My Garden in Summer

The Summer garden is filled with daisies and their kin. White and purple echinecea (coneflower) abut monarda and chrysanthemum. I am slowing learning to grow roses, but they bloom in the front bed, on the side of the house across from the AC unit, and arching over the edge of the pond.

Day lilies--rescued from a house about to be bulldozed for a highway project--form a long and colorful line along the back fence. Asiatic lilies bloom elsewhere in pots and beds scattered around the house. Water lilies grace the pond and kettle with white and pink flowers.

In the shady spots, graceful flower spikes float above the broad leaves of hosta. Sea oats provide an interesting counterpoint, their sead pods hanging like small medallions. Astilbe launch colorful spikes above mint-like leaves.

In the front bed, birds and squirrels bath and drink from the old concrete bird bath my grandfather presented to my grandmother as a house-warming gift in the late '20s. It is surrounded by daisies: chrysanthemums, monarda, and echinacea

Summer is mostly about watering. And weeding. I can grow clover better than anything else. If I don't keep up it will overrun everything else, squeezing out the hardiest plant.