Floral Friday: July 14

Even though there are not many berries to savor, when the raspberries do produce, they are delicious. They are worth dealing with the sprawling, spiny shoots that line the driveway (and attack our cars, I mean, caress them). The berries do not even make it inside the house because I eat them right off the vine.

Raspberries are one of the true definitions of summer for me. The way the sun-warmed berries taste bring me right back to my childhood where I would often pick bowlfuls from my grandfather's garden. It was worth the scratches as we would wade through the bushes, in search of the red jewels.

Another sign of summer? Daylilies! My daylilies are really taking off this week in the front and back gardens! I collect daylilies in all colors with all varying characteristics.

 

Speaking of colorful blossoms, I brought my 'Social Butterfly' Hollywood Hibiscus* in over the winter and this week it began to bloom again. Nothing says the tropics in Connecticut like these hibiscus flowers!

And then, it gets better! After July 4, J. Berry Nursery sent me two more Hollywood Hibiscus plants to try out this year (this will be my third year growing the plant varieties in Zone 6b), and I knew the perfect spot for them! My two large glazed blue pots, paired with euphorbia and dichondra.

In one pot I have 'Hot Shot' (above), a bold red hibiscus flower, and in the other I have 'First to Flirt', which has large orange-pink blossoms.

The bright colors of the mandevilla and tall phlox also compliment the colorful, tropical feel in the garden along the front walkway.

In the veggie department, the 'Gladiator' tomatoes from Burpee** are also beginning to set fruit. I can't wait til they ripen! This variety has really taken off in the heat, and I've been trying to keep up with pruning the plant and keeping it free of suckers. They are growing in my raised beds along the driveway.

And, because I can't get enough of my hydrangea blossoms (after two years of lackluster, minimal and almost no blooms on my various shrubs), I am highlighting them again this week.

What's blooming in your garden this week? 

To see what was blooming in my garden last week, click here. 

* J. Berry Nursery has provided me with sample Hollywood Hibiscus plants to grow in my zone 6b garden.

** Burpee has provided me with sample tomato varieties to grow in my zone 6b garden.