It is hard to believe, but I haven’t done a post about my garden in a month. There has been a lot going on between the Christmas In July hop and the Safelight Project, but I know some of you like to know what is growing and flowering on our mountain. Today, I’ll show you how my garden grows. I have taken photos of this group several times over the past month, and it just keeps getting prettier. The vibrant red geranium is set off nicely next to the white petunias. That pink variegated coleus is getting really tall now too.
Lettuce and garlic are coming up well in the pot on the right. Calibrachoa in three colors planted in two pots bloom only sporadically. The daisies in the back are done.
White begonias are overflowing several pots on the veranda.
After having my Summer Luncheon and giving away a bunch of day lilies, one of my guests dug up the white iris in her own garden she didn’t want anymore and dropped them off on my veranda with a gerbera daisy. Those went into the ground the same day. I love getting new plants!
The phlox is getting a bit taller, and the color of the flowers got a bit lighter.
Fresh parsley is wonderful for cooking, and this one is doing well with the yellow Calibrachoa. Some of the parsley went into the shrimp risotto we had for dinner this week, adding a wonderful fresh flavor.
Multiple basil plants are giving me lots of fresh leaves for caprese salads with heirloom tomatoes from the farmer’s market.
These are Cherokee Purple tomatoes, cannot wait for them to ripen!
The tomatoes in this pot are coming along too.
These are cherry tomatoes in the front bed, hoping for a good harvest here too.
Early in the month, the mornings were crisp and cool, perfect for sitting outside in the early dawn hour, listening to the birds. I found it was a great time to get some pictures of the choir in their natural setting.
Apparently there was a meeting scheduled, but I didn’t get the memo to attend.
There were still plenty of birds visiting the feeder too. This young female cardinal stopped by.
Goldfinches stay here year round. A male and female were in the tree, looking around and taking their turn at the feeder.
Now that I know what the wood thrush looks like, I have seen him quite often. Oops, brain glitch, this is a purple finch, thanks, Jan!!
Other mornings dawned foggy, lasting a couple of weeks, giving us humid, and (for us) hot days near 90°F (32°C).
There are a bunch of apricot gladiolas on the mountainside out back, I think some were planted by the previous homeowner and some may be volunteers. Either way, they are difficult to get to. But DH got out the limb lopper and managed to get some blooms for me to enjoy in vases in the house.
I put them in vases with some of the pinkish hydrangeas and a few tall purple hosta blooms. They look really good with my Stacked Bricks table quilt.
After those were done, it was time for the yellow gladiolas to bloom, pretty aren’t they!
Our resident skink made an appearance. Usually he runs away with any movement, but this time I caught him from the veranda while he was hiding below near the hydrangea. He ran inside the drain pipe, then slowly peeked out to see if the coast was clear. I think there is a good size family that lives here, and I like that they eat a lot of bugs.
The snapdragons are still going, and I put the white iris in with them.
White petunias bloom nicely in the front flowerbed next to more snapdragons.
A woodpecker watches as I water the garden.
The hydrangeas are still blooming too. After I took more pictures of the gorgeous blooms I deadheaded the bush. This lavendar color is so clear and pure.
I did add some lime to the top in the hopes that I’ll get some more pure pink blooms like this one.
This one is blue to lavendar on the same flower, such gorgeous colors!
Looks like the African violets are going to bloom again too, unlike me they love the heat and humidity.
The northern flickers are back too.
A friend gave me this adorable birdhouse for the garden, and it looks perfect in the big pot next to the front door. I have been a bit disappointed in the lobelias, usually they give profuse vibrant blue flowers all summer long, but this year they aren’t doing as well. The chocolate variegated coleus is getting bigger, and the begonia is blooming a bit too.
So, that is the garden in July. The torenias stopped blooming for a bit, I think they got stressed when we were gone to Lexington for a few days. They are beginning to bloom again, but will take a couple of weeks to fully come back. I did see the hummingbird one morning while watering the flowers, she came up and hovered right in front of my face. It was a magic moment, and I watched her in wonder.
What’s going on in your garden?
