With all the recent rain and warmth, the garden is in peak form, pleasing us and the pollinators– hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. Even the goldfinches have begun to harvest Sunflower and Cosmos seeds. I love it when the garden becomes animated with their visits.
Here is a photo of me (5’5″) for scale in front of the giant Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus), all self-sown from last year, and even the Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) are five feet tall. The vines on the lower left are Hyacinth Bean (Lablab purpureus) and on the right, Ivy-leaved Morning Glory (Ipomoea hederacea). They’ve begun to climb the Sunflowers, reaching for the sky.
The dahlias have begun to bloom. I thought I’d lost all my ‘Voodoo’ tubers when they froze in storage last winter, but one came through, and a new white ‘Lillehammer’ is pretty, but the stems are disappointingly short, making them not great cut-flowers.
About half of my Zinnia seedlings succumbed to slugs, but enough made it to flowering, tucked in amongst Flowering Tobacco (Nicotiana alata).
Self-sown Cosmos binpinnatus ‘Sensation’ are prolific, and the Tiger Lilies (Lilium lancifolium), and pink Astilbe taquettii are looking better than in previous years. Rain helps!
So what exciting things are blooming in your garden this week?
Eliza Waters 
I love your garden Eliza! That sunflower really is amazing. So glad you have had ideal weather for your plants and the pollinators. 🙂
Thank you, Cathy. All the lateral flowers are now blooming and it looks like a sunflower tree! It really has been a summer for the record books.
What a lovely, healthy garden you have growing there, Eliza. I love close-knit and variegated plants all mixed together. It’s one of my favorite garden “looks” if you will.
My tomatoes are disappointing late this year, but I do have five, fully ripe and ready for carving pumpkins. Fingers crossed that they last till October 31st.
Thank you, Alys. Cottage style has always appealed to me. As a teenager, I was entranced by the paintings of Helen Allingham.
I gave up growing vegetables when I switched to a CSA share, easier by far, as my tomatoes always succumbed to late blight.
Hope your pumpkins make it. Do you have cool storage? – they keep perfectly around 50-55.
What a wonderful, relaxing beauty…
Thank you, B!
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Wow! The Cone flower is just exquisite! Thank you for sharing!
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Thank you!