Late-Blooming Garden

More rain this morning. More time lazing around in bed.

For lack of anything better to write about, here's a look at how some things are doing in our garden. First, our cardoon is blooming (above), a relative of the artichoke. We have only one mature flower so far this year, which is a paltry crop for the cardoon. The plant itself doesn't look as vigorous. I wonder if it didn't get as much heat and warmth as it likes.

When I walked the dog yesterday morning it was 59º F (15º C) which seems crazy cold for August. By 2 p.m., just about the warmest time of the day, it was 64º F (17º C).

I bought a new dahlia! (Because seven just wasn't enough.) The variety is called "Souvenir d'Ete."

The Peruvian lily has bounced back after being rather brutally divided by Dave back in March. Both new plants survived and are blooming.
 

This campanula grew in a crack in the patio near the steps that lead up to the lawn. It's in a really bad place -- every time we run the garden hose out to the garden it gets flattened, and you can see where it's been broken off -- but it has persevered. Perhaps because we haven't had to use the hose, with all this rain, it's had time to flower.
 

The stargazer lilies, in a rare moment of sunshine.

And then there are a couple of things that are lagging, I think because of the chilly and damp weather. This is what my zinnias look like. I planted them months ago but so far we don't have flowers -- just these tiny little buds. I think this coming week is supposed to be warmer and sunnier, so I hope that gives them a chance to come into their own.

Likewise, the sunflower hasn't yet bloomed. It grew up in a pot on its own, perhaps deposited there by a bird, and Dave pulled it up thinking it was a weed. I saw him do it, and I put the seedling back in some soil in its own pot and this is what it's turned into. Hopefully we'll get a flower when the sun finally shows itself.

We also have a couple of wildflowers that have yet to bloom, and our red-hot pokers -- which are normally sky-high by this time of year -- are still just buds. I haven't seen any blossoms on the passionflower or the Japanese anemones, either. We're definitely running a bit behind!