At The End Of July, 2025

Dahlia time

A garden expert recently remarked tip pruning Dahlias as they emerge creates a shorter, bushier plant that produces more flowers.  As it happened, an unknown creature did that, unasked, to several of mine:

We'll see what that produces.   

Agapanthus time is waning, except for 'Storm Cloud', the favorite that saves itself for last, and 'Queen Mum', so huge she takes her time.  Because she can. 

'Storm Cloud': 

'Queen Mum':

 The Leucanthemums are also finishing up as August begins.  They were a joy this year.  All the same, white daisies with yellow centers, all different--some feathery, some puffy, some squat, some flop.  

Really regretting I did not sow the Cosmos and Zinnia seeds earlier in the year, but it appears we may get some flowers, fingers crossed, to make August less bleak.  

 July here was mild, most mornings providing a marine layer lasting long enough to keep max temperatures several degrees cooler than July often creates.  The nights also cooled down, making it easier to sleep.  

The big garden activity the past few days:  lightly limbing up the oak tree.  This is best done in July or August, the time when both oaks and their insect pests are least active.  

Two small limbs fill a 96 gallon green waste bin: 

With two oak limbs removed, the neighbor's 'Iceberg'  roses are now framed by Agaves below, the oak above:

Our native oaks host some one hundred different kinds of insect pests or insect residents, but insect-eating birds find oaks irresistible places to forage.  The one balances out the other, and all  can live.   

It was pleasant work, limbing up, since I could enjoy the tree's cool shade as I chopped.   

The other garden activity has been futzing with various camera settings, trying to get reasonable plant portraits in summer's intensely bright sunlight.  Success has varied. 

In this picture, for example, the Fuchsia flowers are over-exposed: 

With this setting, they look more like they look in person:

This one of 'Arabella' Clematis, though dark, shows accurate colors, at least on my screen:

This one too dark, but I like that the flowers in the lower left are in focus, with the rest of 'Indian Summer' Alstroemeria a background blur:

Plants blooming for the first and last time this year, the brief visits of special beauties.  My venerable lily bulb came back yet again--what a champ!  And better than ever, because last year  I read lily bulbs want fertilizer, so I gave it some.  Four flowers instead of one or two, and it's over knee height, double its usual.   

'Star Gazer', or something like:

 From a very different climate, Aloe dhufarenis:

...and Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy', not commonly grown in Southern California (that I know of), but which has done very well: 

Edibles, which I rarely mention, are ripening.  Tomatoes, of course.  This was a random seedling that came up.  Hey, homegrown tomatoes are always better than store bought, no matter what they are:

 The grapes are gorgeous!  The labor of caging them in was all for this:

Ditto on fruit from the little Fig tree, which I will somehow espalier.  I hope.

I want to thank all the kind commenters for their gracious thoughts on our loss of Boris.  He left an enormous void in our lives when we had to say goodbye. 

 Boris on the left, Natasha on the right, when they were youngsters:

I hope your summer in the garden is rewarding and joyful.