Dog days of summer

The heat is here with a vengeance. We had several days over 100 degrees this weekend and it felt like an oven outside. If not for the swimming pool, I would not have ventured outside at all. But I do some gardening in my swim trunks and when I get too hot, I dive right in the pool. Most of my work was in the veggie garden, pulling some weeds, harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers and peppers. I pulled up what was left of the beans. The deer had eaten the biggest part of them and I decided to pull the rest up and prepare the bed for some late season tomatoes.

 I made three batches of salsa this weekend, one on Friday, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Each batch makes 10 pint jars. I use the recipe from the Ball canning book for Fiesta Salsa but I add a tablespoon of chili powder and a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. I had a quart of tomatoes left over and put them up as well. I'll use them to make chili at some future date.


Here is the hydrangea after having been dead headed. I filled an entire wheelbarrow with faded blooms from just one bush. I expect to have a small rebloom on this bush later this summer.

These two still have the fading blooms on them. 

This is my angel wing begonia. These plants are easy to grow and easier to propagate.

Out in the gardens, the coreopsis is blooming.

This Diane hibiscus is having it's best year ever for me. For some reason the JBs are leaving it alone this year (relatively speaking of course). It has pure white blooms and is nice because it is sterile and won't self seed itself everywhere like some hibiscus will.

Here you see the Becky Shasta daisies blooming. I have these planted all around the house. My DW loves to bring these in to the house as cut flowers. They last a long time.

The black eyed susans have started to bloom as well.

And despite having been deadheaded twice this spring the mums have started to bloom. I plan on shearing these back after the bloom and maybe I'll get a fall bloom as well.

The Oriental lillies are blooming out front.

And the Lucifer crocosmia is blooming as well. The hummingbirds love this flower!

Here you can see the liatris (purple blooms) and the obedient plant (white blooms) and if you look closely you'll spot the crinum blooming in the back. 

 These are close ups of the Crinum lillies. I have three different varieties but I've long since lost the name tags for them.

I still have this one daylilly blooming. The deer have gotten the rest.

This is Plox David.

I have lots of Dahlias blooming as well.

And here is White Swan echinacea.

More echinacea.

Blooms forming on hydrangea paniculata.

Torenia in bloom.