Summer’s Sweet Spot: GBBD, July 2017

Yesterday, a friend came to visit. We toured the garden and he took some photographs. As we were sitting on my screened porch, looking out over the new front garden and eating lunch, he said, “This is a really sweet spot you’ve got here.”

I love my rural house nestled in the woods in all seasons, but the experience of living here is sweetest in summer. And that is especially true in July, when the garden reaches its peak. In many ways, mid-July is the sweet spot in the garden season. In mid-July, there is so much going on in the garden that almost every garden area looks good (even the temporary holding area for plants, shown below). But there is so much more yet to come! In mid-July, I can drink in the current beauty while also enjoying the delicious taste of anticipation.

The entrance to the back garden features a lush display of goatsbeard (Aruncus dioicus), astilbe, and spirea flowers spilling over the retaining wall.

In the Circular Bed at the turn into my driveway, the pastel hues of June are giving way to the strong contrasts of July. The gold color of these daylilies contrast with the blue-violet flowers of Geranium x ‘Johnson’s Blue’ (below left). This color scheme is repeated on the other side of the circle in the blooms of daylily ‘Margaret Seawright’ and geranium ‘Brookside’ (below right).

I continue to be amazed by how mature the Porch Border planting looks in it’s second year. In July, the front-of-the-border planting of Heuchera ‘Raspberry Regal,’ Geranium x oxonianum, and Tradescantia virginiana ‘Pink Chablis’ that continue to flower all summer long are being joined by the tall spires of Astilbe x ‘Moerheim’s Glory’ and the first daylily blooms.

The Lavender Walk is also a source of delight in mid-July.

And it’s hard to believe that the Side Slope is only in its first year when I look down from the deck on the lush display of flowers spilling down the hillside.

The planting for the Fragrant Garden was completed only a few weeks ago, and it does look raw and new. Even here, though, there are beautiful flowers to enjoy, including sweet peas growing up the side of the deck, the first phlox flowers of the season, a few flowers on rose ‘Therese Bugnet,’ and several varieties of daylilies.

My favorite part of the July garden is the beginning of daylily season. At this point in mid-July, about 20 percent of the varieties I grow have begun to bloom and two or three more are opening their first flowers each day. I leave you with this montage of some of my favorite early season daylilies.

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day is graciously hosted on the 15th of each month by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Visit her blog to see what garden bloggers from many climates have happening in their July gardens.