July 19, 2016
This week’s garden view shows quite a difference from last week (see last photo below). The orange daylilies (Hemerocallis) are rioting at the center and just to the left of it the pink phlox (P. paniculata) has started. Yes, I put pink and orange together!
On the lower right, behind the lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina) the yellow daylily (Hemerocallis ‘Happy Returns’) is almost done. Bright red Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ is on the right. Normally, there would be a long border of it, but Peter Cottontail helped himself and ate the row down to nothing. I spread blood meal around, but it is a bit late to save C. ‘Lucifer‘ this year.
White and pink flowering tobacco (Nicotiana alata) and dots of yellow and orange calendula (C. officinalis) are in bloom (lower front left and across path) and sweet peas (Lathyrus odorata) are going gangbusters in front of the sunflowers (Helianthus annuus), which have grown yet larger and are beginning to show yellow petals.
The blue of the globe thistle (Echinops ritro) in the center is intensifying and the coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) have begun to bloom. The white dots along the front are love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascene) which reseeds every year, but this year all I have is white. I will have to buy fresh seed next year to get blue back into the border.
I had to move the blue globe again as the jungle was engulfing it. I don’t think the calendula will threaten to overrun it and it can stay put for the rest of the season.
View of the back of the border
At the rear, there are rose daylilies and pink and white cleome (C. hassleriana). Spikes of pink Astilbe taquettii have replaced the sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa), of which a few gold dots still can be seen.
I’m linking up with Cathy at Words and Herbs, joining participants taking weekly photos of the same garden over the course of the growing season to note its evolution.
Below are some of the previous views for comparison:
April 1, 2016
June 11, 2016
June 28, 2016
July 5, 2016
July 12, 2016
Things are pretty peaceful here on our quiet, seven-and-a-half acres, but this week I was ‘seeing red’ as my large patch of red bee balm (Monarda didyma), which is about 12′ in diameter out in the field, has come into glorious bloom, along with red sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) shouting loudly from the main garden. 
(Although not represented here, Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ has begun to bloom there, too.)
I’ve made two vases, one large and one small, and kept them both simple. A red bud vase, in which I once received a single red rose from a beau in the 70s (so romantic to a young heart), holds the sweet peas.
Last week, Cathy issued a challenge to create an Ikebana arrangement for this week’s IAVOM post and though it has been decades since I tried my hand at it, I thought I would give it a go. Simplicity and asymmetry are basic to the style, very different from my usual wild and loose, cottage-garden style. In looking at the photos, I can see I could pare it down more, but I’ll let this one stand as is!
My key focus is an orange, tetraploid daylily (Hemerocallis x fulva) that was given to me decades ago and although I do not like its aggressive nature in the garden, its blossom is attractive. A few additional daylily buds provide vertical height, along with two buds of globe thistle (Echinops ritro).
Spikes of Siberian iris foliage (I. siberica) create an inverted ‘L’ sweep, and branches of katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) leaves were intended to be placed laterally, but they had a mind of their own! A few tight panicles of patrinia (P. gibbosa) as well some of its serrated foliage fill out the bottom.
The vintage, oval lead container is a spiked frog that I inherited from my mother-in-law and is probably quite old, possibly handed down from her mother or mother-in-law.
The Japanese cloisonné bowl belonged to my spouse’s grandmother, acquired when she lived in Japan in the early 20th century. Enlarge to look at the amazing detail, it is quite extraordinary. Someone labored a very long time to create this work of art.
Eliza Waters 