What's blooming in my July Garden?

Join me for a stroll in my July garden. The agapanthus are blooming and I am so glad they have multiplied more this year. Agapanthus will grow in the sun or shade.The feathery plant around the bird bath is white yarrow that will soon bloom.

 I planted this limelight three years ago. It gets some afternoon sun and filtered morning light. For a number of years I hesitated planting one because I have so much shade. Many of my neighbors have beautiful ones in the sun that I pass everyday.  It has been hard to wait to have enough blooms that I didn't mind cutting them. This variety gets very large growing to about 8 feet tall and 6 feet wide. This year I was blessed with a lot of blooms. My last post showed an arrangement I made from the blossoms.

I love having fresh flowers to arrange.

The limelight is encircled by my four season topiaries that are are tucked among the hydrangeas and azaleas. 

This time of year there are many phases of blooms on the bushes. There are new blossoms, a little older ones and those that have turned green with pink tips. I cut the very brown ones off and that encourages new blooms.

This is a close up of the fall season. One of the blooms feels papery just the right texture for drying. 

I was surprised to capture this very tiny baby chameleon !

This year I have been plagued with insects eating my hostas, scale on boxwoods, azaleas and phlox. Also, white flies and a bug and a fly I can't identify on my hydrangeas. 

This bug seems to be everywhere. Does anyone know what it is? I found one "bug app" but there is a charge. Has anyone had success with a bug app? I've heard good things about the plant identification app. 

The white flies were very bad in late May and early June. They were very heavy on my gardenias and phlox. I haven't wanted to spray for insects with anything strong because I want to encourage pollinators. 

I haven't had as many butterflies this year and I don't understand why. They usually enjoy my phlox and pentas. For some reason my pentas haven't taken off this year. They are usually so much bigger. 

 I do know why my phlox is sparse. My sweet yard man that comes a few times a year does not know a weed from a flower... bless his heart! I turned my back for a minute and he had whacked down my phlox with a weed eater. They had multiplied this year and I was so pleased. They were almost ready to bloom, so needless to say I was disappointed, but he is so sweet to me I could not be upset with him. They would grow back. I fertilized them and they have grown. Maybe I'll have blossoms soon.  I intend to plant more phlox in another part of my garden so I will have blooms to enjoy in my view from the house and more blooms elsewhere to cut for arrangements. They will grow in the shade or sun which is great for me. 

So with all the white flies, mystery bugs and scale, I thought I should learn more about beneficial bugs. I knew that lady bugs and praying mantis were good bugs.  For several years, I have been curious about lady bugs and  finally got around to ordering a batch of them.  You can see one on the pic above close to the bottom. I released a portion of them for three days because there were so many in the order. However, I think they died. I only saw a few the following day. I plan to try this again and will release them immediately when the package arrives. The instructions say to release at dawn and dusk and that was a little inconvenient so I waited a few days and they were in the refrigerator. They were still alive when I released them but next time I won't wait and see it that helps. Beneficial bugs sound like the answer to my problem so I have more studying to do. Instead of thinking about bug solutions, it is more fun to show you several arrangements I did in different containers, with the fruit of my labors from my garden.

I put this on Instagram. Please join me there if you do not already.

For some reason after I finished this arrangement this old cotton doily my great grandmother made came to mind. I treasure this amazing art form that might  already be a thing of the past.

This is the same limelights in a different vase.

And... still another vase with the same flowers.  I enjoyed you joining me for a stroll through my July garden and viewing some of the arrangements I made from the flowers growing.  What's blooming in my garden? Since I have been gone for a week on a family vacation I fear weeds are the main thing growing since we have had so much rain!!! Have a great week friends. Happy gardening!🦋🐝👒🐞

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