Most of the weeds have been conquered, though I still manage to find Virginia creeper seedlings that look alarmingly like poison ivy. I'm always anxious to see what will pop up on my skin by the end of the day. New weeds have been showing up and its always amusing to discover their names--Corn cockle, Pennsylvania smart weed, devils beggarticks, spiny sowthistle, and pineapple weed that's in the chamomile family.
I bought a pretty lavender datura-like flowering plant only to discover it listed in a weed book as jimsonweed or thorn-apple, or attractively, stinkwort. It has prickly egg-shaped seed capsules. To think I paid four dollars for a weed. Paul has a clump of toadflax or butter-and-eggs planted in his rock garden and it has pretty yellow and white snap-dragon-type flowers, but it is a weed. Daylily season really begins in July and I like to walk through the gardens and admire each flower. Cooler mornings mean richer colors. You don't have to deadhead daylilies but I do, picking off snails and dead leaves at the same time while checking for deer damage. Repeat bloomers will re-bloom better if you keep them watered. Even though I have hundreds of them, beds of just daylilies never interested me. In my garden, they're added as accents or complimenting other shrubs, grasses and perennials. Some of my favorite partners are astilbe, echinacea, phlox, salvia and geraniums.
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Malva fastiagata or rose mallow makes a sprawlingdisplay in the front bed. Its roots go very deep, so they're drought tolerant.
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Rudbeckia 'Indian Summer'is a stunner by the pond.
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|  | | The leaves of this swamp hibiscus are really amazing . The dinner plate red flowers are a bonus. Hardy perennial and easy to grow. | |
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| | Coreopsis Crazy Cayenne.....More supplies now available |
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