Blooms July 2025/Bad News

 This July has been Agapanthus time.

Purchased as 'Martha Stewart', not sure it is.  'Martha' is described as "a deep cobalt blue" and this looks like purple to me: 

Not that it isn't a luscious purple, but it's not a deep cobalt blue as far as I can tell.  

'Atomic Bloom':

'Twister':

'Queen Mum', white blooms with just a touch of blueness to them.  It's the largest Agapanthus in the garden, both in plant size and in flower size.  

Perhaps August will be Dahlia time.  They are still just starting. 

The Dahlia That Is Not 'Marble Ball'

 

 The delightful Clematis 'Arabella' has sent up more flowers.  Coleus foliage in the background:

I dug up and re-potted a small 'Pink Gruss an Aachen' purchased a few years ago--it was struggling in the ground.  Too small as yet.  Potted, it's improved a lot, and produced five flower buds.  I pinched off all but one bud so the plant can devote more energy to growing.  Just wanted to make sure it really was PGAA.  It's tucked into a spot that gets just early morning sun for the summer.  

Yep, it is.  'Arabella' lurking behind. 

Another round of Hemerocallis starting.  Smaller than the late April/early May peak, but some choice blooms, like 'Sabine Bauer':

This one, name forgotten, with the dried flowers of Salvia apiana.  I was going to cut the Salvia stems off until noticing goldfinches eating the seeds.  Food for birds--so they'll remain until the birds are done with them.

 Having been very late in acidifying the Hydrangeas, the delay gave the mopheads a variety of colors:

 Did not acidify Hydrangea 'Shooting Stars'--wish I had--their centers will blue up nicely leaving each cluster surrounded by white "stars"

 Echeveria harmsii 'Ruby Slippers' is full of buds.  

Fescue 'Elijah Blue' with its flower stems gone dry and blonde:

Pelargonium sidoides flower, languorous amidst the white-powder foliage of Echeveria cante:

Crassula conjesta (maybe), cute, and tough.

 Tiny flowers.  Whatever pollinates them in their native South Africa must be tiny, too:

 Just as cute but nowhere as tough, Cuphea 'La Chiquita', a very dwarf version of C. hyssopifolia:

We've had some grey July mornings--lucky!  Even an hour or two of marine layer can keep the entire day a few degrees cooler than it otherwise might be.  The plants can look a little better for a little longer into summer.

Ah, there's the photo I've been wanting to get.  Many failed attempts over the past few weeks:

Morning grey helps:

 Some Amaryllis/Crinum hybrid.  It's not quite the same as Amaryllis belladonna

 

Now I will get this over with: some bad news.  Skip if you prefer. 

 

I've paid scant attention to blogs and blogging the past few months, struggling, as Boris needed much energy, attention, and care through what proved to be his last months.  Happy to give it, to give all we could.   Last Friday, we had to have Boris euthanized.  Suffering had not arrived but it was knocking on the door.  

 

We're heartsick.  The garden is a comfort.  Natasha is handling it better than we are.   She made her own goodbyes.  

Taking a nap together: 

Yesterday morning she stood looking at his empty bed. Then she sighed, shook herself, and looked up at me, in  cheerful anticipation of breakfast.   

Dogs.  Grief is the price we must pay for their joyful, loving, vivacious presence in our lives.  A price I'm willing to pay.   

Boris Blue, 2012-2025: