It's been painfully hot with daily downpours. DH's vegetable garden is loving it.

@Heruga (7a NJ) @cecily 7A Great color. I'm SE PA - the same weather - lots of rain - we needed it.

Self-sown Echinacea purpurea - probably 'Magnus' or 'Magnus Superba'

OMG this is too much pressure lol! I still have June photos that I'm trying to get around to posting haha!

Heruga and cecily, lovely photos. I LOVE that hydrangea Heruga! What a gorgeous bloom. Do you know what it is?

cecily, I don't think I've ever seen a lovelier veggie garden. This is what I picture my veggie garden will look like every season. Reality is quite a bit different lol. Yours is so neat and orderly and colorful, and everything is fenced and staked... wow, just wonderful.

I am puttering around outside today and one of the things on my list is to tie up tomato plants. The other day in the garage I dug out the rickety, bent, rusty, cheap, round supports that I said I was finally tossing because they don't work and I was finally going to open the wallet and buy some decent supports... and of course I haven't! So I have those which I also put a wooden stake through and try to keep the tomatoes somewhat upright. I also have a sad little six-pack of marigolds that have been barely clinging to life on my hot patio, waiting to be planted around the veggies, as well as some wintersown ones still in their little milk jug bottoms. So, yes, I'm sure by the end of the season my veggie garden will look just as great as yours haha!

I did finally get my wintersown zinnias planted out, although not near the veggies. They're so leggy and also today I noticed many were trampled by deer so hopefully a few will make it. It never ends, I guess!

:)

Dee

Diggerdee, thanks I think it was ’tuff stuff aha’.

OMG, that Tuff Stuff series haunts me lol! I fell in love with Tuff Stuff and was going to get one... and then saw Tiny Tuff Stuff.... and then saw Tuff Stuff Ah-ha! Ack! Too many choices lol! And now there's Tuff Stuff Top Fun. What's an indecisive person to do?? Add to that the fact that of course any of them could bloom with different colors than what is advertised, and I'm a mess. I think I just need to find room for all of them!

LOL thanks for letting me know. That's one more more small nudge towards buying one....

:)

Dee

So I don't have any photos of my garden in the day time, but I return home almost every night at dusk, and after this whole week having been completely taken with the beauty every evening, I attempted a few photos - and surprisingly my lousy phone didn't do that bad of a job.

Driving home I notice how everything white pops at this time of evening - even the trim and fascias of houses are a brilliant white in the dusk. I've never had a "white garden" and never really thought they were "all that", but over the years I have come to appreciate them more, and understand the specifics of their appeal. I may consider putting in a small one.

So here are a couple of photos from this evening. Nothing fancy, just a few shots but it was so lovely being out there in the cool evening, with a soft breeze, with a bright half moon and the fireflies flickering.... and the fireworks and firecrackers blasting, and my neighbor behind me playing his accordion lol... Ok so maybe THIS particular evening is not as peaceful as usual, but you have to take these lovely summer evenings however you can get them!

My poor heat-shriveled Ivory Queen hosta - she still looks beautiful to me!

:)

Dee

Heruga, That is a pretty Hydrangea and you grew it from cuttings?! Great job!

Cecily, what are those climbing structures in your husband’s vegetable garden and what is growing on them? They look nice and tall.

Raymond, I LOVE your echinacea! Just the kind of form and color that I enjoy. And…I cannot grow them because the rabbits keep eating mine. So I am enjoying yours. :-)

Dee…be sure to go back and put your June photos on the June thread. No pressure…lol.

I was out tying up tomato plants today too. I have good luck with nylon ties. I always struggle with the supports for the tomatoes. Commercial tomato cages are too small. I have what I consider a perfect solution. There is a YouTube video for making cages from a cattle panel, that I just love, and I have the cattle panels but I still haven’t gotten around to making them. So I am staking and using twine to wrap around and tie them into stakes. I use multiple stakes so I can allow some of the suckers to keep growing. This year I am hopeful that I will make them before the tomatoes I want to use them on grow any bigger.

So, you are working and not able to see your garden in the day time? Yes, the white does pop. Last year I had a lot of shriveled hostas from the heat. What I had left after the rabbits had a buffet. [g] Here is what my ‘June’ hosta looks like this year… they usually don’t touch ‘June’. The leaves are thicker? But this year it didn’t escape their attention. They keep coming back munching a little bit at a time. Like a snack bar.

