What a strange gardening year it's been! My garden is a jungle. While I like tight plantings -- there's less to weed that way -- the usual paths between the perennials are blocked by plants that seem to be on steroids. They're just growing wild. Many are much taller than usual, reaching all over the place. I think they're drunk on rain.
I lost a big tree in the backyard this year and had fretted over whether to find new homes for plants that were growing in shade and now are in sun. Guess what? With all the rain, everything looks great, even the blue hosta and pulmonaria, which usually collapses in the heat. My fingers are crossed that they continue to do well so I don't have to dismantle a part of the garden that was just hitting its stride when the tree came down.
Some of my perennials, including daylilies and tall phlox, are three weeks ahead of where they normally are. My Joe Pye weed, which usually blooms after mid-August, already has big buds on it and looks like it will bloom this month.
If the plants are partying this year, so are the bugs. The Japanese beetles had a party on my climbing rose, and I went out one night to find an enormous tan-colored beetle sitting on a pot plant. I found a picture of this cool-looking fellow on the web -- it was a grapevine beetle, a big guy I've never seen in my yard before.
For a look, check this out:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/3139
And in the last week, the butterfly population in my yard has exploded. I've seen red admirals
(http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1772)
by the dozen, as well as monarchs and tiger swallowtails. It's a welcome change from recent years, when I've hardly seen any butterflies.
I also picked my first cherry tomatoes last week, which seems early to me.
How are things going in your garden?
