Tour My Garden | Lush Layers of Colorful Blooms! July 2025

It is now July and the garden has burst into a riot of color. So I thought that we'd go through and do the July garden tour. Hi it's Steph. Welcome back to my garden. We're going to start here in my patio bed and this one is really looking so beautiful right now. I have really packed the color in this bed over the years. And starting in this corner, I have a shrub that's actually quite colorful. This is the Proven Winners Mymonae Purple Effect Wigeola. And it is a dwarf or more compact Wigeola, getting to be about two to three feet tall and wide. And it blooms in the spring with a purple pink bell-shaped flower. But what I love about it is that even after it's done blooming, it has this beautiful variegated color of green and cream with pink on the tips. So it's a really beautiful color accent shrub. You can see that I added here a drift of Dusty Miller New Look that I started from seed. And they're a little bit slow to get going because I only just planted them about maybe three weeks ago. I wasn't sure what to do with them. They were extra plants that I had. And so I tuck them here. And I think as the season goes on, it's going to look really beautiful to have this silvery gray color in contrast to the green behind it, which is the Millennium Alliums. These are a clumping Allium, a perennial Allium that bloom in probably late summer, I would say. And it is gorgeous. It has this round bloom, a spherical bloom. It's ball-shaped and the pollinators absolutely love it. And because it's part of the onion family, the deer and rabbit stay away from them, which is great. And this beauty here is another shrub. It is the Proven Winners Firelight Tidbit. If you've been around for a while, you might recall that I planted these back in 2022. So this is season three. And so the old, the first year they sleep, the second year they creep and the third year they leap is sure true for this shrub here. This is their third year and they're looking absolutely stunning. Now the size on these is supposed to be two to three feet tall and wide. And I would say at year three, they are full grown and at that point. So they will likely continue to grow because they seem to be happy in this bed. And so I might have to prune them back quite a bit each year to size control them. But I love the way this drift has filled in. So when they first start blooming, they have a bit of a green color. Then they start going this beautiful cream before aging to shades of pink. So if you are looking for a more compact version of a panicle hydrangea, which can take more sun, this is actually a full sun area and these perform beautifully. Take a look at the Firelight Tidbit. I can link the video below where I added these to this bed. But what I did this year is something different. I added annuals to fill in the gaps between perennial blooms. And I'm absolutely loving it. This is not something I've done before, but I think I will be repeating this every year going forward, starting with these really beautiful Dahlias here. These are the Mystic Illusion Dahlias by Proven Winners. And what I love about them is that they have this really striking dark foliage. So it provides such a nice contrast between all of this green that I have in this bed. And while I'm not usually a fan of yellow flowers, I have come to really like them in the past season or two, especially this really light, soft yellow. So this one this year is surprising me how much I love it. And you can see it's filling in this gap here beautifully. And then I did a step-down thing where right below it, I added a drift of the Wedgwood Pink Angelonia. And Angelonia is a new-to-me annual. This is the first year that I've ever grown it, but I've always heard great things about it. It's supposed to be the summer snapdragon, where traditionally snapdragons are spring plants. This one goes non-stop all summer long. Now this one is also a Proven Winners plant, as is the one below it, which is the Whiteout Superbina verbena. Now I did notice recently that I think the bunny rabbits in the garden were starting to kind of go at it, because you can see there were some rigid cuts. And down low like this, I don't think it was deer. I'm pretty sure it was the rabbits. So I have sprayed some Invisible Fence or Liquid Fence deer and rabbit in hopes that they'll leave them alone and they will start to fill out again, because they looked beautiful just a couple of weeks ago with a ton of white blooms. And then I continued that drift of annuals here with the Surefire Begonia White. And you can see they have filled out quite a bit since our June garden tour and looking really pretty. But the perennial that always shows up for July is the Coneflower. And I have quite a few varieties in this bed looking really beautiful. And this here is the Double Scoop Raspberry. And this clump started from one small one-gallon pot and it is now huge. It actually got so large and tall that I had to provide a stake to keep it up because it was starting to flop forward. So that means it is probably time to divide it. And I'll be taking care of that this fall and spreading it around the garden because I really love it. And then right behind it, you can see that I have a bunch of Echinacea purpurea, or the traditional native coneflower. It is beautiful and I have quite a few because it self-seeds readily. In fact, I posted a video a couple of weeks ago about perennials in my garden