I’m showing lots of color on this first Saturday in July. My six flower selections range from A to Z, but I’m showing my vincas out of order in the top photo, because they make a better feature presentation.

Vinca minor is an annual, also known as common periwinkle. I planted most of the flat in containers this year, but I’m also using some as fillers in the flower beds. They’re doing great and loving all the rain we’re getting.

I’m trying angelonia for the first time. They’re a tropical plant that thrives in the heat and are supposed to attract pollinators. Part of the fun of the garden is seeing bees and butterflies enjoying the fruit of my labor. I understand these flowers are also called summer snapdragons.

I’ve had old fashioned four o’clocks returning faithfully for many years. I remember these from my childhood and still enjoy their evening opening. They just don’t have the scent I remember, so I suppose they’re a newer variety. I’d love to find some seeds from an old downtown garden.

One goal for this year was to add several types of phlox to the flower beds. I found two new perennial varieties, but I’ve also included this white phlox, which I think may be an annual. I guess I’ll find out next spring when it either does or doesn’t return.

In the rose bed in the center of the yard, I added salvia to the white phlox. I thought the pink roses with white flowers around the bottom would make a nice display. Unfortunately, it’s not as showy as I envisioned, but maybe as summer continues, it will get better.

This photo collage shows my blue salvia on one side and the white salvia on the other.

And bringing up the end of the alphabet are the zinnias. I lost about eight transplants in another location, but I’m not sure why. I don’t usually kill that many plants at once. These three seem to be doing okay. I know zinnias are supposed to be easy to grow, but mine seem to struggle.

So, angelonia to zinnia and many more things I didn’t include in my six are giving me much pleasure this summer. The extreme heat has bowed out for a bit, and daily scattered thunderstorms are keeping things well watered.

And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Isaiah 58:11 ESV

Shalom, Dottie