Summer is the time for gardens, even here in Texas. It’s hot, but mornings and evenings are lovely, if a bit sticky, and a shady garden is a welcoming place to spend some time. My back garden, in contrast with my sun-blasted front garden, is mostly shade. A few spots in the garden enjoy hours of sun and that’s where the back garden flower-power resides. June is in the rear window and it’s thoroughly July with its endless sunshine and no break from the heat, but a busy few weeks and poor blogging management means that this June post is late!

The northeast corner of my garden resides mostly in shade, only bits of dappled light reach this garden. The cheery chairs are comfy to rest in, provided the birds haven’t delivered too much poop upon the seats!

Easing out of the chairs, the pathway takes me to the pond and on to surrounding gardens.

We built the pond in 2008 and I’ve never regretted its addition to the garden.

I thought it would be a high maintenance addition, but a once-per-year cleaning is the only work involved, aside from adding regular water during the hottest time of year. The pond is the focal point of this back garden. Bubbling over limestone rocks from the small fall, lush green lilies and Pickerel Weed, Pontederia cordata, which shade fish and provide for pollinators, cooling, reflecting water, the fish that swim and the birds that bathe, in addition to the critters that visit during the night hours, all conspire to bring together the important qualities of a garden. It is both restful and alive.

Only one lily, ‘Colorado’, bloomed this day.

June is daylilies month. I don’t know the name or history of this variety; these particular ones descend from a few that my mother-in-law gave me years ago. Orange has never been a favorite color, but I adore these lilies: cheery, gaudy and eye-popping! Over time, I’ve added other plants that bloom orange and each have settled in as favorites. I guess that indicates, at least in a garden setting, orange is a favorite color!

I used to grow a patch of these lilies in the front garden; they sat in morning sun and afternoon shade and delivered seasonal orange crush. When that patch lost its afternoon shade, the poor lilies fried, so I moved most to the back garden pond area,

…and others to the opposite end of the back garden. Both areas receive about five hours of sun during the summer months, though at different times of the day.

Mexican Feathergrass, Nassella tenuissima, grow alongside the lilies in both areas and the two together–the silvery feathergrass and the lilies, with their Kelly-green grassy foliage, is a wining combination. The slender lily stems and brilliant pops of orange are a welcome sight every June and occasionally in late summer when there’s significant rain.

The pebbled path skirts the pond, then curves to this spot, where I stand, garden in front of me, limestone patio under my feet and enclosed catio at my back.

A few steps to my right and I have a good view of the central and largest area of my back garden. I focused this garden for autumn color and texture, so late spring and early summer mostly showcase foliage. The pink blooms are the mallow flowers, Rock Rose, Pavonia lasiopetala.

The musical Bewick’s Wren family who nested in a house at this spot in spring were still active with chick rearing in early June. This adult, meal for its chicks firmly held in beak, often perched on the metal hose stand, prior to taking the chicks’ meals to their house. I don’t know that the adults loved my presence, but they didn’t seem to mind me too much. They felt quite differently about the cats (and expressed themselves vociferously), who were safely stowed away in the catio!

Birds safe, cats entertained!

The pathway turns left from the catio, borders the main garden, and heads toward the back corner of our property where the honeybees live. I grow lots of Turk’s Cap, Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii, in both the front and back gardens. The wide leaves are lush all summer and crimson “caps” attract many kinds of pollinators, including the honeybees.

The pink blooms in this photo are Four O’Clocks, Mirabilis jalapa. A non-native, hardy perennial, these beauties open late in the day, closing by noon the next day, and attract a variety of pollinators, with particular benefit to the night time pollinators.

The central garden is book-ended by the pond (not visible) and the patio-to-beehive pathway. The back of this garden hosts several small, native trees: Roughleaf Dogwood, Cornus drummondii, Yaupon Holly, Ilix vomitoria, and Retama, Parkinsonia aculeata. The mix in the garden are native perennials with some evergreen, non-native Giant Liriope, Liriope muscari.

Many, if not most, of the plants I grow are pass-along plants, meaning that someone, at sometime, shared a seed, or cutting, or clump of plant with roots. As well, most, if not all of my plants are tough, requiring little care or irrigation. My biggest problem is that lots of my plants seed out with great gusto. Weeding is ongoing, and a tolerance for a certain level of serendipity is a must. My garden “style” is akin to an English cottage garden, so the tumble of foliage and flowers is appropriate, though I try to keep things in check. Or, so I tell myself…

On the other side of the pathway at the southwestern section of the garden, the summer blooms bask in afternoon sun.

Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, charm this garden, a worthy companion to the daylilies. This year, the coneflowers and daylilies flowered together–which is the goal–though often, one species blooms ahead of the other. The gardener works toward synchronicity, the garden plants do as they please.

Except for some rain this past weekend (Yay!), the dog days of summer have arrived. So what’s next for the garden? There will be blooms during the remainder of summer, quite a few, but many plants are settling in for their summer siesta: plenty of foliage, blooms resting. I’ll prune and shape plants that benefit in autumn from that effort, then relax and enjoy the blooming beasts of this hottest time of year.

The perennial garden is just that–perennial. There’s always something happening, always growth and change, always life renewing.