that self-seed. And the wonderful thing about that is that as they drop seed and create new plants for you, they will fill out your garden beds with no extra effort on your part. And between the coneflowers, I have added a drift of this Signorita Rosalita Cleome by Proven Winners, which is also an annual. And I really love the way it kind of just weaves this soft purple-pink color through the center of this bed. Now another really pretty coneflower that I have here is this Beauty. This was also started from seed a few seasons ago. And this is the Green Twister Echinacea. When it first emerges, you can see that it has a bit more of a green color on the tips with pink in the center. And then as it ages, it starts to go mostly pink. But it is a really pretty and interesting Echinacea. And Nyphophila, or Red Hot Poker. Now you can see that this is not red at all. And traditionally, you will see these in hot colors like oranges and bright yellows and even some red. But this one here is actually called Lady Luck. And it's more of a chartreuse lime that kind of has this gradient or ombre effect to a cream color at the bottom. And believe it or not, I purchased this plant on Etsy several years ago, and I absolutely love it. I haven't yet to see this color at a garden center or nursery, and I think it's really beautiful and interesting. Now this here is a super tall Joe Pye Weed. Now this is a wonderful end of season or late season bloomer, probably in August, so towards the tail end of summer. It is a really striking plant, and because I have it planted in the center of the bed, I think it looks really nice. And right here in one of my front borders, I have some lilies that are getting ready to bloom. So lots of lilies at this point. And this one here is the Casablanca. And you can see that this grouping is full of buds, but I actually have some in bloom right behind me. While I was editing my garden tour, I noticed that my Casablanca lilies had opened up some more, and they're looking really pretty. They are also so fragrant and smells really lovely over here. And so I thought that I would take a little bit of footage to share with you what they look like as they continue to bloom. Okay, back to the tour. But this lily here is actually a different variety, and I'm not sure which it is. I planted it several years ago as a bulb, and this year it decided to show up and get pretty tall. It is a double lily. It's what they call the rose lily. You can see it doesn't have an exposed pollen stamen in the middle. And so I think that one is beautiful, and I wish that I could recall the name. I'm sure I have it somewhere in my records. But here is the Casablanca looking gorgeous. This is such a fragrant lily. It is a beautiful shade of bright white. You have to be careful when you brush up against it because you will get pollen on your clothing or on your hands. But it is so striking and gorgeous. Now it is pretty upright and sturdy this year. For the past couple of years, it's been a little bit hard to keep upright, and I've had to stake it. But this year, it's looking great, and I haven't staked at all, which is wonderful. And you can see right in front, I have a drift of an annual that I started from seed. This is about the third or fourth year that I've been growing it, and I love it. It is the Blue Horizon Ageratum. It's got this really gorgeous, kind of vibrant violet-purple color. Almost has a hint of blue to it. It is beautiful. And right behind, I have a hedge of Bobo hydrangeas. Now for some reason, the one on the end is really bloomed out at the moment, and the other ones are just coming into bloom now. I have a total of five in this area. And I have thought about moving them, because if I'm being honest, I think they get a little too much sun in this area, because after they're done blooming, they do tend to go a little bit brown and a little bit unsightly, and I don't prefer that. So I am thinking about a spot where I can move these, either this fall or before they break dormancy next spring. But my Olivia Rose Austin Rose is putting on its second flush of blooms and looking really pretty. So I actually went through and cut this back after it had its first June flush. And you can see how many petals, actually that one was at the end of its bloom, but so many petals on this beautiful rose, and it is so fragrant. This is my best performing English Rose. It's the one that gives me the least trouble. It's fairly healthy compared to some of my others, and it has a really pretty, light pale pink color. And moving up to my walkway border, there's a few things I want to show you, but first I want to stop here and take a look at this grass. Now this is an ornamental grass called the Carly Rose, and I really love how the plumes have a bit of a pink hint to them. I planted this here about, this is its third season, and last year it looked really great, but now you can see that it's getting a little bit shaded from this Hinoki Evergreen that's behind it. And what happens with ornamental grasses, if they don't get enough sun, is that they tend to flop. So this will have to get moved, and I'm going to use that as an opportunity to divide it and put it somewhere else in the garden, so that it will get more sun and be more upright. But the Carly Rose is a really pretty ornamental grass if you have a full sun spot. It gets to be about three to four feet tall and wide. And up my walkway, I typically have my Gomphrena, the Atomic