My pumpkins are not doing well, because I never got around to planting them. We had too much rain, when I had time to plant, then a heat wave that made me miserable, just being outside. I'll get a pumpkin at the orchard when I buy apples this year.

The neglected daylilies are soldiering on as usual, and my most favorite flower of the moment is a night-blooming primrose, which came up by the back door. I pruned it back early, but it's still huge. Every night, just before dark, it 'pops' into dozens of lemon-pepper scented blooms. It's magic!

Things were starting to become to dry, but it's raining as I type.

I am displeased by almost everything but the veggies. I have a very large amount of urns and hanging baskets everywhere. I'm embarrassed to say how many...maybe 75-90?? I do a lot of impatiens and I know they had the disease but the last two years mine have been spectacular. This year not so much. I lost a few to the mildew disease, others are just so-so and some are very nice. Begonias are spectacular and my coleus were all dug up by squirrels and chipmunks. We are very dry here and extremely hot and sunny for weeks now so not liking this summer.

Well, the plants were doing fairly well. Some better sited than others (note to self, don't listen to seed providers about Veronica. It will NOT do well with any amount of shade), but the moles killed so many things. Still trying to kill so many things. The Veronica out at the asphalt edge of the property, sun beating down and reflecting upwards mercilessly, in the worst soil, is flourishing. I adore it with the native glandularia canandensis. Which is another standout. I hear it's evergreen, but so far, it's bloomed like crazy, and cuttings are not languishing even in 95+ degree temps. I mean, I am pushing them hard and they are real troopers.

Veggie-wise I've only planted two tomato plants, and one banana? pepper plant. The tomatoes are doing well, the pepper is doing less well after something ate all of its leaves. I also have a third rescued, feral tomato plant that was growing from under a sandbag outside a hotel that is to be demolished, between where I park and where I work. I dug it up with a putty knife brought it home and planted it. At first it wasn't doing well, but seems to be starting to do better.

Flower-wise my wife has been buying and planting impatiens, and several other annuals, and a couple large hanging baskets of petunias, but she hasn't been attentive to watering them, so they've been looking tortured.

There are several coleus in a window box. My wife topped several of them on the advice of a friend. The pinched off tops she threw over the railing of the porch, and one of them took root there and seems to be doing fairly well.

My Better Bush tomatoes are loaded with tomatoes but none are ripe yet. Can't wait for a ripe tomato!

I planted some Firecracker Begonias in pots and they look awful. They are getting replaced as soon as I have a chance to buy something else. All the rest of the annual and perennial flowers are doing well. I just love them.

Weeds and wild grasses are doing fine - Other stuff, not as good. I lost one of my 2 rose plants. I have 2 hydrangea bushes and those have only one blossom each. These are the type that dies to the ground in winter and regrows in spring. One bush did not start blossoms until September last year and was forming blossom heads in late October when it should have been hardening off for winter. That one was a late starter this spring. I thought that I might have lost it, but it is now growing vigorously. However, others in the neighborhood with the old standard white blossom hydrangea are doing great.

I planted marigolds late this year - had a rotten spring - and these are now growing well and putting out glorious blossoms. I like these for border plants. The wildlife ignores them and they will bloom all summer until frost.

The irises have not put up blossom stems yet. It may be because these are new bulbs, self divided off parent plants from last year. The older bulbs are kaput.

Most plants are doing well. Bee Balm and big leaf mountain mint as well as some of the anise hyssops are doing very well. Most hosta, hibiscus and Mexican Sunflowers are just stalks. So is my black chokeberry. Dang deer!

I planted about 50 glads in my one garden near the road and none came up. But the ones I planted closer to the house did. So it wasn't the bulbs. I think the dang chipmunks ate them. Hope they didn't eat my daffodils. Oh well my husband took care of those little suckers. Planted carving pumpkins for the fist time this year. They are all over the place. I even got pumpkins growing. Now if I can keep the deer away from them! I have them planted across the road at the edge of our property and the neighbors field. Any one have any ideas to keep the deer away from my pumpkins until I can cut them off the vine and cure them closer to the house? I can't do a fence because the pumpkin patch is about 100 ft long and I don't want nothing permanent. Geeze always fighting something, the ticks, the deer, the groundhogs, the chipmunks, and now I am at war with the Japanese beetles.

functionthenlook, there are many sprays out there that are supposed to repel deer, but they have to be re-applied often and I'm not sure how effective they are. Now, don't laugh, but I know many people who swear by sending the men in the family out to pee around the plants they want to protect. Urine probably has to be re-applied often too, but most men don't seem to mind marking their territory. :-)

DaeninCal. LOL Only my husband here. He would think I was off my rocker if I told him to go up and pee on the pumpkins.

Haha DawnInCal. I did read about this in a book (The Humane Gardener, I think). My husband flat out refused. Not to mention I would have to get him a 6 pack of beer or something to cover our 5 acres...

