Summer Color

The air is hot, the sun reflected off the pavement is blinding, and I am busy watering, but still, summer is a gorgeous time!

A jacaranda tree blooming across the street

My roses are in the middle of a second (and sometimes third) flush of bloom, but this time they are accompanied by summer-blooming perennials.

Feverfew with some penstemons in the background

Formal rose gardens with each bush placed at a distance from its neighbors with nothing in between do not excite me at all.

Break o'Day with some gladiolus foliage

My beds are very tightly planted, and I do not worry about air circulation: in my limited experience, roses are sick or healthy no matter how much air you give them (or how much fall cleanup you do, or how hard you prune them, etc.), so if a plant is sick, it simply goes out, to be replaced by something that likes my climate a little better.

Penstemon "Apple Blossom", geranium "Rozanne", salvia patens "Blue Angel". The roses in the background are Francis Dubreuil and Devoniensis

I surround my roses with perennials, other shrubs, groundcovers, vines: anything (except trees) that I can possibly fit into a tight space. I like to see lots of color.

Classic Woman

I also find that I don't weed nearly as much because there is not enough light for weeds to sprout.

Julia Child

Even though my plants grow into a wild tangle by summer's end, most of my perennials either die to the ground or are cut back hard in winter, so I still find it easy to lay down compost and mulch.

Francis Dubreuil and geranium "Rozanne"

It works well for me.

Penelope