Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea alba)
It has been very hot and humid this week, so I’m laying low in terms of any vigorous gardening. Evenings seem to be the most tolerable time to weed and do a bit of trimming.
Here are just a few of the floral highlights in my garden this week :
Zinnias (Z. elegans ‘County Fair’) are so vibrant, one needs sunglasses to look at them–
I’m loving my Dahlia ‘Voodoo’ with its rich, burgundy blossoms.
Other hot pinks in the garden are Cosmos (C. ‘Sensation Mix’) and Zebra Mallow (Malva sylvestris ‘Zebrina’).
Spider Flowers (Cleome hasslieriana) are charming me with their shape and color.
The Sunny Knockout Rose
‘The Sunny’ Knockout Rose that I rescued from the bargain table at Lowe’s is living up to its name, blooming like crazy. The buds start out lemony, then fade into white.
Flowering Tobacco (Nicotiana alata) continue to bowl us over with their honeyed scent every evening, making the nightly rounds a very pleasant thing indeed. Here is one behind an orange calendula (Calendula officinalis). Both self-sow profusely.
What’s happening in your garden?
Eliza Waters 
Nature at full-throttle.
I have an abundance of hot peppers, cherry tomatoes, Zinnias, 7′ tall milkweeds, and 11′ tall sunflowers.
Wow, I’ve heard about the legendary soil in Iowa and clearly, your tall ones advertise its health. What kind of milkweed?
I’ll send you a picture later.
It is the common milkweed. Two are standing just to the left of the rain barrel. They are hard to see. It is 3.5 ft tall. They are 7. The Russian sunflower is 11 or 12 ft tall. I hope the links work for you.
https://goo.gl/photos/iAGojtPoKfMMYFqB8
https://goo.gl/photos/HWH5Abts3dwJRkaXA
Wow, they like where they live! Any monarchs on the milkweed?
Have not seen any.
They are loving the this heat wave.
No garden but lots of flower photos😀 Great post and lovely shots
Yes, the garden is assumed. 🙂 Thanks, Victor!
You have lots of color left in your garden – beautiful. I’ve been deadheading a lot. My black eyed susans are colorful, I have a lot of phlox blooming, a few dahlias, and then the annuals. It has been hot and humid here. I go out early and do my chores and then have been hunkering down inside.
Yes, it was been rather unsuitable weather for garden work. But I keep telling myself that it won’t last long and in only six weeks ( 😦 ), everything will be going dormant. (I hate even writing that!) Stay cool!
Yes, writing dormant is like writing snow. Gives me the shivers. 🙂
Spoken like a true sun lover!
The balance of colors, the spectrum of the rainbow, is simply stunning.
Thank you, Kim. Many of the colors are eye-popping! All around, the signs of senescence abound, but I’m trying to focus on the vibrancy, enjoying it while I can.
Stunning selection. I must remember to grow some zinnias next year. I love their jewel colours.
I always grow Zinnia ‘Profusion’ (positively infallible), but this year because of IAVOM, I tried some taller ones. I just wish they lasted better in a vase, they tend to rot after a few days. Next year, I want to try a cactus-flowering variety. All zinnias are wonderful!
The infallible version sounds good to me, thanks.
Winter is drawing to a close in South Africa. The clivias are beginning to bloom, jasmine blossoms scent the night air, the Cape Honeysuckle still provides some bright orange patches and I even have a very late blooming aloe!
Nice! Many of your native plants do well here in my sunspace in winter. Pelargoniums, jasmine and I would love a clivia but they are rather pricey. 🙂
Wonderful shots, the vibrant colour just makes you happy!
Indeed, it does! Thanks, Belinda.
The white and orange are so beautiful together. All the flowers are wonderful.
Thank you, Gigi.
Beautiful. I have never seen that Zebra mallow before – I like it; and the spider flowers – they are pretty!
Thank you. Zebra mallow is a native of Europe, once you have it, it’ll self-sow indefinitely! ‘Zebrina’ is a bit larger and darker than the species.
Will have a look out.
