A look around the garden

I thought I'd take a little break from the roadtrip posts (still posting about Yellowstone when I get back to it) and show you what's going on in my garden this morning. Unlike the vacation shots which contain images that are a few weeks old, the images in today's post were shot just minutes ago.

I have to say that like most years, I'm quite happy with the way some parts of the garden look, but quite disappointed in others. Most of what I'm showing today though falls into the "happy" category I think.

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I'm mainly focusing on the deck and patio area, with a little peek at what's visible from the end of the driveway -- like the cannas pictured above.

I'm going to start with the most questionable of the photos -- it's a bit distorted from stitching the three photos together:

To me, shots like this are good because they give you a frame of reference -- just seeing close-up shots of plants doesn't give you a sense of the whole -- but they're also bad because things seem to just merge together and sort of miss details.

(Ignore the pile of dead vinca on the stairway landing that I've been meaning to move for a week. Sometimes I like to trample misbehaving plants after pulling them to teach the remaining specimens a lesson. It doesn't seem to work.)

Here's the left part of the above shot:

The Rudbeckia triloba (brown-eyed Susan) that are everywhere in my yard are so welcome at this time of year. What impact!

And here's the area as seen from up on the deck:

I wish I had the patience to show you each of these plants up-close, but it's not going to happen today. Here's one of them that I really love right now though:

It's Colocasia 'Red-stem Rhubarb'. Isn't it wonderful?

Aha! That was a trick question because as nice and red as you think those stems are, they're nothing compared to this one:

Colocasia 'Sangria'. Last year this plant had a spider mite problem and didn't look happy. This year, it's been "perfect", and maybe my favorite Colocasia. I just wish I hadn't planted it in an ugly blue tub though.

Just love it!

As long as we're down here on the driveway, let's turn back to the south and the patio:

I have a tendency to let plants take over back here. There's a tomato here that I never pruned, and has vined all over the place. Ironically, the vines that should be hiding this little pergola got a late start and are not going as crazy as they usually do -- that may be a good thing though.

Speaking of vines, the Vigna caracalla ("corkscrew vine" or "corkscrew flower") took its time this year even though planted out fairly early, but is just starting to bloom:

It's going to be covered in these fragrant wonders soon too:

While I was away it decided that the sweet potato vine atop the post needed a hug...

...and now the two are inextricably linked.

The Maypop (Passiflora incarnata) vines are doing quite well, coming up everywhere this year. This one is actually quite well-behaved -- it's the one growing around the main pergola that is taking over.

I read that this plant spreads from its roots, but I didn't know it spreads quite as far as this. (I'll post about it sometime in the next couple of weeks -- remind me if you don't see anything by the end of the month please.)

A few more random sights from either the deck or the driveway, and that will wrap things up for today.

I have malabar spinach volunteers growing in almost-like-I-planned-it spots this year:

I still have too many little plants around, looking for a bigger pot or a spot in the ground:

Have to look at this again, as I like it so much:

Musa basjoo, such a nice contrast to the tiny bamboo leaves everywhere:

I waited years to grow this as I hate the shredded banana leaf look, and was certain that our summer storms would do a number on this plant whenever it started looking good. Funny that we haven't had more than a couple of those storms in the few years since I've planted this...

More triloba right under the deck:

I planted two types of vines on this trellis, and now it contains four or five:

Too bad the deer trim most of the lower leaves from them.

Most of my views of the garden since coming back from the trip have been while holding the productive end of the hose -- it hasn't rained on my garden for at least 5 weeks -- so it's nice to be able to just take a look around and see how things are doing.

How is your garden looking these days?

(I'll take a look at other parts of the garden soon too.)

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