Purple Gomphrena. And I do have it planted there. It's actually going a little bit slow this year, because our summer has been a little funny with weather. We'll get a couple of really hot heat waves, and then we'll get cool weather. So today is in the 70s. And Gomphrena really wants hot, dry weather to get going. So I feel like it's going to be a little bit later than years past, but in the meantime, I am trying another annual in my front border this year, right behind the Gomphrena, and it is the Suncredible Sunflowers. And they are gorgeous. Now these started as small four-inch pots, and just look how large it has gotten. It has really filled out a great amount in just a short time. So I am really impressed with these. They're so nice and upright. They have tons of blooms and buds on them, so I can only imagine how many more flowers this plant is going to have in the coming weeks. The bees love it, and it has been really low maintenance so far. All I've done is deadheaded it a couple of times, and I generally leave it alone. And right here, I have a conifer that is called a Boulevard Cypress. It's also flushed out with a bunch of new growth and looking really pretty. But right in front of it, I have a Candy Corn Spirea. And I really love this spirea for all of the color it provides. You can see it is now done blooming, but it is pushing out some new foliage, and the new foliage is red and really pretty. I will say that this shrub needs a part shade location, because it does really well here. But I have one in another border that gets a little too much sun, and it's starting to crisp up a bit. So I had waited a couple of seasons to see if it would acclimate, but it looks like I'm going to have to move it to a part shade location. Part shade, part sun. But something that surprised me this year was this Phlox. It actually self-seeded itself in this space. Several years ago, I used to have a shorter variety of a Coral Phlox here, and somehow this Pink Phlox showed up in its place, and it's a Tall Garden Phlox. And I really love the way that it's looking with the yellow Suncredible Sunflowers and the White Shasta Daisies. And what's great about it is that it showed up right when my roses, my Knockout Roses, have a lull. So they bloomed really well in June, end of May, into June, and now they're kind of recharging. I did deadhead them, cleaned them all up. You can see they're starting to bud up again. But it's actually the same exact pink as this Phlox. So just when I was missing the Double Pink Knockout Rose color, this Phlox showed up and gave me some of that pink. So now I am going to consider either finding some more Tall Garden Phlox in this color to add down the border, or dividing this to kind of sprinkle it along, because I really love that color. Some more Sunflowers. And you can see right below, I do have some Gomphrena that's a bit larger in size. It's getting a little more sun in this area, and so it will really fill out fast now that it's already starting to put on some size. And I can't wait to see my Drift of Gomphrena in front of the Sunflowers. I think it will be a really pretty combination. I will insert some footage of what this Gomphrena has looked like in years past. This is my fourth year growing it, and if you've been around the channel for a while, you already know my love for the Gomphrena. But if you're newer and wondering why I'm so excited about this underwhelming small plant at the moment, just wait and see. That footage will show you how large it gets by the end of the season. It cascades over my walkway and just looks stunning. And I think that purple Gomphrena color backed by this yellow Sunflower is going to be really beautiful, and I can't wait to see it all fill out together. And some of the Poppies that I started by sowing them in the snow, you can see that they have already bloomed, and they're now faded, and I just have some beautiful Poppy pods here. They're really large. As these dry out, you can crack them open, sprinkle all of those seeds, and you'll get more Poppies next year. But I really like this blue color and these pods, so I left them up for some visual interest. But right in this corner, I have a Hydrangea that I planted a couple of seasons back, so not last season, the one before, and this is the Proven Winners Tiny Quickfire. And it is a compact version of the Quickfire. It is gorgeous. Now it is pretty early blooming, so probably about the time that I did my June garden tour, it started to bloom and had these creamy white blooms, and you can see that now it is starting to get a hint of pink to them. But they're pretty compact. They're supposed to be only about two by two in size, and I really love the way it looks in this corner of the bed. Right behind it, I have a Hydrangea. This is the Luna, I'm sorry, a Hibiscus. This is the Luna Hibiscus. It is a white bloom. This typically blooms for me in August, so it's starting to get all of its buds, and it's going to be a really gorgeous dinner plate-sized white bloom with a red center. Really pretty. And some Rudbeckia that self-seeded itself, but I think it looks really pretty in this corner with the dark foliage of my Wine and Roses Wigeola, so I'm just going to leave it there. And it also looks really pretty with the white blooms of the Luna Hibiscus. So if they stick around long enough, we'll see these two in bloom together for the August garden tour. And my front porch pots are looking absolutely beautiful for the