It's the good, the bad, and the ugly in my yard too. Except I don't have that cute guy holding up my amaranthus! I have SOME powdery mildew as well. Isn't that NUTS? You nico and the salvia look good though.

One thing is that, until they fried, you did really well with the xmas amaranthus. I have never had good luck with those. I am going to try nasties next year too. Yours seem to be OK.

Love the hummer taking a little snack from your salvs. That just make you feel good. As rotten as we feel about this gardening year, those critters must be suffering too.

The answer - more winter sowing!

Bakemom: The poinsettia amaranthus didn't stand up well in any of the different areas in my yard. They don't seem to tolerate the heat and drought like the love lies bleeding. They're just such neat, weird plants. I have to try some new varieties of amaranthus next year.

Also growing instructions for nasties always recommend full sun, hot, dry, lean unfertile soil. Mine never last thru summer under those conditions. In my yard they do better with some fertilizer, water during dry weather, and some afternoon shade. I suspect the same would be true in Columbus.

Karen

Beautiful flowers. I'm glad you showed the picture of powdery mildew. I always wondered what it looked like. Thanks.

I don't get nasturtiums at all. Last year I direct sowed into the corners of my raised veggie beds. They got about 6hrs of sun and it rained every week with just the right amount of water. They barely bloomed at all. This year, I added one Alaska nasturtium to a shade container just for the foliage. It can't be getting more than 2hrs of sun a day and it is blooming it's head off and looking pretty good. I do enjoy them, so next year, I think I might try them in lots of different locations and see which area does best.

Right now, my zinnias have very little mildew, which is a pleasure. They went in late and we haven't had any rain and not as much humidity as usual. They just started blooming last week.

Gorgeous! I've had mildew also - It's been a tough summer - the heat and little rain. However, many many of your flowers are looking great. Thanks for sharing these photos.

In what part of Ohio do you live?

Still looking good, Karen.
That LLB is a beauty, but the stake is mucho handsome. :-)

I envy your hummingbird.
I don't know if we get them in the city. Anyhow, my garden is all overgrown, so if there is any, I wouldn't have not seen one.

Storygardener: I live in Cincinnati.

Pit: When I made my husband pose for that photo, he didn't look too bad considering he had just rolled out of bed. He made a better stake than this one which kept toppling over. The ground is so hard and dry that you just can't drive the stake far enough into the ground.
{{gwi:421458}}

All things considered with the lousy weather, your garden looks pretty good, Karen - at least to my eyes. I suppose you're used to it looking much better, but look at that nasty bed! And those Yvonne's salvias! Terrific! The toppled over LLB has an artistic flair to it.

We've had a weird summer here as well; we have had a couple of good rains - like the one that crippled the mass transit system last month, but mostly it's been hot, hot, hot or overcast with no sun. Lots of my stuff got fried, and what didn't get fried has mildew, mold or rust or something. I'm still waiting for a few things to bloom - but basically my garden will be put to bed early this year.

I know my situation up here on the 11th floor is in no way comparable to those of you ground-gardeners who have suffered through the drought and heat wave this summer, but I just want to put in my two-cents and show my appreciation of what you've accomplished despite it all.

PV

I agree with pvick, Karen - All things considered, the yard looks great... however, I had the same problem with my verb. bona. this year unlike the past two years and I got so disgusted with them, I pulled them. I am thinking twice about doing them again next year.

Those red salvias are unbelievable.

Carrie

Despite the rough year you have some nice plants! My zinnias are duds, I think I got one bloom per plant this year.
thanks for sharing!!!

Thank you for all the nice comments.

Carrie: That verbena bonariensis overwintered for me, though it's not supposed to be hardy here. I had no problem with it last year. I've been pulling mine, too, a little at a time. It's still just too hot out there to do much of anything, and the ground is so hard and dry. I just got home from work and it's 95 degrees, supposed to be 97 tomorrow. I'm going to have a lot of work to do out there once this heat breaks. I keep telling myself the temperature HAS to end soon. I guess the drought doesn't, though.

Karen