Happenings in the 'Hood Update

It's been a weird spring and early summer around here. The last two years, we've been unreasonably hot and dry. So far this year, things have been wet and pretty cool. The plants are responding.

The coleus is doing great since I moved it to its own pot. I'm enamored by the way the leaves mimic the shape and color of the hydrangea leaves.

Speaking of hydrangea, look at this beauty:

This is the first time I've had "supertunias," and they're living up to the name. The Magellanica Perilla (dark stripy thing you see at the top of the picture) is cranky with curled leaves, but I don't know why. It's grown A LOT since I planted it in May.

My heuchera is blooming.

And the Kent beauty oregano is doing well! I've killed one of these before. (Please don't let this plant know. This time will be different...)

This is a mystery plant given to me by a friend. She told me it was a yellow perennial, and she'd forgotten the name. It's pretty, whatever it is. I had a moment in which I thought about not planting it because the yellow wouldn't match the color scheme I was doing in that bed. Then I realized I was being ridiculous and planted the yellow flower. Flowers = pretty. It doesn't matter what color it is.*

I have three coneflowers. I planted them last year, and I'm thrilled they made it through the drought. They didn't bloom last year, but they could hardly be expected to with the heat we had. This year, one and a half plants were beaten down pretty badly by a strong thunderstorm. I've put them in tomato cages to try to help them grow upright again. They look a little strange, but I'm hopeful that they'll straighten themselves out.

The balloon plant is blooming! You can see a full bloom plus a bud in this picture. I've killed one of these, too, so I'm thrilled it's doing all right.

These daisies will survive the apocalypse. Daisies, irises, and phlox subulata will survive to see a brave new world. These are spreading like crazy, and my attempt to corral them with a fence didn't last a day. I've had to move one plant because of the encroachment of the daisies, and I'm confident I'm going to have to divide these regularly. However, they're cheerful and beautiful and I choose to think of them as exuberant rather than invasive. They're just happy.

The aster is in full bloom as well.

The garden... well, it's green. I didn't pay attention to whether the tomatoes I bought were determinate or not, and so I'm having a hard time trying to get determinate tomatoes to cooperate with my string trellis. I'm not sure how this is going to play out.

I planted a couple tomatillos this year, and they're covered with blooms.

I'm even starting to see some tomatoes! With the stupid weather the past couple of summers, I didn't get a very good tomato harvest. I am really, really looking forward to a veggie sandwich with a big fat slice of a beefsteak tomato. Bring it, tomatoes. I'm ready.

Let me be honest: I only show you the success stories in this post. The phlox has turned ugly, there are brown bits of daffodils dotting the front beds, I can't seem to remember to deadhead anything, and I can't grow sunflowers. (Who has trouble growing sunflowers?) I also have poison ivy... again.  Still, even with the negative things, seeing little green tomatoes and flowers blooming makes me happy and grateful.

Even with the poison ivy.

*I've just learned this is a type of coreopsis. Who knew? It's Coreopsis grandflora.