summer. These annuals have really filled out. You can see here, this one is gorgeous, and I definitely want to repeat this one. This is the Proven Winners Superbina Violet Ice, and it is gorgeous. I love this vibrant purple color. It looks really pretty with this compact glow sun patient. Right behind it, I actually have some Blueberry Swirl Phlox that I started from seed, also looking really pretty. And my friend Maureen had grown this, and what I loved about it was how it has so many different colors on the same phlox. You can see how it ages to this really light pale color, and I think it looks really pretty. And Angelonia, which again is a new-to-me annual this year, gorgeous, will grow every year going forward. I really love it. This one is called the Blue, Angel Face Blue, and it has just gone nonstop all season long and always has more blooms on it. But just look at the size of these planters right here. So beautiful. I actually have had to cut back the Sweet Potato Vine on that planter because it had gotten so aggressive and large that it was taking over the petunias. So now it is starting to flush out again, and next I have to go through and cut back my petunias. It's about that time at mid-season where you need to do a little bit of container maintenance. You can see I have a coleus. This is the Torchlight Coleus in the center. And this petunia is called the, I believe it's called Paradise Supertunia. It is gorgeous. Yes, it is. It's Supertunia Vista Paradise. And it really is so eye-catching and vibrant. So from the street, you really notice these planters, and they make a statement. And I'm really happy with the way they turned out this year. The color of the petunia picks up on the veining on this Torchlight Coleus, and then the dark fountain grass will transition this planter beautifully into fall. And then the sweet potato vine in the front adds a nice color of green contrast, which matches the veining on the outer edge of the coleus, the borders. So I really love the way this container combo turned out. Another beauty is the Double Vintage Coral Superbell. You can see how large this has gotten as well. There are two plants, four-inch pots, in each of these planters, and they are ginormous. So I do think that I could have gotten away with just one four-inch pot in each of these 12-inch planters. And coming over to this last front border, I have a drift of some of the Sahara Rudbeckia. Now this is the second year I've grown it. It's a little bit past its prime now and needs to be deadheaded, but this has been blooming for a few weeks now, and it is gorgeous. Now this was listed as an annual for our zone because we're in a 6b7a, but I had a couple of plants come back. This one here is a second-year plant. You can see how large it is, and it's a little bit taller than the others. But I liked it so much, and I wanted to make sure that I had more, that I started even more plants this year. In fact, I have so many in this corner that you can barely see that I have another tiny quickfire tucked right here that is also blooming. And my Rudbeckia is also in full bloom here in the front. I still have lots of buds to open up. This plant tends to go for a little while. This perennial will start blooming for me in July, and it'll head into the beginning of August. So I usually get about four weeks of blooms out of my Rudbeckia. This is the Goldstrom variety. And I think it contrasts so nicely with the Blue Fortune Agostashe. Now if you recall a few videos back, I had talked about how I went and replaced these. I actually showed it in a video when I went to the nursery to grab some more because the Blue Fortune Agostashe that I planted here a couple of seasons ago didn't return after winter this year. So I purchased two pots and I stuck them here to fill out the space because mine had gotten pretty large. So if I just planted one, it wouldn't be big enough. In fact, I think I could have even planted three, but it is really beautiful. Some phlox. Now this garden phlox was given to me by my sister-in-law. I really love the color. I'm not entirely sure what the variety is because it was a pass-along plant, but I'm suspect that it's the Gina variety. But let me know in the comments if you recognize it because I really like it. And recently I planted some Firefly Peach Sky Yarrow and it is starting to put on some more bloom buds and looking really pretty. In fact, it contrasts really nicely with the Balloon Flower that's right behind it. And this was one that also self-seeded itself here and has been growing and looking really pretty this season. But I really like the contrast of foliage on Yarrow because it has that ferny texture. I actually added another one right here. And that's all budded up as well. I have some asters that I thought would bloom a little bit later, but they did bloom earlier than I expected. And so I have to go through and deadhead them. This is called the Monge, I believe, aster. Here's that other Candy Corn Spirea that I mentioned gets a little bit too much sun. You can see that in some areas it has crisped up and it generally isn't as full as the other one. So I'm going to consider moving this somewhere in the backyard this fall and find something else to put in the front of the border. But I have this Yarrow here that you can see has bloomed a ton. It's getting a little more sun in this area and looking really gorgeous. Now the great thing about Yarrow blooms as well is that the blooms go