Garden Progress July 2018

 This is a Quick Fire hydrangea 10 months after planting. It is a little lop-sided and will require pruning come fall, but it is full of blossoms and that's the important thing.

Sweet autumn clematis, I am thrilled with this little baby and can't wait to see its white blossoms in the fall, maybe not this fall, but next year perhaps.

A blossom on the rosa rugosa. It was so badly pot-bound when I bought it but I knew this plant was tough and could make it, it just needed to get out of that pot.
Perhaps I will try some other roses if this one is a success.

Baby hostas that were dug out of the front garden where they get eaten by deer. One plant yielded  three new ones and the original was here when we moved in. I am not a huge fan of hostas, having had a walkway covered by a giant one for years. But I like these smaller ones with the variegated leaves and what else will do well in total shade?

Another one of the hostas planted in the bed against the back deck. This bed is a cheat bed: underneat that mulch is soil/compost to a depth of about 4" and under that is heavy cardboard. I figure if anything can grow on top of cardboard, it might be hostas.

This is a viburnum that I have a particular affinity for. I really like the shape of the leaves. Anything else it gives such as blossoms and berries is a bonus.

A shasta daisy, Rebecca, planted in the back with echinacea. This spot gets a lot of sun and I am hoping to expand it each year with the same type of flowers.

I bought this somewhere and the label said clematis, but I have my doubts. It doesn't look like clematis to me. Little pink flowers are beginning to bud out, but they don't resemble anything that I can name.
Anyway it is pretty.

Annabelle hydrangea that limps are the first sign of being dry. This shrub lets me know when it needs to be watered, which is pretty frequently. I think it is doing great for its second year.

 The weigela that was in full bloom when I planted it a month ago, it has put on a second show of blossoms. I am just glad to see it perking up in this heat and putting on new growth as I lost one weigela already this year.

A very nice day lily that I planted a month ago. These plants are tough and that is what I need in this dry dry location.

Beyond our fence is a lot filled with milkweed and there are plenty of monarch butterflies around. This is their preferred plant for feeding and for laying their eggs. They spring up in our yard constantly and I pull them out without feeling guilty as there are so many just next door.

The milk weed plant isn't very pretty but the flowers certainly are. Such delicacy, it is just lovely.