Transition

I believe we're at that point in the season where we're taking out more plant material than we're putting in. This is the front bed with bee balm ('Raspberry Wine'), phlox, Oriental lilies and allium.

Saturday: On mornings like this, it's all about the light

Clouds left over from the night's thundershowers depart about 6:30 a.m.

 The sun rises above the trees and throws its light across the vegetable garden. (Whoo-hoo, look at that corn growing!)

 Tiger lily buds drip with moisture.

 Phlox catches the light.

 Buds swell on the 'Casa Blanca' lilies.

 The light plays off all the moisture in the air. And off those big puffs of Arctic blue willow (center).

 Sea holly (eryngium) almost looks like an alien plant in this light.

Bee balm 'Raspberry Wine' snuggles with some lily buds.

Rudbeckia

Stand-ins

Until we get the real thing, these ducks will have to do. They're floating in one of our waterlily tubs. Those are glass bubbles floating along with them.

Slacker returns with Seventh Day July

Astrantia, with its papery blossoms, seems to me to be a much-underused perennial. 

So, yes, I've been slacking at the blog a little bit. Blame it on the mojitos. But here, finally, is the Seventh Day Project: July 2011. Take a peek into my world. Here or in the sidebar at right.

Silly dog sky

9:20 p.m.

Rushing into July

 Allium moly 'Jeannine' is a departure from the pinks and purples common in the Allium genus. She is sunny and dependable and gets better year after year.

The state may be shut down, but there's plenty going on at sillydoggarden. Once the rain and the wind let up earlier this week, the party kicked into high gear: Roses, peonies, lilacs, iris (bearded, flag, Siberian), martagon lilies, hardy geraniums, thyme. The many players really know how to rock!

I'm planting out the last of the annuals this weekend, and the vegetable garden is pretty much in -- we need to re-sow beans thanks to all the rain. The good news is that the drainpipe installed between the cold frame and one of the raised beds worked like a charm during last night's downpour.

Bearded iris in the back. On the left is the Nebraska Immigrant and on the right is the iris from Chicago.

'Brand's Magnificent' is one of several new peonies in the garden. Like other peonies, the flowers are showy, the foliage is handsome and the deer don't seem to like them.

The 'Miss Kim' lilacs are spectacular this year. And the fragrance will knock your socks off!

 And, here's a wider view of 'Jeannine.'