through a color change. So they'll start off a really bright peach color here. Then they'll fade to more of a terracotta color before getting a little bit more of a yellow coloring to them or a creamy color. So really pretty. You'll get multiple colors on just one plant as the blooms fade. I also planted some Summer Drumsticks Allium and they're starting to fade now. But they were looking really pretty and upright just a couple of weeks ago. And these are bulbs that you plant in the fall. And they kind of just come up atop the plants and they're really wiry and pretty. Now some of them I did plant a little bit too close to the front of the border. So this fall I will consider moving them a bit back more. Because of their height, they need to be between other perennials that will hold them up. I also planted another drift of the Sahara Rudbeckia right here in this corner in front of the traditional Goldstrom Rudbeckia. And it's also backed by some more of the Blue Fortune Agastache, which looks so beautiful paired with Rudbeckia. If you don't have the Blue Fortune Agastache, I would highly recommend it to pair alongside the Rudbeckia because they contrast so nicely together, both in texture, in different shape of the bloom, and in color. Because blue and yellow are opposite on the color wheel. And in the back of the bed, I have my taller plants. And you can see here that my lilies are blooming. Now these are Stargazer Lilies and they're looking gorgeous and they're also very fragrant. Lilies have a really nice smell. And with the breeze, they kind of waft in the air and it smells really nice. I have a drift of some coneflowers. These are the Echinacea purpurea, or the native coneflower. I have some here. And I repeated this pattern with the coneflowers on the opposite side of my Blue Atlas Cedar. Now this conifer I often get questions about. It is the serpentine shape Blue Atlas Cedar. So it's shaped into an S, how it was trained, and it is really beautiful. And so I repeated this pattern on both sides where I have the coneflowers as well as this plant that I started from seed. It is called the Blue, let me try to remember the name of it, Blue Globe Thistle. That's what it is. And it has a really pretty blue color to it. It is really spiky. And it is also a globe or round shaped bloom. I started a bunch more this year from seeds that I collected from my own plants. And I can't wait to add it in more areas of the garden. You can see that I have some more flocks back here and some more of the beautiful Echinacea purpurea. I really love this Blue Globe Thistle. You can see that this bunch is a bit bigger or this plant because there are actually a couple of plants here. And every year it gets a little bit wider and a little bit more blooms on it. It is really easy to start from seed. In fact, the winter sowing method is ideal for this because it is a perennial and it's a really hands-off approach. A way to grow seeds outside in the winter in a recycled container. I have a whole playlist I can link below if you're interested. But this is a plant that does really well using the winter sowing method. And right behind George is a conifer that we recently planted to replace the Colorado Blue Spruce that had gotten too large for this space. This beauty is the Engelmanni Bush's Lace Spruce by Isley. And it is stunning. I really love how it has this downward sweeping habit and this blue coloring. And I think it's going to look really gorgeous as it continues to mature in this space. Now we're going to head into the backyard. But to give you some context of how the garden flows, George is standing at the Engelmanni Bush's Lace Spruce and I'm here heading towards our hillside garden. This area is a work in progress. You can see that we have some landscape fabric down, which is a pretty controversial topic. But we use it very selectively. Specifically in this back woodland area, we had some really noxious weeds like Japanese Pokeweed and some Thorny Briar. So we needed to put this down to keep all of those weeds down. And so this fall, we are going to go through, plant a couple more conifers, and add some mulch to finish off this border for now. But you can see here this Ninebark that we planted just last fall has put on quite a bit of height. This is a native shrub. This is the Proven Winners Gingerwine Ninebark. Has a really beautiful dark foliage. The new foliage emerges with a hint of orange as the sun comes through it. And it gets really beautiful blooms in spring. As it grows, it's going to have some cascading, arching branches with the weight of those blooms. And I think it's going to be really beautiful. And I recently had a couple of questions about the Temple of Bloom or the Seven Suns Tree, also known as Heptacodium, that we planted a couple of seasons ago. And you can see that it's put on quite a bit of growth. Now you can grow this as a large shrub or small tree. And I recently went through and limbed mine up to train it as a small tree. It's all budded up and pretty soon it's going to have a bunch of white blooms on it. And as those blooms fade, the calyxes will be red and it'll look like it gets a second flush. Really pretty shrub. And this conifer here is the Sunny Swirl Hanokee Cypress, also by Eisley. It has a contorted growth habit and a golden color, which makes it really interesting. And a Salem Spruce, which has a very icy kind of blue color to it. Very vibrant against all of the green in the backdrop. And you