This Week in the Church Garden

This is one of six container gardens in front of church this year, with over-wintered mandevilla growing on trellises providing the "thriller" function. The grower took the six plants back in April to replant a second year in the containers. The fall-repotted mandevilla barely survived the lack of watering, an aphid infestation, and a severe foliage drop, but Harriet and I are proud that they survived to bloom another year. It was an experiment, probably one which will not be repeated next year!

The Kousa dogwood is still blooming as a lovely backdrop for the hot-hued geraniums and complementary petunias which are already going bonkers.

The pansies are still growing in the fountain garden, but the petunias, impatiens, alyssum, lobelia, begonias and ivy are filling in nicely--this garden is not available for underground sprinklers, so sometimes it suffers a bit in the summer heat. I am here at least once a week, but that is not enough and I always hope others notice and water this area as necessary.

Have you ever seen two patches of lilies this full? They are expanding like crazy. Frank wishes they were a brighter color, but they are blooming their butts off this year.

The perennial pink campanula has been invasive in places, but is filling in this corner of the garden, where it has historically been hard to keep annuals alive, due to hot sun and insufficient moisture. The roses have been here for years and are looking good this year.

Frank is a bit zany for zinnias and they are beginning to bloom. There has been a huge problem with powdery mildew the past few years but Frank thinks that he has the correct cultivars and the appropriate chemical antidotes this year--so far, so good. A few susceptible phlox have been removed from the gardens so they can no longer spread their leprous mildew to the zinnias. They were gorgeous, but flawed. Here the bright pink zinnia color echoes the petunia.

This year the circle garden around the coral burst crab tree has been planted in a tear-drop shape--another Frank favorite. It is a little slow to fill in this year, and with no mulch used, is not as beautiful yet as it probably will be in a few months. Begonias, dusty miller, and victoria blue salvia dominate here. In the background, a whole bunch of lilies are getting ready for a show. Perhaps I will sprinkle the teardrop with a little magic blue juice.

That's about it for This Week in the Church Garden. I will probably have another post in a month or two. Frank, along with a handful of volunteers, is hopeful that this will be the best year ever. The drumstick allium that I featured last year are about to open. There is a large astilbe patch, and daylilies about to bloom. We finally have a clematis that is beginning to climb the Rose of Sharon tree. Huge yellow African marigolds dominate by August, pairing well with the blue salvia that also is still developing. And Endless Summer hydrangeas are just beginning to develop color.