Mosaic Workshop

Sunday we has a Mosaic China Birdbath class and had such a good time. Everyone did a great job and all the designs were very colorful. It was fun to watch everyone create and de-stress hammering on plates to break them. 

 The proud artists!

A Pretty Summer Day

Tall, spikey flowers are lovely in a perennial garden and Lythrum and Agastache are no exception. Lythrum likes some moisture and Agastache likes it dry so as always there is a plant for every garden situation.
We are amazed at the number of people still planting even in the heat. The crew at Blue Moon all garden and we are constantly bringing things home to plant. We laugh and say we must be crazy to stand outside in the heat all day and still have enthusiam for gardening. The flower beds here are really pretty right now so they really does inspire us.                   
                                                        

Freddy is our adolescent kitty who is sometimes sweet and more often fiesty. He likes to bite while he purrs.I thought these pictures depicted his sweet moment. He is a lot of fun although our older cat Iris doesn't care for him much. He bugs her constantly.

The Wildlife are Happy

 The heat is taking a bit of the fun out of gardening but the flowers that thrive remind us why we love it. Phlox paniculata is great to have for the show it puts on during the hottest part of summer. Butterflies enjoy the nectar and are seen flitting from flower to flower.  It is such an old fashioned southern plant. We have white also that adds a touch of cool to the flower bed.

Echinacea are in full bloom and we love all the cool new colors. Harvest Moon is kind of butterscotch in color and quite bright.

Love this reddish one called Twilight. It has shades of lavender in it too. They have inspired us to actually plant a few even though we are spending many hours each day watering.

What's one more thing to water when you already have the hose out?

Happy Coleus

The temperatures are hot, and you can certainly tell the plants that love it from those that don't. Coleus are happy plants as long as they get a consistent drink of water.
This one is named Sedona and it has a blend of pink, red and orange in each leaf. It's a really gorgeous color.

Big Red Judy has turned out to be a rich red that is not fading in the heat. Our climate gives it the true colorfast test.



We always like the look of chatreuse green foliage. This is Pineapple coleus and although it is an old variety it remains a good one. 

Basking in the heat

Summer has arrived here in East Texas. The temperatures are in the 90s every day and we have begun watering twice a day. Many plants wither in this extreme heat, but tropical hibiscus adores this weather.

The hibiscus above is named Seminole. The bright pink flowers glow in the sunlight. This has been my favorite this year.

We buy most of our tropicals from a local grower in Quitman. He does gorgeous, large pots with 3 or 4 varieties of hibiscus all mixed together. This pot has three different colors blooming today: bright orange, vibrant red and cool white.

Each flower lasts only one day, but healthy plants produce blooms day after day. Let your hibiscus get slightly dry but not wilted before you water it and fertilize regularly. It will reward you with showy flowers all summer and fall.