I’m so far behind in posting that I think the last time I got anything up here was 4th of July weekend! Anyway, it’s been hotter than hell, of course, and we’ve got virtually no rain, of course, but I still have flowers. Granted, I’m thinking of changing my name to Rayne and my astrological sign to Aquarius because I’ve hauled so goddamned much water and dragged the hose around to water weeds that shouldn’t need it (watering roadside-weed goldenrod? really?), and that’s the only reason I still have flowers, but…I have flowers!

This is not a flower, but Cal does live in flowers (specifically the calibrachoa out front), so he qualifies. He popped out as I was watering the hanging pot. Tree frawgs are so cute; I love their little toes. <3

I haven’t seen little Spicebush doot-doot in a while, so I hope nothing ate him. The spicebush is getting quite large, so it’s easier for little dudes to hide from me (also from predators, I hope).

This is just interesting. The 544 Bright Lights had a rough go last year and did not reseed, so I had to supplement them with purchased seeds. The ones in the centre are 544 Bright Lights, and the ones to the outside are purchased this year from a reputable seed company. 544’s are larger, but not yet blooming. Very sturdy plants, but they would be because they have come from very sturdy stock that seldom got watered.

I don’t recall planting this…

No pink water lily blooms this year, but a lovely white one. This was taken in the morning.

By early afternoon, it looked like this:

Morning glory again. God, I love these flowers.

So…I had to pull up a bunch of coneflowers and a clump of black-eyed susan because they had fucking aster yellows. It left a space, so I moved the big ratabida (sp?) and the pink asters that were beside the Sweet Tea honeysuckle. Not a good time to move a fully grown plant in bloom, but hopefully, at least the roots will survive (the plant does not look happy as of today).

There were actually two pink asters and not enough room, so the second clump went into Bee Happy. It doesn’t look too bad so far.

Now I have a bare spot, but it was a pain in the arse to mow anyway, so I don’t mind. Crabgrass will fill it in if we ever get any fucking rain.

Berry on Sweet Tea. I don’t necessarily want birds spreading this all over the place, but they’re welcome to spread it all over our place!

Do not trust the plant tags. Sombrero ‘Baja Burgundy’…and a rogue ‘Flamenco Orange’. For the record, I can’t tell the difference between the burgundy and ‘Salsa Red’. Not that I care; I love coneflowers, period, and as long as they don’t have aster yellows, I’m happy with whatever they are.

Tall phlox, which never gets as tall as it’s supposed to, so it may end up moved next spring. It’s too pretty to hide it behind taller flowers.

Plum Crazy. Dear GOD, this is beautiful. It’s getting choked out by the sweet black-eyed susan, though, so that will have to be tamed a bit next spring.

I think this is Midnight Marvel. It’s far and away my best bloomer, and it’s gorgeous; photos don’t do it justice.

Fuck everything about these bastards, and if there was a hell, I’d hope they burned there for eternity. They love my Kopper King hibiscus, so I rarely see a bloom, and not one single undamaged bloom of the few these cocksuckers haven’t eaten before it could open.

Since the flower was already toast, I captured the lot in a plastic bag, then left it on the patio in the hot sun. Suffer, you miserable motherfuckers; I’m going to tell myself that you can feel pain, and I hope there was plenty of it.

This is getting long, so just a couple more. My cup plants did better this year; Charlotte has mostly left them alone, and they’re 7-8′ tall, and quite sturdy. Bees are happy with them.

These partridge peas need a lot of water, but they’re so interesting-looking and pretty that I think I’ll keep buying seeds each year (or collecting seeds, if the birds don’t get there first).

Last one…the same berry as above, I think, only now (or whenever I took this photo) it’s ripened to bright red.