Here is my lone pumpkin. It actually isn't very large; about the size of a basketball, but the vine is huge with this one fruit. I'm sure the hot dry weather is keeping it from getting very large. It is the only bright spot in the garden. We have had some significant rain over the last ten days, so some plants are looking better. Lantana and cleomes are blooming again. But everything is very stressed. My crepe myrtle bushes haven't bloomed at all and the butterfly bushes have had very few blooms. Both should be beautiful all through July and August.The oddity is my star magnolia tree. It is one of the first things that blooms in spring, and the blooms come out before the leaves. I don't know what has cause this, but it has blooms on it now, on several branches that have few leaves. It too, has been very stressed by the heat and drought this summer. But blooms in August! Very odd.
I am seriously considering re-doing the entire front yard. I'm thinking about getting rid of all the grassy areas in favor of paths and mulch, and putting in more ornamental grasses. Do any of my (few) readers know of a good software program that will let me design and play with garden layouts?
