July 2024 Bloom Day

Hanging basket on porch.

  

It's hot and very dry here in my corner of Virginia--USDA Zone 6B--on this July Bloom Day. We haven't seen a drop of rain in going on three weeks, and June's rains weren't exactly plentiful. Despite my attempts to keep it watered, my garden is really suffering, and the local deer are more voracious than ever. So, this Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden, is going to be skimpier than usual.

 

Hanging baskets.

Fuchsia on porch.

 

Thanks to their daily watering in the scorching temperatures, the hanging baskets on the porch have about the most flowers: petunias, calibrachoas,blue and white  lobelias, coleus and a Fuchsia in one basket. There are a few flowers the deer have mostly left alone, so let's take a look.

Starting on the east side of the house, the hydrangeas 'Little Quick fire'  and 'Incrediball' have flowers that haven't been mauled--while another hydrangea, 'Endless Summer' next to Incrediball has been completely consumed.

 

Hydrangea 'Little Quick Fire'

Hydrangea 'Incrediball'

 

My Vitex usually blooms profusely at this time of the year, but despite lots of watering, the shrub (now about 10' tall) isn't nearly as showy as in other years.

 

Vitex in bloom.

Coming around to the back yard the 'Blue Nile' Agapanthus I planted last year has produced a couple of stalks, and the red Salvia next to it is also flowering.

 

Agapanthus 'Blue Nile' with red Salvia.

The deer left me only a few blossoms of Liatris, and black-eyed Susans in my flower beds, probably because they couldn't reach them easily. The Chinese iris, formerly known as Blackberry lily or Belamcanda, don't appear very appetizing to them either.

 

Liatris 'Kobold'

Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm')

Chinese iris (formerly called Belamcanda)

Towards the west side of the back yard, the bed with the Anise hyssop and bee balm 'Jacob Cline' are doing well, they seem to be fairly deer-proof. But my Coneflowers and Phlox have been decimated, very few flowers have survived. Just about every Daylily bud was eaten before it could open, among  dozens on plants: Stella de Oro, Purple de Oro, yellow and peach colored varieties, so sad!

 

Anise hyssop and bee balm 'Jacob Cline'

Back toward the front walk, the Agastache 'Firebird' is among the few plants that deer don't find appetizing--I must plant more Agastache in my garden, so I can have a few more summer blooms. Unfortunately, they prefer well-drained soil, which with all the clay here is just about impossible to provide, so they do better for me in pots. But the pots have to be watered on a daily basis.

 

Agastache 'Firebird' along the front walk.

Back deck potted plant  collection

 That's about it for bloom day in my garden, pray for rain in this area, plentiful rain! Then maybe I'll have more to show next month.

July Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

Clary sage (Salvia sclarea)

Clary sage

 

This summer the deer have been incredibly voracious--they haven't left me very many flowers to show! One they haven't touched is the biennial Clary sage I planted last year. The flower spikes are big and bold, I'm sure their musky smell is the reason they've been left alone.

 

Centaurea cyanus 'Emperor William'

The nearby Centaurea 'Emperor William' which I grew from seed a couple of years ago, has been reseeding itself ever since, but this year, the seedlings all got chomped back and only this one plant somehow managed to avoid being eaten. I love their bright blue color!

 

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

 

Butterfly weed is another plant deer don't eat much, although they managed to eat the flower buds of all the 'Hello Yellow' ones--these plants are just finishing their cycle of bloom. The Buddleias are starting their show--with the extreme drought in our area and barely enough rain to bring relief, nothing is looking too great, only a few flower spikes where normally bloom would be profuse.

 

Butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii)

 Buddleia Pugster 'Miss Molly'

Buddleia lindleyiana

The Buddleia lindleyiana is a native of Japan and is doing well in my Virginia garden, but I'm discovering that it likes to sucker, and needs more room. I  love the graceful arching flower spikes, and the pollinators really like this variety: butterflies, bees and hummingbirds.

 

Bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora)

Speaking of plants beloved by pollinators, my Bottlebrush buckeye is about to bloom--it's a bit late this year, it's usually in full bloom by now. My tree is now about 6 foot tall and wide, it will probably reach its mature height of about 10 feet in a few years.

 

Seven Son Flower Tree (Heptacodium miconiodes)

The Seven Son Flower Tree, which normally doesn't bloom until August, budded out very early and has started to open its small clusters of seven flowers each. This shrub is a native of China, but still attracts lots of native pollinators such as dark swallowtails, and the hummers too.

 

Coneflowers under the Seven Son Flower Tree

Close-up of Coneflowers.

The back bed with a variety of Coneflowers and other blooming plants lies under the Seven Son Flower Tree, but this year, the coneflowers have been decimated--very few are left. I really need to be more proactive in spreading deer repellent or there'll be nothing left to show for all my labors.

 

Crocosmia 'Lucifer'

Clematis 'True Love'

 

Again, these Crocosmia and clematis flowers above are the only ones left from the deer's depredations. The heather below grows under a wire cloche, or there would be nothing left of either foliage or flowers. 

Heather.

On the east side of the house, the hydrangea 'Incrediball' is lovely, the other hydrangeas have been chewed up a lot--only one flower left on the lace-cap  hydrangea, the one on the other side of Incrediball (behind) has not a single flower left! 'Little Quick Fire' hydrangea sustained very little damage, but the Oakleaf hydrangea 'Ruby Slippers' is standing only because of the tomato cage protecting it.

Hydrangea 'Incrediball'

Hydrangea 'Little Quick Fire'

Oakleaf hydrangea 'Ruby Slippers'

 

Lavenders are among few flowers that deer don't go for, and the mint family is also generally spared.

 

Lavender 'Grosso'

Hoary mountain mint with Ninebark tree 'Coppertina'

 

Salvias are not appetizing to deer either, and generally spared--I bought the one below at Green Springs Gardens, where our botanical artist group had a show this spring, and deadheaded it--it's starting to re-bloom. I thought that zinnias were immune to deer too, but this year my seedlings have been decapitated.

 

Salvia

Vitex agnus castus

The Vitex above is usually in full bloom at this time, but with the current drought, growth has slowed down so much! 

The plants on the deck and hanging baskets are out of the deer's reach, of course, so I may still enjoy those flowers.

 

Cuphea 'Hummingbird's Lunch' on the back deck.

Hanging basket on the porch.

Calibrachoas on the deck.

 

The Cuphea 'Hummingbird's Lunch' hasn't attracted many hummers, but well I remember how one evening last year, in late September, a lone female hummingbird, apparently starved, came and gratefully buzzed every flower.

To sum it up, this July I'm short of flowers to show. Let's pray for some good rains in our area soon, so that I may have something in bloom to show you next month!