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  1. I am done! D-O-N-E, done!!! Last Monday, I finally completed the project that has consumed me for the past six weeks–weeding and mulching the Terrace Garden that extends along the front of our property. This garden was last mulched (by a landscaper) in 2016. Then, for a variety of reasons, I had little time to devote to it for the next three summers. My oh my, did it suffer! Here are two small samples of what I had to deal with:
On the right are several small shoots of Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’. They required time careful, time-consuming, detail weeding. On the left you see a fine crop of Japanese Stilt Grass. There were also about half a dozen thistles and numerous dandelions. Great fun!
The area under the Kousa Dogwood featured a thriving field of mugwort. Delightful.

I am now proud to show you the results of all my work, most of which took place under conditions of extreme heat and swamp-like humidity! (I’m sure I’ve never sweat so profusely in all my life!) Trumpet fanfare, please!

The very center section of the Terrace Garden, with neatly weeded ‘Moonbeam’ Coreopsis, and not a thistle in sight!
They’re so much happier now that they don’t have to fight with the stilt grass!
The upper end of the Terrace Garden, including Becky’s Corner, named after Shasta Daisy ‘Becky’.
Dogwood Corner, and my politics.

By the way, this garden is 96 feet long and, except for the wide expanse in Dogwood Corner, 7 feet wide. That’s 672 square feet! (62.4 square meters for those of you who measure logically!) Nice, eh? I will pause here a moment and bask in the applause in which you are all undoubtedly engaging!

Now let me show you a few of the current highlights of this garden!

2. Hardy Hibiscus ‘Summerific Berrylicious’ survived an early season grazing from the neighborhood deer and, perhaps thanks to a generous shower of Deer-Off, is blooming to beat the band!

‘Summerific Berrylicious’ Hey, I didn’t name it!
I’ve taken more than a few pictures of this beauty, who also goes by the name Rose Mallow.

3. My Russian Sage suffered from late frost and snow on Mother’s Day weekend, after it had begun to send out tender new shoots. It’s grown very lanky and sparse this year. I was just happy to see that it did ultimately send out new growth.

Lanky Russian Sage
I enjoy how this one has grown over the wall!

4. Balloon Flower ‘Sentimental Blue’ and Obedient Plant ‘Crown Rose’: These two also suffered from the late cold weather, I believe. (I refuse to acknowledge that maybe they just couldn’t fight all the weeds, OK?) I used to have three Balloon Flowers at the lower end of Becky’s Corner, but now there’s just this one, whose early buds succumbed to the taste of some garden grazer:

Platycodon ‘Sentimental Blue’

And here is the very sad representation of the Obedient Plant this summer:

Physostegia virginiana ‘Crown Rose’

Usually by now, the Obedient Plant is just thick as thieves in the area just below Becky’s Corner. Instead, I have about a dozen individual shoots scattered about. And, forgive me for sounding like a broken record here, but even these poor souls were grazed upon in late spring! This is the first year anything has touched them or the Balloon Flowers.

5. The annual bed in Dogwood Corner is smaller than usual, due both to my own tardiness in shopping for annuals this year and the shortage of annuals available at nurseries because of the pandemic. Nonetheless, the vinca, blue salvia, and marigolds create a cheerful scene at this end of the garden!

Annuals in Dogwood Corner
All but one of the marigolds attacked by slugs in early July have recovered and are showing new growth! Thank you, Sluggo!

6. The Next Project: The Rock Garden! I started working on this garden, at the back of my house, early in the summer. Then I decided it was a bigger priority to pretty up the Terrace Garden, which, being along the edge of our road, gets more visibility. I decided to give myself a nice week off after finishing the Terrace Garden, and that means I need to resume work in the Rock Garden tomorrow! Happily, the weather seems to have changed for the better, and I hope to enjoy better conditions there for the next couple of weeks! My goal is to finish with it by September first.

There’s Autumn Joy Sedum hiding among the ferns here!
A friend suggested I just call this bed a fern bank and be done with it! Tempting!
I rather like the goldenrod! It might stay!

Here is the section of the Rock Garden I finished in early summer. I love the long season of color the Potentilla provides.

Thanks to The Propagator for hosting this weekly meme of six things happening in our gardens each week, and thank you for reading what turned out to be a much longer post than I anticipated! I wish you all a happy week in your gardens!