Puzzling Progress

Hydrangea 'Bloomstruck' with Lobelia erinus.  Does the color blue cool you off? 

I began moving Dahlias and other potted plants into empty places in the entry garden where they will be sitting on soil, surrounded by other plants.

Higher humidity, less heat:

The same treatment for the two recently purchased Leucadendron 'Ebony's:

Mixed in:

 In the pond garden, I also moved the potted Aechmea so it is visible again.  Its wide straps of foliage offer color and contrasting form to the multiple fine-textured plants surrounding it:

Now another task to accomplish:  pulling and potting up a rosette or two from the big potted Aechmea clump out front, to add to another empty place among the fine-textured plants.   Hopefully that will make the bed more interesting.  

The intimidating clump awaits.  It's big! 

Three sad little Dahlias remained unplaced.  I planted them in the raised bed recently emptied of sweet peas.  The hope is they can improve enough in size and health to flower next year.  I did this with the underachievers of last year.  This year those Dahlias are larger and preparing to flower.  

Good luck!  Please grow:

Dug up and binned the bloomed-out 'Joe Hoak' Agave and a Lantana that had spread around it and into one of the Leucospermums.  

    

Dymondia in the adjacent area needs to be removed because it is infested with Fescue.  There are clean patches of Dymondia in another area ready to be transplanted into the area once the Fescue is gone. 

Our wonderful rainy winter brought the Fescue back from the dead.  I wish it hadn't. 

On the other side of the Leucospermum, I removed a world-weary Sideritis.  That's now a nice spot for a smallish Agave.  Another task for another day.

 

 X marks the spot: 

Leucanthemum flowers are past peak.  I recalled putting Dahlia in empty spots is also for succession blooming when Leucanthemums finish flowering.

Pulling some of the very oldest Leucantheums (it was time) created places for annual Catharanthus.  Adjacent Leucanthemums can re-migrate back into the space  cleared of old roots, thereby renewing themselves next winter and spring.  (In theory anyway.)

 Catharanthus providing summer interest is no theory:

I also cut to the ground the Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' by the urn fountain: 

 The Cuphea grows rapidly in summer so it should look small but renewed in a month or two.  (There are potted spares just in case.)  There's another 'Vermillionaire' thriving and feeding hummingbirds about ten feet away.

 The more open-at-the-front-of-the-bed look is good, however--is it time for something lower-growing there? 

Meanwhile, ten feet away:

 'Vermillionaire's are feeding hummingbirds in every "room" of the garden except the back gully.  Must fix that.  Another spare small 'Vermillionaire' was languishing in deep shade, so I moved it to the gully near the new orange tree.

It's recovering from the move under that piece of shade cloth: 

Soon anyone sitting under the pergola, will have more hummingbirds to watch.  

 

Yet other small plant purchases right before serious heat  hits. I was running errands anyway and the garden center was right there.   Two Pentas, one lavender and one red, and a six pack of Coleus.  Pentas for the temporarily empty space by the chopped-to-the-ground 'Vermillionaire';  Coleus to add interest to a few shaded spots near the pond.   They are shaded, with the Sedum and Ageratum in sun, in the next photo. 

 

That works.  The Coleus just needs to grow a bit: 

A home-improvement store Agapanthus and several Catharanthus filled some of the space emptied by the Cuphea chop: 

There.  Those have been the past week's activities.  Now a sustained heat wave has arrived, so where the garden is concerned, emergency spot-watering is the focus and not much else.  It was a relief to get all the small plants into the soil.  Enough of seedlings for a while--oh, right--not entirely...

To end this post, any pretty pictures?

Clematis 'Jackmanii Superba':

 Hooray!  A ripe tomato!

Hemerocallis 'Janice Brown':

 Neighbor's Jacaranda:

'Belinda's Dream' rose and...what's that on the far left?!?

Dahlia  flower!

Hot where you are?   Are you watering the vulnerable and staying cool?