Cinco De Mayo Rose

My hubby gave this to me today as
an early Christmas present. This is
Cinco De Mayo. It's a floribunda
that is a chocolate or rust red with a hint
of lavender and is suppose to smell
really good. I planted it over by
the yellow Graham Thomas English rose.

The front yard got pretty neglected during our extreme
drought, so now that it has been cooler, I've been
in the mood to try and make a flower bed
around the rocks that previously
had pampas grass growing around them. I
started with this large clump of
Mystic Spires salvia. The
heat didn't bother this plant.

I transplanted a few of the zinnia's that
were a pretty pinkish red and also purple. I'm
hoping that they will go to seed
and come back next summer the same color.

In this bed I also transplanted
some lambs ear, coneflowers, alyssum, 
Frankly Scarlet daylily,
 which is a maroon red and 3 different iris.
There is a shady spot
along the underside
 of the rock, here
I transplanted some pink flowered
 wood sorrel/oxalis.

I just transplanted, so everything
looks a little wilted.

I transplanted another kind of salvia (Blue Bedder)  in front of this red knockout.

This is the crepe myrtle that I
tried to cut down last spring, but
it came back with a vengeance and looked beautiful
this past summer. Now it
has gorgeous reddish golden leaves.

Zinnia patch that came back from seed from the
summer ones.

I transplanted this rose at the
beginning of summer. It struggled
along and now has it's first bloom. It
is one that was here when we bought the
house and I didn't like where the previous
owner had it planted. I think it might be
a John F Kennedy rose.

A sunflower that has come back from seed.

Newly planted shrub bought for me by my sister
as a gift. It's a dwarf holly. I love the berries on it.

Quilt I'm making for my granddaughter. Lots
of flower fabric. I call it my
flower garden bow-tie quilt.

And The Winners Are...

I thought I'd mention a few top performers in my garden
that still look pretty good considering we've
had around 30 days of 100+ degree heat
and no rain since mid May.  This is a photo of the
Catnip Nepeta cataria.
I read though, that it can become invasive. 

Of course, lambs ear and alyssum.

Happy Returns daylily

It's not blooming now but the foliage is nice on the
Queen Elizabeth rose and next to it is the
coleus Electric Lime.

Miss Muffett caladium.

Candidum caladium

Another shot of Electric Lime coleus. It has done better
than the red coleus.

Coneflower - Echinacea
I started these from seed. They haven't bloomed
yet but are still growing and may yet.

Mystic Spires salvia.

Bell Pepper. Earlier in the season this plant produced
one bell pepper, now it has 3 pretty good
sized ones on it and more flowers.

Sunflower started from seed dropped by the
birds from their feeder. This is the really
large variety.

We Have Cantaloupe

Despite 100+ temperatures this little Encore azalea
managed one bloom for it's mid summer
bloom cycle.

This is a Janice Brown daylily seed pod. I've never tried
to grow daylilies from seed. If anyone has any tips on
harvesting the seeds and growing them, I would welcome the
advice.

I was out watering the okra this morning and discovered
 cantaloupes in the vines. There are about 6 of them in
varying stages of development.  I'm not
sure which variety this one is, as I planted two kinds
together - Hale's Best Jumbo and Charentais.

A baby watermelon - Crimson Sweet variety.

Another shot of the newly dug
hosta bed. Note the red coleus which I
started in pots a couple of weeks ago and the newly divided
 lambs ear. When I moved here I brought
one plant with me from my old house
and now I have about 10,
all from dividing them. My
grandson recently discovered the nice
soft texture of the leaves. 

Lambs ear, coleus and hosta.

Fireworks Purple Fountain Grass. 

Another shot of Fireworks Purple Fountain Grass

Paper Butterfly Daylily

Paper Butterfly Daylily. This gets to be around 24" tall with 6" blooms and is a rebloomer.  In my previous yard I had this planted with Southern Wood fern behind it and heuchera "Caramel" (coral bells) in front of it. Later in the season I will move this over by the shade garden and do the same with it as before.

This is Northfield Daylily. It is 36" tall with 5" blooms and also a rebloomer. Warrior Prince is in the background.

Purple fountain grass along side of Red Knockout

Southern Wood fern along with caladium and Electric Lime coleus

Evolution Salvia with lambs ear

Red Volunteer daylily. Again my camera doesn't capture the beauty of this red. I think it is my favorite of the red daylilies. It gets around 30" tall with 7" blooms.