Sharing
From My Carolina Home 
You have not only green thumbs…all of your fingers are green.
you photography is beyond words..to capture that srink is like
photographing a road runner out west.
Thank you for your blog.
First step of my scrap dance two step and table topper are sewed .
Now on to the flying geese quick method.
Your garden is blooming beautifully. Gorgeous photos, Carole.
That’s was a purple finch not a wood thrush. Your photos of everything are so fantastic .I so enjoy reading your blog!
what lovely gardens – I have trouble growing things in pots – I have tried the geranium in pots and directly in the soil and always have problems with either – do you use special soil or can you just grow anything!
looks beautiful, wonderful post
I enjoyed stopping by your Carolina home this morning, and I do like to see what is bloomimg in other people’s gardens. :-()
Have a lovely week.
A profusion of daylilies here. I must have gotten the Liquid Fence deer repellent sprayed on the buds at just the right time since the last two years the deer ate most of the flowers. They did devour the daylilies farther back in the yard. I’ve had some disappointments. The snap dragons I bought have barely bloomed and a new clematis has been nibbled by the bunnies. But large red-flowered begonias have been spectacular and I plan to pot even more of them next summer. No veggies here. The wildlife makes it impissible. Even tomatoes in pots on the deck have been eaten by the squirrels so I just go to the farmer’s market.
Pat
Everything looks so pretty. The summer colors are so glorious against the greenery.
I have never heard of a skink!? Nice that they eat bugs. Your flowers are lovely. The flowers in the front of my house that usually do so well are not this year, and the flowers in the back which usually don’t do well are. We are in the midst of a dry spell again here in southwest Michigan.
I really enjoyed all your photos…especially the various birds. Thank you for sharing the beauty of your landscape with all of us.
Hello Carole; You are so gifted with your camera, I really enjoyed everyone of your photos and reading about each one. You do such a great job on your blog, it always makes me want to follow your example. We have a large abundance of birds this year and hubby and I enjoy sitting on the front porch laughing and watching a group of the small ones chasing the bigger birds away. This year we decided that the small ones had formed an army and really got their confidences built up far to high because they were even chasing the Blue Herons who nest every year in the very large pond across the road from us. Poor big guy/girl did not know what in the world they were doing wrong and would be flying just as fast as they could to get away. Your flowers are just gorgeous again this year! Thank you for sharing all of your pictures and your post! Have a great day!
Your garden is lovely, as usual! Thanks for the photograph tour.
My double orange day lilies are coming to an end, as are the orange Turk’s Cap lilies. The ornamental sweet potato vines seem to be a new and improved variety this year. The leaves are larger and the vines are sprouting new runners at almost every leaf junction. I have Heavenly Blue (the name of the morning glory) morning glories growing above the trellis and reaching into the wild plum tree. I’m saving seeds from the four o’clocks (Mirabilis) to sew in other flower beds next spring and the cleome is about three feet high and blooming. Some will grow to five foot and be as tall as I am! The three colors I have are solid white, the common pale lavender with the deeper purple tops and a soft pink that is a deeper pink on top. I save the seeds from these plants and I’m surprised every year where they pop up. I go about sowing the seeds and forget where I’ve been with the seeds…a happy surprise!
It was 58 degrees this morning and expected to stay in the mid 80s this week. Very pleasant weather to stroll among the flowers and look for seeds. We feed about 50 hummingbirds and I make a gallon of food a day. The little hummers use the feeders and really work my flower beds. We have a variety of birds and my favorites are the beautiful red cardinals,the Eastern bluebirds, and the sweet singing Carolina wrens. My husband has built bluebird houses and they all stay full during the spring and early summer for multiple hatchings. He has made wren house to hang under the eaves, but the cute little wrens are not particular about housing. They can build a nest in a box or a coffee can on the back porch in a days time and aren’t disturbed by our movements.
Looking forward to the next phase in your garden!