can see that these junipers that are a rug juniper that I grew for the last several years, I have about eight of them or so planted on this hillside so that it will grow downward and create a living evergreen ground cover. They have put on quite a bit of growth. Now don't mind the weeds. I do have to go through and weed some, but I just wanted to bring light to the fact that these make an excellent ground cover. If you have an area like a hillside, such as the one that I have here, that is difficult to mow, these evergreen ground covers provide color all year round. They retain your soil so that you don't lose it to erosion. And they also prevent a lot of weeds because they cover the ground so well. This pine is another beauty. It had really beautiful golden tips this spring. This is the Taylor's Sunburst Pine. And you can see right behind me that my Royal Purple Smokebush has bloomed and has also put on quite a bit of height on it this season. Another one that I'm trying to limb up into a small tree instead of a large shrub. I have another Hinoki here. This is a more narrow growing Hinoki. It's called a Wells Special. And although the deer don't touch any of the Hinokis in my garden, they did go after this one, but I'm happy to report that it has bounced back very slowly. But it's doing well, and so far they've left it alone. I have sprayed it since, just to be sure. This is another quick fire that you can see isn't getting quite enough sun. It's starting to lean towards the sun, so I will be moving this one somewhere else. But it is beautiful. They have these open panicle blooms that the pollinators just love. And this is also a pretty early blooming panicle type hydrangea. And this Osario's Gold Umbrella Pine that we had planted originally in our Japanese maple garden and we moved to this area because it wasn't getting as much sun in that space is doing really well. We moved this here last fall when we were working on this hillside bed. You can see this is all new growth. I really love umbrella pines. They have such a cool habit. And across from our hillside garden is our Japanese maple garden. And I really love this space. It is very low maintenance. It is just some trees and some conifers and a few shade plantings. But in general, I don't have to do much deadheading or any kind of work in here. Just a little bit of weeding. Now, our Japanese maple collection really shines in the spring. We get really vibrant spring color. And in the summer, it kind of goes into a lull where the trees sort of fade to the background. And then in the fall, we'll get a little bit of fall color. But I really love this space because it feels so peaceful and zen. And I love that it has a little bit of shade. This is probably the only area in our garden that we get some shade, which is lovely and a great reprieve in the summer from all of the heat that I get when I'm working in my sunbeds. But you can see here, this conifer has gotten so large. And it is beautiful in terms of width. But in general, it's a pretty compact conifer. This is the Duchess Golden Hemlock. And it's going to get about four feet in height and about four to five feet in width. And you can see it pretty much looks full size at this point. But conifers, usually the size that you see on the tag, that is for a 10-year garden size. When they're happy, they will continue to grow over time. But this one has a slower growth rate. But it's a really pretty one. You can see it's putting on some new growth at the tips. We recently trimmed back these Arborvitaes here. These are the Fire Chief Arborvitae. And we want them to keep this nice round shape. And in general, they do grow in a round shape. But they'll get some stems that look a little bit, a little hairy. So we have to go through and give them a little bit of a trim. But these are great because in the winter, they get a bronze coloring. And in the spring and summer, they have more of this chartreuse color with some coral on the tips for the new growth. Really pretty. All of my Lungwort or Pulmonaria has filled in in this space. Now this bed does need an edit this fall. I'm going to go through and rework it because this Pulmonaria has gotten so large you actually can't see that there is some Heucheras planted underneath. So I will be redoing this space. And that is how it often goes in gardening. You are never done with a garden. There's always things that need dividing, and planting, and moving, and so forth. So that's what's going to happen here in fall. The Heconicloa that I have planted in these Cortonsteel planters is looking really good. As is this Bamboo that I planted in this Lungcortonsteel planter. Now this is called Bamboo Fergizia Rufa, and it is a clumping type bamboo. And initially I did think that it would be a bit taller, but it turns out that the clumping variety has more of a shrubby effect. And it overwintered really well here in my Zone 6b-7a. I did not have to cover it or protect it, and it came back just fine this spring. And my hedge of Little Lime Hydrangeas is also looking beautiful. Recently, George went through and limbed up this Katsura Japanese Maple a little bit, so that this one here could get a little more light. Because this little lime was getting kind of covered by this... Because this shrub that I have here under the Katsura was getting shaded, and wasn't getting enough light. So as soon as he limbed it up a bit, it started to bud up, and now it is starting to bloom. Now the first