First day of summer!!
6/20/16:
I've never been the sort who uses more than one exclamation point, but it's just so warm and beautiful outside today, as it was all last week.
I have to be more diligent with watering my garden. I delayed watering smaller pots on a bench along the north side of the house for a few days and now the dianthus, salvia and morning glories have crispy brown leaves. Thankfully nothing looks dead yet, but I'm sad that these have suffered as a result of my procrastination.
Many other plants are doing well: I should be able to transplant the older tomato seedlings to large pots this week, and the peppers soon after. Some herbs are growing mightily and flowering, such as basil and thyme; I want to trim most of the blooming stalks down and use them in cooking, but will let some remain in order to harvest seeds later.
The gladiolus are growing taller in 5 or so of my containers. These tend to lean over, and the stems will break off when it's windy, so I'm tying them to bamboo canes. The pink ones that bloomed last month were rather early; I'm just starting to see flower buds appearing on two others. Other bulbs such as the small, pink variety of calla lilies (zantedeschia) and some of the orange bugle lilies (crocosmia) are also in bloom.
Clicking on the small images below will bring up a larger version.
A cluster of calla lilies.
Oleander blossom.
Purple hopseed bush.
Three oleander bushes, one of them now displaying cute little pink flowers, are planted in the ground in front of the bedroom bay window, as part of a short wall-of-green that also includes rosemary and blackberries. It's all rather a tangle right now, but this is a big improvement over the uneven look it had a few years ago. An inept landscaper hired by the landlady had cut down some of the plants, leaving gaping holes in the hedge. I brought in new plants to fill the awkward spaces, and it's looking decent again.
Along the south side of the house, there's a spindly bush in a large pot that is putting forth a simple flower/seedpod. I'd found this plant growing in the paving-stone pathway about 8 years ago when it was less than a foot tall. It looked interesting so I moved it into the pot. It thrives in this sunny area, getting taller every year, but I had never seen it produce anything other than leaves until this spring. I can now positively identify it as a purple hopseed bush (dodonaea viscosa).
