It really got hot this afternoon. It is almost 7:00 p.m and it is 86 degrees outside. I turned on my air conditioner today for the first time this year. The plants in the garden are doing very well though. I think that the mild spring weather has helped their roots to become established and they now are able to put on a beautiful flower show! Even the begonias and Victoria Blue salvias (see picture) that are in the large bed are larger than they usually are at this time.

Last night, I worked in the garden for several hours. Saturday, I purchased small pots of All Stars annuals and planted two containers that I have in the bricked hosta garden. I put the same plants in each of the containers--Sun Coleus, Lysimachia "Aurea", and Caladium. The Lysimachia "Aurea" is described as gold, coin-shaped, trailling foliage with bright yellow flowers from May through June (part sun to part shade). The Caladium is described as having arrowhead shaped leaves that have dark green veins (shade). The Lysimachia is cold-tolerant to zone 4 and the Caladium tuber can be dug up and saved over the winter. The Sun Coleus is described as having unique, puckered and scalloped leaves that are elaborately crested and intricately cut. I planted one of each of them in each of the pots. I don't like to overcrowd the plants when they are becoming established.

I also potted New Guinea impatiens in the two pots that are in the brick bed on the side of the front yard and the two pots behind the bird statue in the large back bed. I placed two Celebration Pinks and one Icy Blue in the pots in the front yard. I put one Icy Blue in each of the pots in the back yard. The New Guinea Celebrette "Icy Blue" (part sun to shade) is described as having soft blue flowers that bloom early and continuously right through summer. Its super mounding habit and dark green foliage compliment well with the large, bright flowers. The New Guinea Impatiens "Celebration Pink" (part shade to full shade) is described as having candy-pink blossoms with well-branched stems and dark green foliage.

I have finally been able to plant the green beans and the zucchini. I placed the green beans in the front of the tomato bed. I also put one zucchini in the back of the tomato bed but the other four are in the adjacent bed at the side of the house. All of the other vegetables are growing like crazy. Some of the tomatoes (either the 4th of July or the Sun Gold) have blossoms and small fruits. The Yukon Gold potatoes are almost two feet out of the containers. We weren't able to find any bamboo stakes that were the correct size so we decided to cage some of the plants and stake others. The hot peppers are still small but the new leaves are turning a bright green. We did get wood stakes at Lowe's for the pepper plants that were 3 feet tall. The tomato bed is mulched with cedar chips and the pepper bed is mulched with cocoa hulls. Newspapers are layed under the mulches and so far they have been weed free.

The Jackmanii clematis has been blooming. It looks very stunning.

The Stella d'Oro daylillies are now in full bloom. I took another picture of them because they look so different from the one in the previous post.