Midsummer garden chores - fresh cut hydrangea

Midsummer Garden Chores To Get Done!

Sometimes it seems that the summer arrives quickly and is gone before you can really stretch out and enjoy it. I cannot believe that it is already July and the weather is so hot and humid. But midsummer garden chores still need to get finished!

When do you do your garden chores? I usually try and get outside in the really early morning as soon as the sun is up. For me, that is the most pleasant time of the day. It is cooler at that time of day and even if it is still in the 70s, the humidity is less than it will be later in the day. Love hearing the birds start stirring and chirping early in the morning.

Plant rescues from clearance racks are included in Midsummer Garden Chores

Sometimes I’ll have a random plant to pot up, such as one found at Lowe’s clearance shelf. I have really found some great perennials there for just a few dollars. They just need some TLC and will have time to put down some deep roots so that you can be assured they will return next year even better than ever. As you can see in the video, I snagged a heuchera (Coral Bells) during one of my last Plant Hauls and it is doing well.  It was labeled Heuchera ‘Boysenberry’ – Indian Summer Series and I really love its color. Once I read about it at home, I was pleased that it says it does well in full sun. I have it in a hypertufa planter between the garage doors.

Adding Accent Plants

As an accent plant, I added some Sedum “Angelina” to the pot encircling this heuchera and it is the perfect color combination. As the Angelina does its own color changing, I think they will complement each other nicely.

Two of my other accent plants didn’t fare so well. Both small evergreen miniatures that I put in my front hypertufa troughs just slowly turned brown and died. Those usually have a guarantee with them but if you should still have a receipt to return it, then you are so much better organized than I am. Who knows where I put that receipt? It is probably in the drawer where I toss them, but I am not going through them all to find it. Wish I had gotten the little Blue Star Juniper x4 instead because it is doing so well! And all three others have gone belly up.

Replacing a dead plant - Garden chores

Hillside Garden Dry Creek Bed Added

If you remember my hillside boulder garden, this year we have added a dry creek bed of gravel. Well, really River Rocks purchased by the bag. It was just easier to handle that way. Maybe my Son-In-Law didn’t think it was too easy carrying about twenty bags of River Rock down that hill, but the alternative was purchasing it in bulk and then using a wheel barrow to transport. We planted some Sedum spectabile “Neon” trailing down the hill. I am hoping for an almost hedge-type edging in the creek bed eventually. But now I am just watering them well on non-rainy days to get them established. Several are already setting blossom clusters.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce\u002d\u002ddJyTfFY

I have also brought some large stones from my son’s home. He wanted rid of them but I wanted them, so he loaded them into the truck and so there was another job for my Son-In-Law. He appreciates getting a work-out toting those larger rocks for me, right J?  I can handle the smaller ones. These were necessary to create a pathway to the spigot over through the creek’s River Rock. The rest of them will be used just as accents. These are more like a “shelf” rock than the boulders in the rest of the hill.

Cut Hydrangea in a Pitcher

I wanted a pretty arrangement of cut flowers for the breakfast table, so I went out and cut some hydrangea blossoms. I cut the mopheads and brought them in to arrange. There must be an art to this cut flowers for hydrangea because they were really pretty at first. But by the time I cleaned up my mess and wiped the table off from the water droplets, they were getting wilty. Is there some trick here? Some sort of sorcery involved? They looked so sad in an hour that I threw them out at the end of the day. Sure thought they would last longer. Guess I will stay with the dried ones end of season. Any advice?

Well, thanks for reading. I still have more chores to do. Always some weeds to pull. So put on some sunscreen and let’s go out there and garden!

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