six on Saturday, 11 July 2020

1. I’ve signed a temporary peace agreement with the sunflower seed eating squirrels and the nectar drinking raccoon this week.  So, after sharing their profile photos below, I’ll offer a quick rundown of what is blooming throughout the garden.  Squirrel and raccoon thank The Propagator for providing the forum for making their food gathering skills known internationally, and they encourage readers to visit his site for links to other gardens.  They also remind followers of After Eden on email to click on the blue name of the post to view it online and see the featured image.

2. There are still several of these delicate little wildflowers, Ruellia caroliniensis, blooming in all parts of the garden.  Also called the Carolina wild petunia, it is a Southeastern US native.

3. Black-eyed Susans, or Rudbeckia hirta, are still going strong.  I’ve noticed that many are growing along the roadside near the house, so I think I’ll scatter some seeds across the road from me.  I’ll certainly have lots of seeds to gather.  As an aside, ever since my visit to Morocco in the spring of 2018 and to Andalusia in the winter of 2019, I’ve been enamored with Moroccan Fes blue and yellow in the garden, so I’m pleased with the reseeding of the Black-eyed Susans among the blue chairs and pots in the oval garden in front of the house.

4. Below is a photo of the hostas and heucheras in one of those four blue pots.  

5. The Knockout roses are coming into their second bloom.  While the buds are a deep red, quintessential rosebuds, the petals open much more loosely than I expected.

6. Finally the echinacea are beginning to bloom.

That is it for this week.  I’m waiting for Carolina lilies and Nikko blue hydrangeas to bloom.  It might be a few weeks, but I have lots of clean up and thinning out of overgrown beds to do in the meantime.  And lots of social distancing time to do them.  Stay safe and healthy everyone.