Just as we leave tomorrow for a week in California -- my first trip since January -- some things are blooming in the garden, despite the constant hot afternoons and the lack of any rain.
The Sapphire Indigo bush clematis has rallied remarkably since I fertilized it weeks ago and put the taller tuteur in the pot for more structure. It has deep purple blooms all over, about to open fully.
The spindly Mexican sage is also getting ready to open up with bright scarlet flowers. It's still a small little plant and only now blooming late in the season, but it's coming along.
There's irrigation near the sage, but it doesn't do much.
The other pretty bloomer now late in August is the Rose of Sharon. It's much better looking than last year.
Still not densely flowered, but nice enough.
I don't have anyone coming to water the pots. I'll bring inside the smaller containers I want to keep, but the few potted annuals I have will get tossed.
It's late in the year and I won't replace them. The tickseed in the white bowl will go, and I'll plant a nice big blue lobelia there next year, or maybe zinnias, or both.
But Angelina sedums awaiting planting and the potted red salvia and other things will spend the week in the bathtub. The two biggest pots, the bush clematis and the pink knockout rose, will be unwatered. I'll soak both the morning we leave.
And maybe it will rain while we are gone? 😎