Great photos everyone! Donna...You listed a lot of roses. I have not had good luck with the three I tried this year. I got about 3 weeks of nice bloom and fragrance and then no more bloom and foliar problems the rest of the season. I'm ready to pull them! You are in a warmer area then I am, but I also thought it was Hot & Humid the way it gets here in the summer too. How are you doing with yours? How long a bloom season do they give you and have you had foliar problems? Dee...what did you mean by 'several types of phlox'? I only have the paniculata going now. My echinaceas aren't looking very good right now either. Flopping all over the place. I don't think we got enough sun this year. Plum Crazy Hibiscus just opened for the first time today and I am impressed with the gorgeous nine inch blooms. Bonnie...you are so lucky to be able to grow the western Agastaches. I love that look! Shapiro....what do you grow with your Phlox and do you stake them? My one and only 'Nora Leigh' is on the ground now. Cameron...what a beautiful garden you have! Love your fence too. :-) Thanks for posting your photos. Garnet...what a nice front bed. Don't you just love having enough plants to spread around? So the August blooms in that bed would be the Liatris, Perovskia and Rudbeckia? pm2

Here's some suggestions: Chitalpa - hybrid of Desert Willow and Catalpa (look at the flowering trees in the little park at the corner of Mineral Way and Mount Carmel. "Koelreoteria paniculata": Golden rain tree - Open branching deciduous tree 18 �25� tall. Compound lobed leaves, flower clusters in summer, fruit-like little brown lanterns in fall. Takes heat, cold, alkaline soil and is drought tolerant when established. Currently blooming around town with bright yellow flowers on the tips of the branches. Specimens can be seen near the apartments at NMT. Robinia neomexicana : New Mexico or rose locust - Deciduous large shrub to tree. Large clusters of pink or purple flowers in spring followed by fuzzy seed pods. Thorns on all stems and branches. Good windbreak, erosion control and wildlife plants. Full sun, any soil, drought tolerant when established Want's to be multi-stemmed, but can be controlled. Easy to spot when it's blooming. Sambucas nigra ssp. cerulea : Mexican elderberry - (formerly Sambucas mexicana) This 20� tree has thick wide spreading branches with pale-green compound leaves. White flower clusters in spring produce an edible blue black fruit. Drought tolerant when established, well drained soil, sun to part shade. Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii : Western soapberry - Desert tree ranging from 10-30� depending on water availability. Leaves are compound with 12 or more on a branch. Inconspicuous flowers in spring produce fruit that looks much like a garbanzo bean. Fruit poisonous if large quantities eaten. Full sun, any soil, drought tolerant.

Oh dear, just reading some of these posts is most disheartening. I am in Alberta and it has been non stop rain for the majority of the spring and summer. I wish I could just move the sprinkler out east! If it's any consolation, I can't do any gardening for the rain and the mosquitos. The dogs don't even want to go outside cause they are not water dogs, I raise shelties, and 7 wet shelties in the house is not a fun party.The basement is flooding constantly! Never mind the basement, the whole yard. Guess we just have to grin and bear it. Lets hope the weather trades places for the month of August! Under the apple tree July 22 in the dog run

Well we get Moose, deer, coyotes, bears, foxes, squirels and a few other critters in the yard every year. We also are on the path of the migrating birds...going south and back north.....they stop in my back yard and clean out the feeders and berries and they are off again. A few stick around like the nuthatches, chickidees, purple finches and some years the white crown sparrows. Oh and the Juncos do a wonderful job keeping the bug populations down in my gardens. Swallows nest on the house across the street every year.....they help with mosquito control. LOL. There are two kinds of hummingbirds that fight over the gardens all summer...those little buggers have a big attitude! We are also visited by 3 kinds of woodpeckers. There are many kinds of butterflys and bees, and the hummingbird moths. And ewwwwwww spiders...lots of spiders...did I say EEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! its more like EEEEEKKKKKKKSSSSSSS!!!! I'm sure there is more just can't think of them all. As far as bear safety.....get educated on the subject...don't take chances. Wear bear bells if you are berry picking or out in the woods. Pick fruit as soon as its ready...don't leave any laying around to draw them in. Make sure garbage is in a bear proof container or in a closed garage. We have a bear aware program here....I check my yard everytime I go out this time of year.....before I start to garden. Sierra