Lavender and Rose of Sharon

Just as my foot was feeling more normal and I could do things outside in garden clogs comfortably, it got hot and smokey. Wildfires in the Sangre de Cristos sent smoke our way and 90+ afternoons beat down day after day. We've been staying inside all of August so far.

Usually August is the nice month, monsoon rains help and the late summer afternoons are warm but not so hot. Not this year.

When Greg was here at the end of July we got a brief 5 minute shower that wetted the patio, but we'd had nothing before that for weeks, and nothing since. The garden looks stressed.

But this morning was a little cooler and the smoke was not bad so I was able to go out and cut back the lavender in the front triangle. It has gotten big and one side of it is woody and dead, but the side facing the house is full.

I had plenty of lavender spikes after cutting, and I put them in a vase in the living room. I put little sachets in glass medicine vials in my bedroom and the guest room too.

Fragrant. Almost too much.

The rose of Sharon is blooming. My pruning helped with its shape. I tip pruned new growth in spring and I fertilized with tropical and hibiscus granules 5-4-6 in early summer. Those efforts have helped and it is better looking than last year but still not flowering as densely as I'd like.

It's okay, though. Healthy with lots of buds, just not covered in blooms the way it could be.