stage of the Little Lime Hydrangea is to have this really pretty green coloring. And then it will fade to a creamy white, and then it'll start going pink as we get later into the summer, and the nights get a little bit cooler. I know there are some areas in the south that don't get that color change to pink, and I'm sorry, because it is really beautiful. And then as they continue to age through October, they get all shades of mauve. And this is a shrub in the garden that I just can't say enough good things about. It really is so low maintenance. Other than me pruning it back in late winter, early spring, and giving an application of fertilizer, I have to do nothing to this. And it looks absolutely stunning from May all the way through October here in my zone. So I really love this hedge of Little Lime Hydrangeas. And the annual combination that I picked for my planters this year is also looking really pretty. So I tried something new, and I tried some Gaura in the center as my height in the middle of this window box. I have some Lobelia and some Sunpatians. This is the Orchid Sunpatian. These are all Proven Winters plants. And this beautiful plant is the Licorice plant or Helichrysum. And I love this trailing plant. I like it more than the Dichondrosilver Falls because I feel like it fills out more, and it has a wider growth habit where the Dichondrosilver Falls just go straight down. So I've fallen in love with this trailing annual. This is the second year that I'm growing it. I can't say enough good things about it. I repeated the Gaura in the center of this tall planter. And I mixed in some Truffula Pink Gomphrena. Now you already know that I love Gomphrena if you've been around for a little while. And this one is also really pretty. And in the center, I have some of the White Sunpatians. Now I will say that the Japanese Beetles really went after my Sunpatians this year. And I'm also having trouble with earwigs in my annuals containers. So I did go through and sprinkle some Sluggo Plus. And hopefully that will take care of the earwigs. And the Japanese Beetles are a temporary issue. They generally go away after a couple of weeks. And so I'm not too worried about it. But you can see how much the Gomphrena in the back of this container has filled out. I also had a couple of extra of the Blueberry Swirl Phlox that I grew from seed. So I tucked those in as well. And in the front, as a trailer, I have Mizzou. Which I grew for the first time last year. Really liked it and decided to grow it again this year. It's a succulent type plant. It gets a tiny little pink bloom. Super low maintenance and really drought tolerant. In fact, most of the plants in this container, the Gomphrena, the Gara, the Mizzou in the front, as well as the Sunpatians can take a little bit less water. So I find that unless it is super hot out, I can generally go a day between watering. And I repeated the same thing on this window box here. My Hibiscus! This is the Proven Winners Summerific Perfect Storm Hibiscus. It will bloom in August in my garden. It has started to bud up and it gets pretty large sized. This is probably about 5 to 6 feet in diameter and about 4 feet in height at this point. It's a really beautiful hibiscus. I really love this dark foliage. And last year, this foliage got destroyed by the sawfly larva. These little green caterpillars on the underside of the leaves that will pretty much eat through the leaf and it'll look skeletonized. But thankfully, so far this year, it's looking pretty good. I do have to spray it from the deer because they like the bloom buds just as much as I do. And they will go and eat them. If you do have a hardy hibiscus in your garden and you deal with deer, I would recommend spraying the buds to make sure that you get to enjoy the blooms. I also added a couple of annuals in this bed this year. I have some petunias. And this is a Jazz variety, but it is a newer variety. Here I have some Sheffield Pink Mums that will bloom in the fall, which is a great plant to have late season color. It blooms for me in October here in my zone. And I also planted a Heconicloa underneath the shade of this beautiful Magnolia tree. And you can see that my Astilbe is now faded and done blooming, but all of my Anemones are starting to bud up. And this is either September Charm or Rubatissima. I have both of them and they look very similar, so I can never tell the difference between the two. And my beautiful Quickfire Hydrangea. Now a couple of years ago when I planted this, I had mentioned to George that it was going to get about six to eight feet tall and wide, and he gave me the look like that's going to be too big. And it has gotten pretty big, but isn't it glorious? This is gorgeous. The pollinators absolutely love it. There are constantly bees and wasps all over this shrub. So if you're allergic, you probably want to be careful. But if you want to bring pollinators to your garden, this is a great hydrangea to do that. It also gets this creamy white color, and as the season goes on, it will age to a beautiful shade of pink, and it persists all the way through the fall and looks lovely. Doing these garden tours each month really allows me to see how much my garden has matured and filled out over the years, and I have really enjoyed sharing it with all of you. Let me know in the comments what is looking beautiful in your July garden. Thank you so much for spending your time with us, and I'll catch you in the next one.