber). This rose is only lightly fragrant. John Cabot's main drawbacks: the stems are quite thorny and Japanese Beetles love, love its blooms. Lucky for me its first flush of flowers appear a few weeks before the beetles make their now annual appearance.

Explorer Rose 'John Cabot'

A mix of roses from the front garden.

Other standouts in late June/early July were these mauve Veronica (on the right) and the light cream and magenta flowers of Penstemon 'Black Towers' (seen on the left).

Penstemon 'Dark Towers': Height: 60-90 cm, Spread: 45-60 cm. Full sun. Normal, sandy or clay soil are fine. Average to dry conditions. Zones: USDA 3-9

Veronica 'Eveline': Height: 45-50 cm, Spread: 30-40 cm. Will tolerate part shade, but blooms much better in full sun. Normal, sandy or clay soil are fine. Moist soil is preferred, but mine seems fine in average conditions. Deadhead to encourage repeat flowering. Zones: USDA 4-9

Veronica 'Hocus Pocus' has been blooming now for weeks.

Veronica 'Hocus Pocus' : Height: 40-50 cm, Spread: 25-30 cm. Full sun. Normal, sandy or clay soil are fine. Moist or average conditions. Again deadhead to encourage repeat flowering. Zones: USDA 4-9

Along the white picket fence at the front of the house.

These Sidalcea 'Party Girl' continue to one of my favourite flowers in early July.

Prairie Mallow, Sidalcea 'Party Girl': Height: 60-90 cm, Spread: 30-45 cm. Full sun or light shade. Normal, sandy or clay soil are fine. Average to moist conditions. Attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds. A good self seeder. Zones: USDA 4-9

Recently, I added a lighter pink Sidalcea, as well as blue flowering Nepetia 'Walker's Low' to fill in a few gaps along the white picket fence.

Prairie Mallow, Sidalcea 'Elsie Heugh': Height: 60-90 cm, Spread: 30-45 cm. Full sun or light shade. Normal, sandy or clay soil are fine. Average to moist conditions. Zones: USDA 4-9

Blue Catmint, Nepeta racemosa 'Walker's Low': A long blooming perennial (if regularly deadheaded) that has a mounded, bushy habit. Height: 30 cm, Spread: 45 cm. Full sun. Hardy zones 3-9.

In the back garden, I have been delighted with these Campanula. The white, bell-shaped flowers seemed to go on blooming for ages.

Campanula persicifolia alba: Height: 60-90 cm, Spread: 30-50 cm. Full sun or light shade. Normal, sandy or clay soil are fine. Average to moist conditions. These easy-to-grow plants form a low mound of green leaves and have bell-shaped flowers that are born on tall stems. Zones: USDA 2-9

I also have the blue variety, but I have to say that the white form is by far the best of the two.

Last summer I grew foxglove from seed and this spring I transplanted them throughout the back garden.

This is a new perennial for me. It is a native plant that has the most delicate, starry white flowers.

Gillenia trifoliata: A tough, long-lived native plant with reddish stems, narrow leaves and white star-shaped flowers. Height: 60-120 cm, Spread: 60-75 cm. Full sun or light shade. Prefers rich, moist, well drained soil. Good fall color. Zones: USDA 4-9

My Agastache "Blue Fortune' is just starting to flower.

Agastache 'Blue Fortune': Height: 60-75 cm, Spread: 45- 60 cm. Full sun or part shade. Normal, sandy or clay soil are fine. Average, dry or moist growing conditions. Bees love this flower! Zones: USDA 2-9

My raised beds are barely visible in the jungle of plants. In the four raised beds I have a crazy mix of herbs, tomatoes, berries, roses and perennials.

The flower border that frames the part of the garden with the four raised beds.

I have a number of unusual perennials, but I also have very common plants as well. 

Throughout my garden there are hosta in bloom this month. 

I love the way this common Spirea seems to glow in the light of early evening.

I hope July has been wonderful in your garden as well.

Looking Back and Moving Forward (Part 1)

Recently, I was working through my photo archives trying to organize things better, when I came across this image from a couple of years ago. 

I remembered that when I had originally posted this picture another blogger, who is not a gardener, remarked that she thought it was one of the nicest shots I had ever taken.

It may be pretty, but it is a picture of Goutweed. I remember thinking at the time: Great! I've have taken the perfect portrait of my most bitter enemy.

You see, I used to think of my garden as a battleground. It was me going head to head with Mother Nature and struggling for control. 

It was me waging war on invading weeds. 

Dreaded Japanese Beetles: one of us was going to have to die and it wasn't going to be me!

Goutweed was a problem I inherited when we moved in to this house. I managed to eliminate most of it, but sneaky plant that it is, Goutweed likes to hide out at the base of small shrubs. 

Two summers ago, I noticed a few Goutweed sprouts lurking at the feet of one of my more thorny roses. Reluctant to get in among the thorns, I put off dealing with them. 

And then I got busy. 

Before you knew it Goutweed was popping up all throughout the bed.

Last spring, I ripped out almost everything in that corner of the garden in an effort to eradicate it once and for all. 

But at a certain point, I was in danger of killing some of my well established shrubs, like this Weigela, just to get rid of it. 

And the bed looked pretty bare for most of the early summer. It was like having a run in your stockings: an ugy hole that looks dreadful no matter how dressed up you are.

Of course, it wasn't all bad. 

In the space that opened up, I added a few new plants like this perennial Bachelor's Button, Centuara montana 'Amethyst Snow'.

and this Dwarf Calamint, Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta which ended up becoming my favourite new perennial of 2012.

But just when I thought I had finally won out, I noticed a few goutweed leaves at the base of this hydrangea standard and tucked away under a pink spirea.

Perhaps this development might have been bearable, but Goutweed wasn't my only problem. There was also Lily of the Valley and this pretty pink invasive (above) in the back garden.

How crazy do I really want to make myself? I began to wonder.

Is it ever okay to wave the flag of surrender?

Make no mistake, I wasn't just looking for an excuse to take the easy way out. 

I just wasn't happy gardening in a war zone any more.

Over the course of the summer, I began to adopt a new perspective on gardening. What brought about this change of view? It was a video clip from Monty Don's tour of Italian Gardens that the Sage Butterfly had posted in one of her book reviews. As Monty strolled around the beautifully romantic garden called Ninfa, he made reference to a gardener "working in partnership with nature".

I honestly felt a sudden sense of sudden relief. 

The war was finally over! Gardening was a partnership, not a battleground.

I will deal with the Goutweed as best I can, and that is all I can hope for. So my roses may have a few holes chewed in their leaves. Oh well! 

Imperfect will just have to do.