August Update

Between the heat and the rain, the garden is growing well. Do you recall the dead zone in the center of the yard? Look at it now!

Thanks to Kelly Landscaping Management, the Bermuda is filling in nicely. The brown areas on either side of the island are some stubborn fescue that was doused with herbicide last week. There is more fescue scattered here and there, but it will be dealt with when the Bermuda goes dormant in the fall. [Click the photo to see it larger.]

I think I need to suggest to Jody that he check his mower's setting. The grass looks like oversized corduroy ribs.

I figured out what to put in place of the two Rose of Sharon bushes that died. A bottle tree! Unless the toxic ground contains something that will eat iron, it should survive very well. I bought the bottles as a set with the tree. It needs three more large bottles at the bottom and a small one on the very top.

The bottle tree can stay outside in all but freezing weather to add a flash of color to the island. 

Another area of the garden that is suffering a bit is the planter under the bird feeder. The marauding pigeons really are destructive, flying rats.

All three lavender plants started out the same size. Something is nibbling on one of them to the point that it is much smaller than the other two. And the blossoms disappear from the larger ones. If it's not the pigeons -- which I've seen pecking and scratching the plant -- it must be the rabbit I spotted a week or more ago. Haven't seen it since, but rabbits can be sneaky.

There were some purple flowers between the raggedy looking white ones. They disappeared completely. Pfft! Gone! Must have been especially tasty. Some plants are touted as being deer resistant. Would be nice to find some that are rabbit resistant.

On the positive side, a couple of volunteer impatiens plants have popped up.

Had no idea there were flowers in this mulched area. The appearance of this lovely pink impatiens is a pleasant surprise. Side note: I have the spray paint for Buddha, just haven't gotten around to doing it. On the agenda for this coming week.

Another impatiens appeared about 2/3 of the way to the back fence. No photo.

This paulownia is growing well, but not at all like the one that grew in our Missouri garden. The two that were planted behind the island got pulled up today. They were nothing but dead sticks. No sign of a root system. That mark the demise of all three plants from the Nursery Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken. *sigh*

The leaves on this paulownia uncurl as they grow, and they are slightly fuzzy. The tree seems to want to form branches, too, unlike the Missouri tree, which send up a straight, single trunk with  branches farther up, and had very smooth leaves. This one has two branches in a Y-shape, and the trunk is very short, even stubby. Have no idea what it will be when it grows up!

The hummingbird feeder is a very busy spot. I haven't taken a traffic count, but no matter when I look at it, one or more hummingbirds appear. There's plenty of nectar for all, but they spend a good deal of time and energy chasing away rivals. I think it is time to get a second feeder. I find myself cooking up batches of sugar & water nectar a couple times a week. They go through about 3/4 of a cup a day.

Can you imagine the size of the tummy of a creature the size of your thumb? Just think how many sips it takes to consume that much liquid? Amazing!

This feeder has a cup on top for water, meant to deter ants and other crawlies out of the goodies. Keeping it filled was a real chore until I got out the Lysol disinfectant spray and soaked the brace and fence with it. Haven't seen an ant since, and that was a couple months ago. Whatever it is in the spray that they find distasteful seems able to withstand our torrential rains.

With the heat and humidity, I find that I need to give the feeder a good cleaning each time I refill it, as black mold grows quickly. It gets a good scrubbing with an old toothbrush, especially around the yellow faux flowers at least every other day. 

Speaking of rain, the rain gauge registered four inches this past week. It was good to see the sun yesterday and today, but the humidity ... ugh.

The big news is that on Tuesday work will begin on the screened porch! Can't wait to be able to sit out there and enjoy the flowers and bird friends. Yes, even the pigeons. :)