Blooms in heat

My husband gave me a huge bouquet of red roses today to celebrate our 42nd anniversary.  They are lovely to look at but have no scent.  I think it's a crime that the marvelous scents of roses have been bred out of the flowers.  Fortunately, I just have to walk out the front door of my house to be transported by that heady aroma. 

Here is a look at one of my roses in bloom:

It's a Chrysler Imperial.  There are three blossoms on my Mr. Lincoln, the branches stretching nearly 5 feet high, about eye level. The Knockout roses are full of blooms too.

Despite the incredible heat, the roses are blooming more this summer than in several past years.  Perhaps I've been more diligent about fertilizing and dead-heading the blooms.   The only disappointing factor is that the blooms don't last more than a day in the heat and humidity.  But neither do I.

I was reading another blog about growing roses and the writer recommended a climbing rose called Stormy Weather.  It's purple and strongly scented.  I will have to research that one to see if it will do well in this area.  The Nelson nursery specializes in growing roses on root stock for Florida so that's a place to start.

Keep cool, my friends. 

Summer doldrums, rain

My garden corner activities have slowly wound down as the temperatures have gone up, but fortunately, my major projects have been concluded.

The sidewalk extension is done and I am loving the extra space and ease of transition from yard to driveway.  I did find the tumbled glass I wanted to fill the spaces, in a lovely combination of white and peachy pink pieces.   Photos are below, taken from below the path, looking toward the house, and at top, looking toward the street.  The color combination is not visible, unfortunately. 

                   

The rains we have been experiencing have done wonders for the grass and all my plants.  The grass plugs I planted in the front yard are finally filling in the bare spots.  My rose garden, which had gone into rose hibernation with the high temperatures a month ago, have been restored and they are in full bloom again. (The photo below doesn't do them justice.) Even my magnolia in the front yard has erupted with new flowers. Nature is wonderful.

 

The only problem with the rain is that it has come in fierce downfalls that have overloaded the gutters, causing waterfalls over the edge and creating drainage issues.  I have spent several mornings restoring ground levels and adding splash blocks.  

The vegetable garden finally died out and I spent another morning pulling out dead plants and weeds.  I think I'm going to improve the ground with a heat treatment for the coming season.  The baking of the soil supposedly will kill weed seeds and roots as well as nematodes, which I've had problems with in the past.

That's the update for this month.