I love that dahlia too! And I still remember being enthralled by that zebra mallow when I saw it in glorious bloom in Alaska years ago but (unlike dahlias) I’ve never tried to grow it here.
Zebra mallow is supposedly a perennial/biennial beyond zone 6, but mine die and self-sow (a lot!) every spring. Unfortunately, the rabbits and Japanese beetles love them, too. They only grow to zone 9, so they may not do so well for you?
These are lovely – my garden is still looking fairly good although some annuals are beginning to fade – blue and blue and white agapanthus are bright spots and roses are blooming again but sedums have yet to get any colour
Thank you, Diana. Thank heavens for the annuals to carry us through to frost!
The sunny rose and calendula make a winning combination.
Thank you, Brian.
Lovely photos, and I appreciate what it took to grow what you photograph. 😉
Thank you, Bela!
High summer! Goodness it’s so beautiful! How do you control the spread of the mallow? I love the stuff, but have contaminated my whole community garden with it! It’s almost as bad as trumpet vine (and just as lovely).
Thanks, Lisa. With the mallow, I yank seedlings constantly. They are still coming up! I try to keep them in an area with coneflower at the back of the garden and let them duke it out. They are pretty, so I don’t mind them so much.
I just love the things, but my they seed prolifically (which you can prevent by cutting the blossoms, which last nicely in bouquets) and have amazing roots! I’m pretty much doing what you do–pulling up the young ones.
I love your zinnias & spider flowers. As for my garden… the grass is hanging on for dear life and the oranges & persimmon are flourishing.
Thanks, annuals really come on strong at the end of the summer. Glad your fruit is doing well – I remember that delicious juice!
The 2 orange and 2 grapefruit trees are loaded and will be ready for juicing this winter!
🙂 ❤
If someone had told me that voodoo, spiders and tobacco could all be part of a beautiful garden, I wouldn’t have believed them. Luckily, you provided photographic evidence.
This one, too. Thank you, Bun. Magic happens in gardens! 🙂
By the way, in answer to your last question, I don’t have a garden, which may be part of the reason why I enjoy looking at other people’s so much. 🙂
Sorry about the delay in my response, Bun – your comment was in spam – ?? I don’t know why! WP Mystery.
I’ve contacted Akismet about it again. It just seems to keep putting my comments in other people’s spam folders. I’m not sure why. Perhaps I’ve wronged them somehow. 🙂
It happened to me last summer, so I wonder if it is happening to me again somewhere as well. Maybe they go on vacation and leave the interns to do the work and things go awry. 😉
Maybe that’s it! 🙂
Lots of lovely flowers and so much colour. 🙂 I love the Cleome and must try them in the ground again next year… with lots of copper tape around them of course! 😉
Thanks, Cathy. Ha, good news! Cleome are sticky and prickly and the slugs won’t touch them. At least they don’t in my garden. 🙂
They have eaten a whole batch of fairly large seedlings freshly planted before, but I shall wait until they are bigger to plant them out next time!
Come to think of it, all my cleome are self-sown. When I use transplants, they get clobbered by slugs. Not sure what it is (transplant stress?), but they must smell or taste more attractive. Maybe try sowing cleome in the fall?
Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie.
nothing like as grand or interesting to look at in my garden, I will walk around yours again, if you don’t mind?
Glad to share it, thanks for the reblog, too. 🙂
Lovely, lovely! Isn’t it wonderful how the garden changes in response to the seasons. The white coneflower is glorious; I haven’t tried this group of zinnia – do they get many visits from pollinators? The stamens seem well exposed and full of pollen!
Thank you, Lynn. The only monarch I’ve seen this year was on one of these zinnias, then it visited the globe thistle. For that, they’ve earned a permanent place in my garden!
I love Zebra Mallow. Great job!
Gracias, Maria!
Ooooh, that calendula nicotiana combo is lovely!
Thank you, Kathy. Happy accidents are wonderful in the garden. 😉
Such A rich and beautiful garden Eliza…❣
Thank you, Storm. It’s such a blessing!
Yes it is!💫