Hot, Hot, Hot!

This is about all I have been doing in the garden the past few days--lots of watering.  It has been really, really hot this week, reaching 100 steamy degrees yesterday. I have been busy getting ready for the garden tour, so I have been going out at 7 am and working a few hours until I can't stand it anymore. I took off a few days from work, so I would have plenty of time to get ready. Basically I am watering and deadheading. I don't have too many weeds, because I believe in the plant closely method, so that there isn't room for weeds to grow. I am gradually pulling larkspur (and throwing the seed back into the garden, of course), although I am leaving whatever is still blooming.  I have also pulled up the last of the daffodil and bulb foliage.

A lot of things are in bloom, thankfully,  mostly purple coneflowers, daisies, daylilies, hostas, pink and yellow yarrows, snapdragons,  salvia, pink and yellow coreopsis,  lavenders, and I am excited because my phlox is just beginning to bloom. So while I was worried that nothing would be blooming, it seems like there will be plenty of color in the garden this weekend. On Saturday, there is a Pre-Tour for all the participants, where we go around and look at each other's gardens. I will be glad when this is over, so that I can relax and stop fretting about the garden!

Phlox 'Miss Lingard'

And as I am writing this, there is a big fat cardinal splashing in the birdbath--I have been trying like crazy to get a picture, but so far no luck.

Phlox beginning to bloom