Welcome to my July garden, located in subtropical zone 9a, near Houston, Texas.
It is hot and humid here in July - well, actually that's true of most months, but July and August are the worst. The rains that we had in spring and early summer have slowed down and things are beginning to dry out, but there are plants that thrive in such weather. Here are some of them.
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| July in the South, of course, means crape myrtles in many colors, including pink. |
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| Lilac. |
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| White |
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| And watermelon red. |
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| The milk-and-wine lilies start blooming in mid-July. That's summer phlox next to them. |
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| The crinum 'Ellen Bosanquet' also is at its best in July. |
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| Some of the daylilies are still blooming - or reblooming as this one is. |
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| This is a mid-summer bloomer. |
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| 'Black and blue' salvia continues to flower. |
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| Marigolds are beginning to bloom. |
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| Butterflies, like this Gulf Fritillary, love the 'Pride.' |
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| And bees love the African blue basil. You can't really see them in this view, but, trust me, they are there. The plants are busy with bees all day long. |
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| The groundcover wedelia is full of yellow, daisy-like flowers. |
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| A stand of yellow and orange cosmos is often visited by bees and butterflies. |
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| It's an old-fashioned plant, but still pretty and still useful in the garden, particularly for nighttime pollinators. It is the 4 o'clock, so called because it opens its blooms in late afternoon. I have it in several colors. |
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| Here's another color. |
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| And just one more multi-colored variety. |
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| The clerodendrum 'Cashmere Bouquet' blooms in July. |
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| The Meyer lemon tree, which is already full of little lemons, is still blooming and attracting large carpenter bees. |
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| Crocosmia, a favorite summer bloomer. |
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| Ornamental peppers and, in the back, wax begonia. |
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| The pomegranates are getting heavy on their limbs. |
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| Philippine lilies are blooming. |
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| The firecracker fern is still exploding. |
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And, of course, what would July be without sunflowers?
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Thank you for visiting my garden this Bloom Day and thanks to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting us once again. I look forward to visiting your garden this month.
Your garden looks wonderful! The fragrance of the 'Meyer' lemon is magic, isn't it? Happy Bloom Day!
ReplyDeleteIt is a nice scent and the blooms just seem to go on forever.
DeleteLovely!
ReplyDeleteHappy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
Lea
Thanks for visiting, Lea.
DeleteYour summer garden is just lovely. We're about to move to a new home in the Houston area and we get to do whatever we want with the garden, so I've been digging around looking for ideas. Do you think any of these would be particularly easy or particularly difficult for a newbie to care for? (Pardon me for the double post, I made a couple of typos and couldn't edit!)
ReplyDeleteI really only have easy plants in my garden, so any of these should work for a newbie. I'm a notorious lazy gardener and my plants have to be tough and able to survive a little neglect. I can recommend Felder Rushing's book Tough Plants for Southern Gardens or really any of Felder Rushing's books. Good luck with your new garden.
DeleteLovely blooms you've got there, Dorothy.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carmen.
DeleteNobody ever had too many Crape Myrtles nor Crinums. Crocosmia on the other hand can get to be a thug here. Everything at your place is just wonderful in the heat. Happy Bloom Day.
ReplyDeleteCrocosmia can get out of hand here, too, but it is easy enough to pull up. I'm quite fond of it.
DeleteOh, I am drooling over all these Crape Myrtles! I have to admit to being envious of your being able to grow them. And the firecracker fern is gorgeous. Your garden seems to have survived all the early rain very well; everything looks lovely!
ReplyDeleteThe rain made for lush growth and put everything in good shape for the hot, dry summer.
DeleteYour Crape Myrtles are really beautiful and so many different varieties to enjoy! Your other blooms are lovely as well. Happy Bloom Day!
ReplyDeleteCrape myrtles are certainly one of our old standbys here. They seem to be impervious to anything that Nature can throw at them and they just keep on blooming.
DeleteBeautiful! Love the milk-and-wine lilies... I've never heard of them before. I will be adding them to my plant wish list:)
ReplyDeleteThey are another of the old standbys of Southern gardens - one of the crinums and virtually indestructible.
DeleteGorgeous blooms Dorothy - my Philippine lily is blooming too. Thanks for reminding me about GBBD :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's always on my calendar!
DeleteLoved your crepe myrtles One of two southern flowering plants I miss in my upstate New York yard (the other being camillas). I'm not growing four o'clocks this year but I love them. Next year we won't make that mistake. I don't see them on too many GBBD posts but they deserve attention. They are a trap plant for Japanese beetles which seem to be bad for us this year. Sunflowers - yes, what would summer be without them?
ReplyDeleteI love 4 o'clocks. My mother always grew them and I have fond memories of them from my childhood. Old-fashioned but yes, as you say, a very valuable plant.
DeleteI have never seen a milk-and-wine lily, it's beautiful! I also like the Firecracker fern! Pomegranates..... yum!
ReplyDeleteThis is the first year my tree has produced pomegranates. I'm looking forward to enjoying them.
DeleteGreat fun to see so many blooms, Dorothy!
ReplyDeleteIt's been a very floriferous summer so far, Kathleen. All the rain helped.
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