July Planting

I did not think when I first injured my foot that I would be planting things this season at all. In July no less. 

I still don't have annuals -- petunias or geraniums -- out front, or anything in containers in the back. But even though the front portal urn has nothing, it looks calm and settled with the happy, tidy dwarf goldenrod, now blooming.

That little goldenrod, here when we moved in, is by itself in the gravel out front and it just looks nice. Nothing more is needed.

I planted the second container of Rocky Mountain penstemon next to the big golden yarrow in the driveway strip and it had enough to be separated into divisions. So I put one small split out in the front triangle where the marrubium never took.

It surprised me how fresh and clean the penstemon foliage is after the blooms are gone by.

The kitchen courtyard finally looks really good. Radio Red salvias are spectacular. I have three in the ground here and two more in pots. 

The container salvias are even more flowery and vivid.

I took the coreopsis out of the terracotta bowl and put it in the bigger, less porous white bowl. I hope it will spread out more but meanwhile it looks bright and colorful. The thyme carpet under it is still patchy, but I dug and moved several chunks to fill in those empty spots.

I had planned to put two dichondra Silver Falls plants in the bowl too, to spill over the edges, but instead I planted them along the moss rock border, alternating with the Coral Reef sedum and creeping speedwells. The silver draping foliage might work.

They're annuals, so it's not permanent, just an experiment to see how it looks.