Ha,Ha, you guys are too funny! functionthenlook, you should tell him to do that and then come back here and report his reaction.

I just asked him. I am surprised. He said yea he will. I guess guys do like to mark their territories. I could see it now, as soon as he would whip it out Miss Priss at the end of the road would be driving by. Yes officer I was peeing in public, but it was just to protect the pumpkins.

Doing beautifully are the bee balms, phlox, blue lobelia, honeysuckle; and the tree lilies (orienpets) just finished a spectacular display. In fact all the lilies did well (I have oriental, turks cap, daylilies etc). I've picked more blueberries than ever before. Got cherries from the Carmine Jewel bush for the first time also last month. But! The other fruit trees are all suffering, either from pest attacks or too much rain followed by too little. Nearly all the peaches dropped, the 3 or so remaining are deformed from something. The native plum had a couple of dozen fruit (second year fruiting) but has dropped more than half in the past week. The pears don't look good either, I think attacked by something. Japanese beetles have been heavy and are decimating the roses. What they don't eat the stinkbugs have. My French plum is struggling to survive, and my pixie crunch dwarf apple has yellowing leaves.

I have harvested one single yellow squash and one banana pepper so far!

Two of the three coneflower varieties that I splurged on last fall have not reappeared. Tomato Soup was one. Cheyenne Spirit is in its third year and still only blooms standard coneflower pink (it did have an apricot bloom when I bought it).

The mosquitos are thriving; they love the stand of bee balm (dozens of bees too, so I won't spray).

The bee balm is lovely as are the petunias.

Weeds are totally vigorous.

Veggies remain small...

Everything!

I’m very frustrated with the whiteflies here. My cantaloupe and honeydew almost died because of them. I tried many different methods: traps, washing the leaves, neem oil. Whiteflies never go away! Same with my tomatoes. The only thing that worked was my broccoli!

My radishes sprouted but never grew actual radishes, my lettuce wilted from the sun.

But what actually worked: Mint, Basil, Edible flowers, broccoli, and thyme.

Maybe next year!

An animal of some kind is taking random bites from my still green tomatoes!

Tell him to only treat the pumpkins after dark so no one can see - can't have him getting arrested!

As Dawn knows we had a terrible heatwave here, 115 in my back yard and blistering hot all over So. CA. It has been interesting to see what took the heat and what did not. I was surprised to see that the star jasmine which is in full sun all day did ok. Marigolds toughed it out pretty well too. Eugenia, Indian hawthorne, camellias got fried but will recover in time.

I'm not doing much because I basically have no yard here any more. Once I move, I hope to get back to it in a big way. Right now the only things I have that are doing good, are the waterlilies. I have been trying to get them divided, potted up and ready to go when the time comes.

Almost every single thing has done beautifully this year. Flowers have been exceptional...echinacea, daylilies, gaura, zinnias, salvia, etc.

All the veggies are doing well except the okra! It would be fine except in the spring, a raccoon (we presume) plucked almost every seedling, put them in a pile at the end of the row. I replanted but for some reason, most of the seeds didn’t germinate. So I don’t have many plants and some are way behind the original few that survived. So I have had to supplement my pitiful harvest with farmer’s market purchases.

We were on vacation when the dreaded June beetles hit, so some of my flowers look a bit ragged but otherwise are surviving. And I have to give up a bit of low hanging fruit to the possums and raccoons that raid the tomatoes all the time. They never bother the cherry tomatoes though.

Hostas and ferns are doing great in shade. Daylilies are toughing it out. I plant blooming annual vinca and it does great no matter the weather, but needs watering. Hydrangeas are doing great. As long as I water plants ever other day, everything is ok. Grass, however is another story, yellow and crispy 2 months early this year.

DawnInCal, just thought about your skinny deer when I looked out my door. Bad picture, but this one “hissed” at me when I opened the door. It really doesn’t look like it desperately needs a hosta. And so far even the grass is still green. Unusual for the middle of July.

Patty pan squash are taking off. First two grew fast and am giving them to my daughter tomorrow. The okra are starting too, not enough for a meal. Tons of tomatoes that are still green. Have one Delicata squash starting. My one poor melon plant is just starting to take off. Not sure it's going to do anything before the first freeze. It took forever to get it started.

Iris, I wonder if your doe might have a fawn stashed nearby? I've seen some strange behavior from does who were protecting their young including one who chased our two dogs all the way up our driveway one time. The poor dogs were terrified!

It's fawning season here from about mid-June to the first part of August and the does are rather edgy this time of year.

I saw a tiny fawn in my lawn at the End of May. Saw 2 big ones, still with spots, about 2 weeks ago. They are just all over the place. On the what is doing really well, I would like to add sweet shrub. It’s buzzing and smells so nice.