Pinkfusion

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Somehow this year my garden got the pinks. As I worked in the garden this week, I noticed there is a heck of a lot of pink out there.

The coleus cuttings turned out to be many shades of pink and pink accents. A neighbor gave me a left-over flat of pink impatiens so I paired them with the pink coleus.

In pots

and in the ground.

Other annuals - pink cosmos and cleome .

Even the pot of zinnias Giant Flowered Mix and California Giant is predominately pink.

The perennials I’ve planted over the years are many shades of pink. A lot of them were gifts from friendly gardeners.

Saucer sized hardy hibiscus (from a neighbor)

Cone flowers (from a neighborhood school plant sale)

Garden phlox (from a friend)

Mum Clara Curtis (actually bought this one myself).

Crepe Myrtle (from another neighbor).

Pink everywhere. A happy accident.

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Hot Summer Garden

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. . . and other garden ramblings.

I have a new meaning for the words shade garden -- gardening in the shade.

I’ve been following the shade around the garden. The little time I’ve spent in the garden is planned to take advantage of the shade. Last week 90 to 100 degree heat and high humidity put this new meaning on shade gardening. Fortunately I have a lot of mature trees.

Morning Glories in Round Rock (Texas) reported a heat index 117 in her blog on June 30. I thought of her as the sweat dripped off my nose with the gnats and mosquitoes buzzed in my ears. I can’t even imagine what a heat index of 117 feels like.

We’ve also had some wild storms. The wind and rain turned the crepe myrtle into weeping crepe myrtle.

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The cosmos leans against the pussy willow. I’ve cut some of the broken stems and propped up some others.

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I picked some great sweet peppers (‘Early Sensation). The seeds were planted on March 11. On my May 13th post, “Seed Challenge”, the plants were ready for the garden. I cooked up a pot of old-fashioned stuffed peppers last week – five months from seed to stomach.

I got some exciting news from Carol at May Dreams Garden this week. I won a CobraHead Weeder. The good folks at CobraHead LLC gave one to everyone who entered. Very generous indeed and just in time for fall weeding.

I’ve been having trouble with the link to Doug Green’s Garden (blog). Does the link at the right work for anyone? Please leave a comment. I’ll change the link if anyone else is having trouble. I can’t seem to get it working. Here’s the link to Doug’s Simple Gift Farm website - http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/. You may be able access his blog there. Doug will also release a new propagation ebook this week. It’s a winner.

Fortunately, we’re having some better weather this week with temperatures in the 80’s and lower humidity. I’ll be a happier gardener this week.

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Crape Myrtle

In last week's post on the Penn State Master Gardener blog http://blogs.mcall.com/master_gardeners/ogs.mcall.com/master_gardeners/ogs.mcall.com/master_gardeners/ Karen Bernhard writes, "Crapemyrtle is a really special shrub. That spectacular bloom after many other flowering plants are all through for the season is great! Unfortunately, crapemyrtles are not reliably hardy in Pennsylvania." Take a look at the blog (link above) for more detailed information.

I am very fortunate to have a hardy plant. Unfortunately, I don't know the variety since it was a gift from a neighbor's bush. (There are a few around the neighborhood from the same old bush.) The picture here, from August of last year, shows the great display of blooms.

This crepemyrtle is very slow to wake up in spring. It is just now beginning to leaf out. Hopefully, this year will be another year of spectacular, non-stop bloom from summer to fall.