As with everyone else east of London … we’re enduring a LONG dry spell. The grass is some dry! I heard Ed Lawrence (on CBC yesterday) encouraging people to stop watering the lawns. The grass will go into dormancy until the water returns. He also suggested we keep on watering our plants – just hand watering instead of with a sprinkler in order to save on water. I’ve never seen Fish Creek so low this time of year. Even where the old mill is in the village has stopped running.
The June rains helped a lot. That meant that our hydrangea and lilies are HUGE. They’re taller than I am in the backyard. I know … many things are taller than I am! 😉 The front gardens that we redid two years ago are really maturing well. The lilies, hydrangea and daisies are spreading to take up most of the space. Even the Bleeding Hearts bushes have spread and stayed green through the drought.
This year I filled our planters myself. I love being able to find blue lobelia to mix in. They are doing well. The petunias are bright and colourful. I always find it hard to figure out whether to nip them back to the stem or just below the blooms. I think my experience has been that a good trim back at the end of July helps them to come back stronger in August.
I think of these two plants as my ‘sister plants’. Kate W. introduced us to azaleas. We can’t grow them here perennially but they sure are nice as annuals! Cindy W. introduced me to mandevillas. They make beautiful vine plants. Just the perfect touch of pink.
The hollyhocks reseed themselves each year in our front ‘island’ garden. They are biannuals. I have learned that every other year we get these verdant burgandy blooms. Mixed in with the yellows they are so beautiful. They’re blooming awfully early this year. This may be a barren spot come August. The phlox are usually way ahead of them and they are only just today beginning to come out. There are hidden stone paths in this garden … somewhere. It is a great place to play hide and seek with Kyla! (Speaking of which – next week we get to be ‘Gramma Camp Hosts’ for both she and Lexi. Getting excited!)
That’s the garden tour for this afternoon. Hope you’ve had a good one!
xoxo
Wendy
The Meadow View 