I get so excited to see this thread each month! Pixie Lou, your white lilies are stunning! I really like the campanula against the yellow lilies, too. Your pPrincess Feather looks great! My amaranthus are puny and sickly looking :( Claire, I have an orange clivia given to me by a friend; I had no idea what it was until I saw your picture. Your roses are gorgeous! I've made up my mind that I don't have enough roses in my yard after seeing yours. Molie, I love that Victorian Lace daylily; and the leptinella....so interesting. I've never seen that one before. Coconut Lime echinacea is going on my 'wanted' list; so pretty! spedigree, your veggie patch is so cute! I love seeing everyone's monarda, I've wanted some for years and I just don't know why I haven't planted any yet! As usual, I feel like my garden is behind everyone else's. I'm very glad I planted these bachelor's buttons in my zinnia bed because the zinnias are really under performing this year: Envy was a new zinnia for me this year, and I really love the color: I'm trying out these zinnias to see if the red is the 'right' red for my front yard: I started these ageratum from seed, but they were supposed to be Blue Horizon and they are not: I started these ageratum from seed as well, from a different seed company. They actually are Blue Horizon: A baby Quickfire hydrangea with Shasta daisy in the background: My first sunflower bloom of the season: And these never disappoint when all else fails in the garden. NOt sure exactly what they are...they are divisions from my late father's property:

David...I knew that ladder looked familiar. :-) My DD went through a phase when she was fascinated with infomercials and everytime you would go by the TV she would have another one on. I remember seeing one of those ladders and always wanting one. I bet you get a lot of use out of it! I just went over and looked at what Amazon is advertising and the only 17ft ladder they had was the one linked below. So you are happy with yours? Do you find that you use it a lot, or is it one of those things that you keep doing things the way you have always done them and forget to use it? I think the use on the stairs is neat and being able to use it like a scaffold too. pm2 Here is a link that might be useful: Werner 17ft ladder

Nice shots. Like a pig in mud, a dust bath makes birds happy. Thanks. tj

Nothing exotic here, just the stalwarts reappearing on schedule. Garden phlox in the Phlox Protection Zone. There's Grenadine Dream, Wendy House, and Purple Kiss in there. These are all medium height phlox and bloom before the tall ones. The rambling rose in the background is fading. I saw a woodchuck a few weeks ago but it doesn't seem to have noticed the phlox, hopefully because of the fence and the soapwort. The woodchuck was eating birdseed on the ground which is fine with me - better to eat birdseed than phlox. The daylily Frans Hals is blooming in several locations, here next to a Bosnian pine and an American Revolution daylily (and a soapwort). An inherited No-ID daylily is blooming. and Corky is still opening. Hemerocallis 'Pardon Me' has been around for a while. And Hosta 'Blue Angel' is still blooming, getting bigger every year. I still have late daylilies in bud that won't bloom for a while yet. And late garden phlox (woodchuck-permitting). Lilies are in bud, waiting for whatever lilies wait for. Claire