Once again, I am thoroughly amazed at how quickly the middle of the month has arrived. Summer is going by so fast! And lately we here in the PNW have been in the grip of a heat wave, which for us means temps in the mid-to high-80s. This kind of weather happens so seldom here, that very few houses and establishments have air-conditioning, so it's hard to escape the discomfort. Fortunately, the temperatures go back down into the 60s at night, which means if you stick a fan in a window after sunset, you can pull some cooler air into the house and thus get a little sleep.
Some of you know that I was away for the past week, visiting my son Iain in Massachusetts, helping him recover from arthroscopic surgery on his hip. The surgery went well, and he is recovering very quickly, already hobbling around on crutches and putting partial weight on the operated-on leg. I had been planning to spend part of last week in Portland at the Garden Bloggers Fling, but when the surgery got scheduled for the same week, sadly, I had to choose my son over fun and garden touring with other garden bloggers.
Anyway, I returned this past Sunday to a garden that was very floriferous despite the heat and lack of rain. I had left four sprinklers on a timer throughout the garden beds, so some of the newly planted perennials and shrubs got well watered. Others didn't fare quite so well, but a good dose of water from the hose yesterday perked almost everything right back up.
Here's what flowering right now in my PNW Zone 7b/8a garden.
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| Lots of orange and apricot and yellow Nasturtiums |
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| Daylily 'Bold Tiger' |
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| Dahlia 'Midnight Something' |
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| Echinacea purpurea |
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| Bright orange Nasturtium with Mertensia maritima |
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| Lily 'Llandini' |
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| Nicotiana and bug |
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| Another very fragrant lily whose name I can't be bothered to look up |
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| Ornamental Oreganum 'Kent Beauty' |
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| Nicotiana alata |
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| Brugmansia |
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| Starts with an M -- Morina longifolia (Thanks to Garden Bug!) |
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| Milkweed and feather grass |
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| Kniphofia and feather grass |
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| A view of the curve in the recycled concrete wall |
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| Another lily |
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| Crocosmia 'Lucifer' |
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| Another ornamental Oregano, Oreganum libanoticum |
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| Linum lewisii, there it is, that touch of the Blues |
Happy Garden Bloggers Bloom Day to everyone! GBBD is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Bloggers from all over the world contribute to this meme, so go check it out
here.
