We’ve had some terrific gardening days and some suffocating hot and humid gardening days. But I am not complaining. Things here are looking pretty good. I’m up before the sun rises above the treetops. It’s bright but oh-so-quiet out. It’s just me out there and the elderly neighbor across the street walking his 3 dogs.

Early mornings are cool-ish. I take a coffee with me as I survey the areas of garden that might need a little refreshing in the heat that will surely come in a couple of hours to our small gardens. Any reachable weeds are pulled and flowers are pinched and tidied. Plants are checked for rabbit damage 😬 and those that have been nibbled are either covered or sprinkled with more stinky stuff.  Last week I opened the door to step out into the morning garden and was startled by a fox leaping straight up out of the border. I know what he was after. 🐰🐰🐰I finally realize I’m not much of a flower gardener. The longer I garden the more I gravitate toward textures, shapes and shades of greens. Blooming woody plants are the backbone of the garden with enough flower blooms to attract pollinators.

One pollinator that I was happy to see dancing around the asclepias tuberosa was a monarch. Fingers crossed that it was a she and left eggs. Meanwhile the painted ladies have had two generations of caterpillars on the beach wormwood, an artemisia. The plant is a biennial so I stagger plantings each year just for these beauties.Our newest project took place in the front of the house. Figuring out a way to clean up an unsightly gravel area along the foundation that led to utilities has bothered me since I moved here. It was low and filled with moss, mold and summer mosquitoes. An eyesore to anyone who approached the front door, I thought.

This week we tackled it when some loam arrived for a neighbor… more than they needed. mister gardener brought me wheelbarrows of loam and we had access to community bricks for the taking. I built the area up over gravel with paving sand, laid the brick in a narrow basket weave pattern, brought the loam up to the edge, added a little liriope and voila! It’s been sanded in and looks good… at least we think so. It’s a tricky area where sheets of ice fall from the roof and shear shrubs in half during bitter winters. I know that liriope will take an ice lickin’ and keep on tickin’.That’s about it for July around here. Happy mid-summer to all.