This Is What We've Been Striving For

Hello, everybody.
Is it almost July already?
Lately I'm making a concerted effort to replace my toiling and fussing with
simple contentment. I'm not going to bitch and moan over all of the imperfections.
They will always co-exist with the beauty.
Besides, if I don't enjoy the garden now, while it's in its prime, what's the point?

The weather here has been, on a scale of 1 to 10, a perfect 11.
We typically have outstanding summers here in the Pacific Northwest
but not until the middle of July. This year, summer has come early.
(Scratch that. The weather person just reminded
me that last year on this date it was 100 degrees.)
Needless to say nobody is complaining this year.

Rosa 'Purple Tiger.'
After I brought this plant home last summer,
it dawned on me that I've got somewhat of a fixation with variegated rose blossoms.
What's up with that?
My camera captures with accuracy the deep, raspberry purple.
Notably more purple than either the crimson
'Scentimental' and 'Fourth of July' growing happily in other garden borders.
Placing them too close would cause blindness or insantiy or both.

The pink-flowered 'Carpet Rose' has just begun strutting its stuff.
I planted it in a whiskey barrel due to its weeping, (okay, floppy) nature.

Zip, one of my two garden cats pretending to be shy but in reality a little miffed that I ignored his request for catnip. He knows where it is. He can help himself, but noooo!
I'm fairly certain the Hosta on the left is a young 'Great Expectations.'
Even in its juvenile state the leaves are BIG, chartreuse edged with green. Just a bunch of stuff lying around...
You can see just a sliver of the pond on the far right.

Looking through my rebar arbor.
I might have to borrow nestmaker's clever moniker:
"A recession trellis" only in this case, "A recession arbor."

'Teucrium majoricum or Fruity Germander
is somewhat tender so I protect it during the winter, just in case.
The flowers give off a fruity, musty scent.
A sedum vies for soil space.

The recession arbor is at the edge of the "south lawn."
On the left, among the throng is the lavender-blue 'Jolly Bee'
hardy Geranium. This is a division of the parent in its "third year leap."
The rosy pink mass on the right is my 'Mystery Rose' for lack of
a better or correct name. Beside it is a container of Heuchera 'Paris.'
The gold dome in the back is Lonicera nitida 'Baggesen's Gold.'

For years, this was my "problem border."
I just couldn't get it tweaked into a design that satisfied.
Today, it satisfies--a testament to the (few) merits of gardening OCD.

Hosta 'Sum and Substance.' I need to measure the width of the leaves.
A conservative estimate is, say nine inches.
What a stellar plant!
Its neighbors are Columbine Aquilegia vulgaris 'Woodside Strain'
Carex elata 'Bowle's Golden Sedge' (I think)
Persicaria 'Red Dragon' and the aforementioned, 'Jolly Bee.'
Oh and by the way, I've collected seed from the Columbine.
Seed exchange anybody? Darla and Linda?

I'm not sure who Sophie is but this is her rose.
David Austin says so.
I bought this from my rose propagator neighbor a few months ago.
So far, I couldn't be happier.

A mixed border at the north end of the garden.
On the far left is a green bench.
This is where the playhouse used to be.

Stachys monnieri 'Hummelo' or Purple Wood Betony.
Mexican Feather Grass (Nassella tenuissim) catches sunlight in the background.

Another shot of 'Lauren's Grape' poppy.
I'll be collecting seed from this beauty too!!

All the British garden authors seem to adore this plant.
So what's up with American plant providers?
Campanula lactiflora 'Loddon Anna'
graces my garden with luscious panicles of lavender
star shaped flowers. Deadheading prolongs bloomming time.
I can't understand why it's not more admired here in the states.

Campanula from afar. Mine has grown to about six feet tall but
I think there is something dead in my soil. A lot of my plants are on an above
average vertical quest these days.

Okay so allow me a little lamenting, please.
Leave it to me to end on a negative note.
Moles are vying for my sanity and winning.
Don't they know that my neighbor's yard has way better vittles?
Oh that's right. She's got maurading deer to contend with.
I'll take the moles.