Not much going on right now, lilies are about to open. This is all that is of interest...

Butterfly weed in shade between two roses.

This is how I used a coneflower I just bought...to keep it away from the rabbits it's in a large container, sitting on a milk crate so they can't reach it!

I had beautiful white, tall foxgloves last year, that had reseeded along the edge of my raised vegetable bed and they reseeded and I have a nice patch of seedlings, I'm hoping to lift and replant.

Self seeded echinacea riot

Trumpet lillies more than 5’ tall

Monarda and friends

Indianagardengirl - What varieties of Echinacea did you have that reseeded there? Very pretty photos!

I had the species, and a looooong time ago i bought one called Summer Sky. I just let things reseed here year after year, and this year I think It’s the prettiest ever. Here’s more of the patch, off to the left of previous photo.

Holy Echinaeca – the flowers look very good this year. I just saw the weather forecast (SE PA) and it is predicting about 10 days with rain so I’m posting these photos taken yesterday.

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA Thanks – I’m sorry to here about your rabbit damage - I have been extremely lucky with rabbits the last couple of years in some of my beds and I can’t figure out why exactly.

@indianagardengirl – I too have been blessed with some good self-sowing and there has been an abundance of rain lately which has been good.

@diggerdee zone 6 CT – Is your Echinacea a ‘White Swan’ – I’ve had mine a long time and they are lovely.

Yours are great too Raymond. I love the down-turned petals on the pink. I just bought White Swan but it doesn't look like I was expecting. I think I have it mixed up with one I ued to have called 'Fragrant Angel' that had large flowers with a prominent center and down turned petals. I love the white and pink together and IGGirl's pink and yellow together. Yours look like the petals turn down as it ages?

Nice to have enough rain, it makes a big difference.

Geranium wlassovianum 'Fay Anna'

‘Queen of Hearts’ Oakleaf Hydrangea – a bit of lime color before aging to pink.

These two older ‘Quick Fire’ Panicle Hydrangeas were transplanted in Oct 2024 to this shady location - survived the drought and winter in SE PA - they had a very light pruning in Mar 2025 and started flowering about 2 weeks ago – made me happy!

So beautiful everyone!!

Campanula Sarastro planted late last fall.

Sedum kamtschaticum

Digitalis Arctic Fox Rose

Aruncus dioicus

Rubus odoratus

Astilbe Bridal Veil

Astilbe Fanal

Astilbe Lollypop & White Wings

A couple more.

Spigelia marilandica planted late last fall. I am excited that it survived and seems to be doing well even though it is small.

Filipendula Red Umbrellas

Salvia Schneehugel

Tradescantia Concord Grape

Monarda Cambridge Scarlet

Aruncus aethusifolius not having the most floriferous year.

Astilbe straussenfeder

Opuntia

our lily patch. collected see d the last 4 years.

from behind the pond.

just finished cleaning pond .

lily netty' pride

a good end to good day

Buttered popcorn daylily

So many lovely pictures!

unknown lily

Phlox David, A Wee White Hydrangea, liatris, and a blueberry.

Coneflower, liatris and my first monarch of the season.

Phlox Jeana

Easy Does It Rose with Stokesia Peachies Pick

Rose Cream Veranda with Phlox Blue Paradise.

Swallowtail on the hyssop.

My peonies will be opening up soon

Bracteantha, H. Let's Dance Sky View, noid lacecap (any guesses?) that was existing, H. quercifolia Gatsby Moon, Canna Durban.

@Markay MD-Zone 7B, take a look at Black Beauty for your unknown lily.

@indianagardengirl close! But, a different Orienpet. I dug back in my purchase records and it is Scheherazade.

My favorite daylily - Hyperion

coneflower snuggled up to Clematis ”Abundance”. coneflower is 5 ’ tall because the clematis is watered weekly

clematis ”Abundance”

Maybe Little Quickfire

veronica Luke Skywalker

hydrangea querqfolia “Alice” low on blooms this year .

is a pretty sight when the winterberries ripen in back and polygonaum throws its red flowers

phlox carolina ”Minnie Pearl”

short, mildew free ; ealier than paniculatas

Quickfire

Is this Blue Billow?

lady in Red, i thought, but thats incorrect.

now i have no idea. do you?