Season 6 Garden upsets!

Limelight Salvia Mexicana are GONE! (The ones against the fence. The ones on the right by the shed are still there.) I lost one last summer, it just couldn't take the heat. As for the rest, after re-evaluating that back fence area I realized that while I love the plant individually the overall effect was just a mass of green - you couldn't really see the flowers at all.

Plus it gives me an excuse to buy climbing roses! I got 3 Veilchenblau from the Antique Rose Emporium and we planted them against the back fence. Hopefully it will look like this:

Or this:

Sadly, my Passion Vine did not come back (at least not anywhere near the trellis hiding the AC unit) so I'm auditioning for replacements.

I also pulled up the Philippine Violets. They were a fine plant and I would use them again, I just didn't need any more dark foliage with lavender blooms in the back bed.

R.I.P Pachy

We left it out just one night last winter wrapped in a frost blanket, but that was enough to kill it.

Jason tried his best to save it by cutting back the dead mushy parts, but to no avail.

Lessons learned:

• Frost blankets suck
• Never plant something delicate in a pot you can't easily move

We also lost a couple of Bicolor iris. Last winter was harsh! We had lots of dead foliage that needed to be cut back on the remaining Bicolor Iris, and I'm crossing my fingers that the Bamboo Muhly come back.

I also lost the replacement Buddleia Ellen's Blue. I adore that plant but I give up.

My boys

Newton, Jungle Cat

Jason and tiny Ollie by the greenhouse

Greenhouse

Jason built us a greenhouse for the plants to overwinter!

He's handy.

Season 5: lessons learned

The Mediterranean-type plants really took the record-breaking heat in stride:

• Artemesia
• Bush Germander 'Azure'
• Lamb's Ear
• Catmint

And of course my antique roses and my iris performed beautifully, as they always do. I need more of those.

Next season I'm going to try to work on repetition and continuity. Hence, I pulled out the red Daylily. All that's left are the peach/pink ones (Jolyene Nichole and Barbara Mitchell).

Our backyard retreat

We love our patio.

After the hottest freakin' summer on record

...the garden doesn't look too bad! The lawn is pretty much dead, but the flower beds look pretty decent.