Front Flowerbeds: Pockets of Pretty

 

With the unusually hot June and July we've had, the front flowerbeds have started dying off in some places. It's easy to tell which flowers are the more self-sufficient types!

I have tried to get out and water once or twice a week, but for some that hasn't been nearly enough.

So I have little pockets of pretty here and there.

Hey, I'll take it!

 

Mums started blooming early, and the coneflowers certainly don't mind the heat.

My potentilla is as tough as nails--don't let those diminutive dainty flowers fool you!

The purple bellflower, which hasn't done much for the last 2 years, finally perked up and started filling in its spot.

We've got a glimpse of phlox, a little bit of salvia, and those coneflowers in the background.

See, from this angle it's lovely! 

I'm not sure what's going on right here FRONT AND CENTER, but the dead corkscrew rush and dying peony are not what I want to see in the spotlight!

 

This is a strange angle, in an attempt to get a picture of my William Shakespeare rose blooming again.

This pocket is more interesting than pretty, with the coneflower heads and dried drumstick alliums.

This salvia, which I'm fairly certain is the 'Rose Queen' variety, is kind of a thug. However, it's so pretty and long-lasting, that for now I'm letting it do its thing.

The seedlings are easy to pull out come spring. 

Lamb's ears with dead columbine.

Just keeping it real.

Oooh, look!

We found another little pocket of pretty!

Burgundy guillardia in the front with a few more coneflowers in the back.

Heat? What heat?

[Water? What water?... wait--that's my cue!]

Despite the catmint blooms being mostly seedheads by now, the bees are still determinedly going about their business. Next year I will probably cut it back much sooner.

Ah yes. The 'Quickfire' Hydrangea.

A little loveliness all by itself.