Garden report

I was embarrassed to show Mom my yard last weekend because everything was so withered and dry. We'd had three or four days of record-breaking heat and no time to water properly, but there've been a couple of good soaking rains since then and everything is lush and green again.

My daylilies and rose-of-Sharon are blooming already, along with kazillions of golden-yellow coreopsis. The pinks and clematis are just dropping their last petals and the sweet Williams are fading, but the lantanas and four o'clocks are just kicking in and the Shasta daisies are loaded with buds. Got hydrangeas going out front; the new pink ones are just about finished, but the Nikko blue just started.

This year I'm really enjoying ice plant, which I never tried before, and my spider flower, which has at least ten new flower heads on it; there were only three when I got it for Mother's Day.