My gardens this July are a study in neglect.  At the end of May, I was laid flat by the worst sinus infection I’ve ever had.  It eventually cleared up, but left me with the mysterious complication of incapacitating inflammation in my knees, feet, and hands! While I wait to secure an appointment with a rheumatologist to get the bottom of this problem,  I’ve been afforded some relief this week thanks to a course of Prednisone, and I was able to get out this morning to take some pictures.

Here is the rock garden:051The ferns, weeds, and wild daisies have run amok!

Here are two instances of Moonbeam Coreopsis struggling to show themselves:021017A larger patch of deeper yellow Threadleaf Coreopsis is a bit stronger, pushing its way out of the ferns:015The bright pink rose, desperately in need of dead-heading, provides a nice splash of color in the midst of the ferns:019As does the Balloon Flower:014

Over in the vegetable garden, which this year sits tomato and bean-free, the Clematis are having a later-than-usual bloom.  The darker flowers are ‘Nellie Moser’,  but I can’t remember the name of the pale blossoms:003007Underneath the kitchen window, the Monarda ‘Jacob Cline’ blooms profusely and attracts hummingbirds for me to watch while I do the dishes:008011Going around to the front corner of the house, here is a stand of self-seeded Cosmos which really need to be thinned out!023A poor pink Knockout rose languishes between the thick patch of Cosmos and the burgeoning Asiatic lilies. I love the colors in these lilies:027Finally, here is the Terrace Garden.  My wonderful husband, who is not a gardener, has been kind enough to pull the worst of the weeds, and I have to say, it looks better than I would have expected:053The self-seeded Cleome in Dogwood Corner are thick as thieves!  I’m not unhappy with the effect:036The deer so far have left this bed alone, and the perennial sunflowers, whose blooms fell victim last year, are growing tall and bright in back of the Russian Sage:058043Farther up the line, one spire of Obedient Plant ‘Crown Rose’ has opened, with many more to come:054The Obedient Plant may find itself ripped out once I am able to do such things again!  The three tiny plants I put in last spring have exploded and are doing their best to push out everything else.  It is TOO MUCH:055In spite of the neglect, the perennial bed at the upper end of the Terrace Garden is flourishing.  Many of the new plants I put in last summer and fall seem to have skipped right over the “creep” stage and gone straight to “leap’!  It is a happy kaleidoscope of bright colors!  047Moonbeam Coreopsis bloom in front of Pink Cotton Candy Stachys, a relative of Lamb’s Ear:050Shasta Daisy ‘Becky’ is enormous!029The bumblebees love Monarda ‘Pink Supreme’:031Here is Agastache Kudos ‘Coral’ on the back side of “Becky’.  Notice also the nearby Liatris, which the deer enjoyed last year, about to bloom:
045 This is Gaillardia ‘Arizona Sun’ next to Dianthus ‘Diana Blueberry’:049 And here is Balloon Flower ‘Sentimental Blue’ beside Coreopsis ‘Early Sunrise’:030I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour of my left-to-their-own-devices gardens this month! Many thanks go to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting this party.  Why not check out her site and visit some new bloggers today?