July blooms day. Doesn't feel like mid-summer

Flowers seem to be a week or two late this year. We've had very cool temperatures, and lots of rain. The past two nights have gone down to 6.5 degrees C (43F), and daytime temperatures are comfortable. Is this really July?

I'm liking this summer very much. Heat and humidity: who needs it? Apparently, the tomatoes do: they're not growing well at all, but I only have three plants.

Here's a selection of what's in bloom right now:

Echinacea pallida is among the first flowers to bloom in our meadow

Persicaria polymorpha has been in bloom for a month: what a plant!

My semi-circular border with Persicaria, blue oat grass, Stachys officinalis and a silly-looking puff-ball Allium christophii (self sown, front right)

Eryngium giganteum (Miss Willmott's ghost) and Knautia macedonica
in our Piet Oudolf-inspired border (now the wild garden)
Photo: David Rees

Border mainstay: Echinacea purpurea
Photo: David Rees

In the meadow, the more delicate E. pallida

Lots of daylilies coming on now

Clematis 'Duchess of Albany', lady's mantle and lavender
in the four-square garden

In containers, we have my husband's seed-grown Agapanthus

My favorite Whichford pot in the front courtyard with wave petunias,
million bells, sweet potato vine and burgundy Dracena

At the front steps, a Canadian made pot (Night & Day Studio) with wave petunias and verbena, Cerinthe major (not in flower yet), white and purple Nierembergia in neighboring pots

Featured comment: Greetings from Night and Day Studio in Mount Forest!
Thank you for the credit on a fine terracotta planter, but unfortunately it is not ours. I do believe it is also a Whichford planter (applied lattice work). Thanks anyway and happy gardening!

Paul Kaye- owner-Night and Day Studio
www.nightanddaystudio.com

For more contributions to Garden Bloggers Blooms Day, head on over to May Dreams.

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

Drought update: Not whining, still watering

July precipitation report: We had more rain this month than in June: 6/10ths of an inch in the first week (in two showers), the same in week two (three showers), and the same once again in week three (delivered in two showers on one day). But over the past 10 days to the end of the month, we had only one small shower, with 2/10ths of an inch.

The cumulative effect of the extremely low rainfall since mid-May has now put us into "record dry" territory. (See the second dot near Hamilton on the map: that's roughly where we are.) I've never had to garden in a drought like this. It was almost as bad in 1998, the first year we were here, but at that season, we had no gardens yet.

Despite the bad news, I've been in good spirits lately, probably because it's been reasonably cool, especially at night, and at least until now we've been spared the nasty humidity that we normally get. I'm no meterologist, but I suspect that the dip in the jet stream that we've had over southern Ontario more or less all summer long has kept both the humidity and the big thunderstorms at bay. Both have certainly been plentiful south of the border.

Semi-circular perennial bed at the end of July
At this point instead of whining, I simply keep on watering. The end result is that the garden, which I've designed for maximum color and interest for this time year is actually looking pretty good.

Garden pictures - perennial border July

My semi-circular border
I haven't taken as many garden pictures this year, perhaps because I'm a bit demoralized by drought - it's been dry since mid-May. Also first thing in the morning - the best time for photos - is usually the time I'm dragging those hoses around.

That said, the garden proper is looking very nice, thanks to my watering - and, of course, the weeding team's efforts too. The lawn looks poorly, except bordering areas that get watered. My beds are looking very colorful now because I grow a lot of mid-summer bloomers. It was wind-still this morning with a bright overcast sky, making it perfect for a few pictures.

Above, you see part of my semi-circular border (which I've actually watered only twice this summer) with the lovely mauve culvers-root, Veronicastrum virgincum 'Facination', in bloom in the back, along with purple coneflowers, fennel, Joe Pye weed, grasses, globe thistle and the ubiquitous Rudebeckia 'Goldsturm'.

A closer shot of some of the plants in this bed
We call this the semi-circular garden because its shape is a half circle with a path through it. It's set into a small slope backed by evergreen trees that act as a windbreak. The evergreens are far enough away that their root systems don't impinge on the beds. There are deciduous trees in the background too, but they're on the neighboring tree farm.

I grow mostly big, tall perennials and grasses here in a meadow-like profusion, plus a few shrubs, which makes it interesting to walk up and down the path: you don't see what's around the bend until you come to it.

The plants I used here are all pretty drought-tolerant country garden stalwarts that do very well in our rich clay soil. The red you see is Crocosmia 'Lucifer', which thrives here because the slope is well-drained.