2026 CW29 - Mid Summer Surge
After a few weeks of relatively short updates, I finally have a major blog for you guys! This week has been incredibly productive, both from Sara and I as well as the plants! Settle in, as I expect this to be one of the most substantial blog posts yet!
BIG Picture
As you can tell from some of these pictures, it has been quite the overcast week in southern Alabama! This weather is not only great for many of our plants in the heat of summer, but it also makes for fantastic photography opportunities! Here you have a few of our Raised Beds in the foreground, with glimpses of Elephant Ears, Black Grass, and Red Knockout Roses in the background!
Looking back to the backyard, you can see the [relatively sparse] in ground Vegetable Garden as well as the remaining Raised Beds.
Teaser Be Gone! - A Mid-Summer Bed Renovation
As I teased in last week’s blog, Sara and I took a major leap to completely vacate our front flower beds in the middle of the growing season, with the promise of a worthy return.
We left off last week with the bed being cleared, raked flat, and the Supertunias being laid in their approximate arrangement. After carefully considering the best order of things to be installed in the freshly cleared beds, we decided to start by digging a linear trench for the Gladiolus bulbs to be repatriated. At approximately the midpoint of the beds depth wise, I dug a ~6 inch deep trench, appended it with Plant-Tone, and laid the Glads out evenly across the front of the house.
This process really gave me an appreciation for the incredible quantity of Gladiolus which we have amassed over the years. Between this row and our other clusters of Glads around the property, we almost certainly have several hundred bulbs. I really enjoyed this carefully laid out pattern of crisp green stalks!
Once the Gladiolus were planned out, they were planted into the trench! After that, the layout of the Supertunias was confirmed, the Proven Winner Petunias were planted, and the irrigation for the front beds’ foreground and midground plantings was replaced.
Next up was a new addition to the garden! I made a trip to a local wholesale nursery and collect a Truck Load of incredibly healthy-looking Wintergreen Boxwoods! Once these were installed as the background of the beds behind the hedge of Gladiolus, the beds were layered with fresh mulch courtesy of our recently fallen Water Oak in the back yard!
A Second Coming!
Spinning around in the front yard to face the street, we find the Chaste Tree preparing for its second show of the season! One of the reasons Sara and I love this plant so much is its ability to provide an early splash of color in the garden and come back in the heat of summer to do it again! We are starting to see a few of its purple blooms open now, but it will only get better in the coming weeks!
Crepe Myrtles Continue!
Throughout the property, the Crepe Myrtles of various colors continue to perform! This is one of our favorite deciduous trees in the garden, and the variety of colors from its blooms is delightful.
The Zinnsation Continues!
Speaking of continuing, the Zinnias are still putting out and incredible volume of colorful blooms despite the summer heat!
Thanks to the bountiful production of these persistent plants, Sara is able to collect and assemble fresh bouquets every week.
Fencing Frenzy!
Not to be outdone in the productivity department by the Zinnias, I have been hard at work this week in the afternoons progressing on the Fence Replacement where weeks ago an aging Water Oak decided it was time to replace the chain link with wood privacy fencing. We got the posts set in concrete and made a good start on installing the pickets! All in, I will have almost 10,000 screws sunk (pun intended) into this project!
Garden Newcomer!
This week Sara brought home a new tenant! Not one to shy away from bringing home a stray cat, Sara showed up with this Cat’s Whiskers plant (also called Java Tea). I have a weak spot for plants which are named in such a literal fashion, feeling like this is the phonetics of the garden world. This is a first for us in the Bosarge garden, and we look forward to seeing how it performs along the North Fence.
A Veggie Update
Taking a break from the ornamentals and the productivity, let’s check in on the edible sections of the garden!
This week’s harvest included some staples, such as Eggplants, Bell Peppers, and Jalapeño Peppers. Some of these will find themselves on the business end of a panicked preservation session, while others work their way into dinner throughout the week.
Along with the staples, this week also saw the harvest of a large amount of Basil (pesto inbound), as well as soon to be Cayenne Pepper and Loofah Gourd harvests!
Other upcoming harvests include more Loofah Gourds, Cucumbers, and Lemon Grass!
Beautiful Backyard Bliss
Around back we have lots of flowering updates! In the vining category, we have some vibrant cobalt blue Butterfly Pea blooms, sensationally large Moonflowers, and the Black-Eyed Susans continue to cover their trellis.
Getting back a little closer to the ground, we have this gorgeous green and red Caladium poking up through the English Ivy. Back in the raised beds, this Echinacea plant is at my favorite stage! I think the faded blooms and darkened spiky deadheads have a splendid, dramatic look!
Next up, in the tall and stalky category is the continuation of the Princess Flower blooms (an exciting new addition to the garden this year!). Then, alongside the garage, we have our first glimpses at an impending Ginger bloom for the season!
Pests and Pets!
As always, we close out the blog by looking at the various creepy crawlies and fur-babies around the garden!
For the creepy crawlies, we have two new entries this week! For starters, we found these alien-like perfect circles cut out of the leaves of our Madame Alfred rose. We don’t see this kind of damage often, but I suspect it is from a Leafcutter Bee. Next, Sara’s sharp eyes caught this well disguised Green Lynx Spider climbing the underside of a Red Knockout Rose bud.
Moving on to the fur babies, we have Yoda hanging out in the shade of some Pole Beans and Henry enjoying some freshly cut Centipede Grass.
