Deadheading

Last night, once the temps started to go back down, the bees retired for the evening, I covered myself with bug spray (the mosquitoes were very active), and went out to work in the garden. It was time to start cutting back the dead flowers and tidy up my plants. This always helps to make it look nice and neat not to mention encourage new blossoms to form. It really is a form of weeding. I did a little of that as well as the crab grass is coming into its own.

Have you ever had the experience of planting something only to regret ever putting it in your garden? For me it is a variegated artemsia. At first it grew nice and slow. I was even lulled into transplanting some of it into another section of the garden to help fill in an empty spot. Well, let me tell you the stuff is out of control! It has taken over, and I am resorting to pulling the darn stuff up. I'm on a campaign to clean it out or at least get it corralled. I've also made the mistake of letting my garden phlox go to seed. Now it has sprung up everywhere. With the wet June we had a lot of it has mildew on it, not a pretty sight! Control freak that I am, I'm faced with quite a job ahead of me getting order to return.