A bright spot and an oddity

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?

Final harvest

Here is my corn harvest. The ears are actually very small. The biggest one is just 6" long. But the kernels are plumb and juicy. We will have corn for supper tonight. With a plot bigger than 4'x4' and normal summer weather, I could have a decent corn patch.

Everything else is gone. Squash and cucumber numbers were very low. No tomatoes at all. It has just been way too hot and dry this summer. Today is day # 55 of above 90 and day # 9 of above 100 for the summer. Not good gardening weather. Even my drought hardy plants, like marigolds and butterfly bushes look terrible.

I'm pondering changing over to cacti and yucca!

Success!

This evening I harvested and ate my first ear of corn! It was great. Just one ear today, but within the next several days we should have several more. Here is my gardening assistant, posing with our corn.

No tomatoes this year. The new bed doesn't have rich enough soil for this terribly hot, dry year. I haven't had a single tomato, not even a tiny one. We will have to do some serious soil amending over the winter.

We are still getting squash but I think the cucumbers are about spent. Most of my flowers are sad looking too. Only the hearty drought tolerant plants, such as Lantana, Vinca, and Marigolds are still looking nice.

I haven't posted much this summer because gardening is too frustrating this year. For the second year in a row we are having incredibly hot, dry weather. Last summer was a record number of 90+ degree days. We are on track to break that record. We are also nearly 7" below normal for rain.

The only new thing in the garden this year is my one bright spot. I planted a small patch of sweet corn, just for the fun of it, in the front bed. It is doing pretty well. Here are pictures of our first ears. I hope to get half a dozen ears.

The other picture here is a pumpkin, in the same bed. It looks healthy enough. Our squash and cucumbers are doing well, but the tomatoes have no fruit at all.

Most of my flowers have wilted as well. Marigolds and vinca are about the only things that look good.

More fun things

Here is another hydrangea that I have, with this beautiful red bloom.

My peonies have not been very nice this year. I've had just 4 flowers, but I was able to get a nice photograph of this one.

The amaryllis snuck up on me. Yesterday I noticed it was about to bloom, It is nicely set between yarrow and fennel.

I plan to pick my first early snow peas today. I've been watching them all week. Can't wait to see if they are as good as they look

Happy place

I am very pleased with how my front bed looks this year. It is finally filling in the way I envisioned it. In fact, the Shasta daisies may be more abundant that I ever imagined! They are not blooming yet (but very soon). The yellow flowers are Asclepias tuberosa, perennial yellow butterfly weed. I planted it a couple of years ago, and this is the first year it has looked this good.

This is one hydrangea bush. I am amazed at the different colors in the blooms, since the soil acidity determined the colors. I must have mixed up soil in that corner. It is under a large oak tree. Anyway, I do love the blue flowers.

I just love this picture. No, it isn't from some Aztec ruin. We have lots of chipmunks in the yard. I saw this one sitting on the frog the other evening. I had to take the picture through the glass of the back door. The chipmunk kept running up the frog, and then back down. It was just too cute.

Bluebirds

I am so excited to see a bluebird in our yard! I don't know if this guy actually lives in the box he is stilling on top of, or if he lives next door. I have seen bluebirds going in and out of our neighbor's box. But, for the past two days, this guy has been hanging out in our front yard. So beautiful. Hopefully I can get some better pictures soon.

Hummingbirds are also back now.

I've got early peas, tomatoes, squash and cucumbers in. I've also begun to get my annuals planted. Now we are trying to find a good place to try our hand at corn. Odd thing for a small city lot, but it could be fun.

Here are some pretty spiderwort too.