Elizabeth Lawrence's garden fares amazingly well through the long dry periods we call the "dog days of summer." (The dry spell started far too early this year... months before the "dogs days" usually begin.) The combination of this property's fast-draining soil and 5' elevation change means any much-appreciated rain or city water disappears astonishingly rapidly.
Even so, phlox blooms fluffy bunch after fluffy bunch, roses continue to open delicate cups of soft fragrance, Rudbeckia 'Henry Eihlers' still dazzles with spiky yellow stars of slender tube-shaped petals, doll's daisy (Boltonia asteroides) dances like a sliver of the milky way, and the ironweed's royal purple blooms sway in the slightest breeze. Swallowtail butterflies flit from puff to puff of the joe pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum) while checkered skippers light on blooms of lantana and verbena-on-a-stick (Verbena bonariensis). Every once in a while, the staccato chirp of a hummingbird is heard near any of several species of Salvia in the garden. And that's just a small list of blooms to be enjoyed - by all garden visitors!
Yours in Dirt,
Andrea