I always enjoy your tours of such gorgeous blooming gardens and all the birds that come to watch you take photos. LOL Thanks for all the entertainment in full color. BTW, we have what might be a skink here, but they are bright blue….is that what it is?? They slither away fast and seem harmless, along with a multitude of lizards in the garden. :o)
Always fun seeing the progress of your garden! Are you going to get any peaches this year? Love the bird photos as well. We have lots of little birds here, too, and they LOVE splishing around the birdbath right after filling it with fresh water every day (I put it just about a yard away from my garden bench, so if I sit completely still, they will work up the courage to go in it, with me watching!) Also have several hummers, too. They love the butterfly bushes, and are quite brave, darting in and out of the blooms right above my head.
My recurrent roses are in round 2 of their blooms (my favorite new rose is Downtown Abbey’s ‘Anna’s Promise’ — it is spectacular, quick to rebloom and the most gorgeous shades of apricot, pink & peach!) I recently fertilized all 82 of my roses, and that has sure made a difference in their growth & bloom (didn’t do it last year — really is quite an undertaking!). The nasturtium, rose moss, begonias and annuals are blooming beautifully as are several of my hydrangeas. Tomatoes & beans are doing well, and we’ve been picking lots of blackberries from my thornless blackberry bush that grows in a large pot by my deck. Unfortunately the squirrels and other critters have been enjoying our blueberries and strawberries and we’ve barely had any! Have some beautiful daylilies and gladiolas blooming now.
Thanks for sharing you lovely pictures with us, really nice seeing what’s going on in gardens elsewhere!
I had never heard of a skink, so I learned something new today! (At first, I thought maybe you were writing about a skunk, until I saw the photo). So much fun seeing your garden and the birds all the way from here – the tomatoes in the pot look really good! Getting dark here now and the birds were really busy with the last songs of the day, which was an unusual one around Philadelphia in July – clear, not humid at all, and cool; just perfect. I had a problem with impatiens this year – some of them seemed to be flattened by a fungal infection – I know there was one around a few years ago but thought it had been eradicated but maybe not. Our weather has been very wet lately and the tomatoes are slow to come in – only three cherry tomatoes so far from eight plants of both cherry and full-sized tomatoes, unfortunately, but there’s still time…the basil is doing great, though, so caprese salad with store-bought tomatoes for lunch today. Thanks for the garden update!
Thanks for sharing all your lovely flowers and birds. You are blessed to live where you do. Nothing much is blooming in my yard. Sedum, and an occasional rose.
*Beautiful!*, Carole!!
You have a wonderful artist’s eye, and a talent for photography!
Thank you for sharing!
Pat T.
Beautiful, beautiful – both the plants and the birdlife. I am impressed with the tomato plants in pots – looks like you will have a very good harvest. I really should get my act together and pot some herbs and vegies, instead of waiting till I have a garden bed ready. Love the gladiolas, something I’ve never tried. My lilly pillies planted along a fence line are taking off – all self seeded, potted, then planted in the garden. I’m hoping they’ll form a hedge in a year or two.
Beautiful Carole, I enjoyed seeing your tomatoes, blooms, and birds! I hope you will share this next Monday, August 7 at Gardens Galore!
It looks like your garden is going great this year! I like your hydrangea a lot. Are you able to keep your African violet outside in your weather? We have to keep them inside.
So many birds and blooms, and the photos are so clear. 😄 we are in waiting mode here, lots of green tomatoes, a pepper plant is actually blooming as are the beans, and I see we have corn coming on!
I love seeing all your flowers! I have gladioli too, but I have to dig up the bulbs for the winter and store them in the basement, they’re not hardy (north shore of Lake Ontario). The flower stalks are developing but flowers are still at least a week away. My cucumbers are starting to produce, and tomatoes by the weekend I think.
Beautiful Carole!
Thank you so much for the pictures and stories of your garden and wildlife. I began reading your blog for the quilts but I enjoy the garden and wildlife just as much!! Thank you!!
Oh wow! Your dayliliies are beautiful. And fantastic bird photos.
Omg, yes! I meant gladiolus. I was commenting on my blog with someone about day lilies! Lol
Thanks for linking up to Gardens Galore, Carole!