This morning’s crew newly emerged from the front water feature.
It’s too hot to garden, too hot to write, too hot to think — basically too hot for anything but drinking iced drinks and moaning softly. Still, before the sun tops the trees on my eastern border, I drag myself out for a few quick photos. I figure if the daylilies and the animals are still making an effort, I must also. Thus, this homage to the newbies.
Water Witch
This one does like a bit of extra water, which is why I planted it at the base of the water feature.
Joan Senior
Joan Senior is a ruffled white beauty that stands up to the heat remarkably well.
Top Banana
This very tall daylily is blooming profusely without the benefit of any extra water from me. Amazing.
Hesperus
This elegant tall spider daylily is having a great year because I actually managed to weed around it. Small victories. Baby steps.
A volunteer cross
When I stop paying attention, most of the daylilies set seed. When I really stop paying attention (say, during prolonged heat waves), those seeds actually mature, fall to the ground, and germinate. Given the location of this volunteer cross, we are guessing its parents were Red Toy —
Red Toy
— and Brocaded Gown.
Brocaded Gown
A number of the other daylilies I’ve shown you previously are still pushing out blooms, but the flowers aren’t even lasting a full day, due to heat/drought stress.
The weather seers are promising dramatic relief by the weekend. Here’s hoping they get it right this time.
The Pokeweed intruding in my front garden is the favorite perch of the newly emerged froglets. Sometimes I guess it’s a good thing that my weeding tasks are postponed.
Stay cool, ya’ll.
Piedmont Gardener 
#1 by fiercebeagle on June 27, 2015 - 6:24 pm
What are your thoughts and feelings about pokeweed?
#2 by piedmontgardener on June 27, 2015 - 8:08 pm
Hi, Erin! I could write a blog post about pokeweed, but I’ll try to keep my reply relatively brief here. Pokeweed is native, and its berries are an important food source for native wildlife from an array of birds to raccoons, possums, and probably deer, for that matter. Plus, I think it’s a really attractive plant. In my sandy loam soil, it creates massive roots that go miles deep, and the stalks routinely grow 6 feet high. In my yard, I let pokeweed grow wherever I don’t think it will create long-term problems or overwhelm other smaller plants I’m trying to encourage. That’s why the one growing beside my front water feature needs to be removed. It will completely overpower everything else growing there. I don’t feel bad about pulling a few, because, especially on my floodplain, pokeweed has free reign to show off its magenta stems and deep purple berries.
HOWEVER, its berries are toxic to humans, and I don’t think it’s good for dogs either. Thus if small children routinely wandered my property, or if dogs wandered within reach of these plants, I’d probably feel obliged to eradicate it from my landscape.
I hope that answers your question. Thanks for stopping by!