July Garden Tour | Hello Garden

Hey friends, welcome back. It is July garden tour time, and it is so crazy to me that we have reached the midpoint in summer. And I feel like this year it is flying by. And we've done so many amazing things. We've had so many good times already in the garden. And so I wanna update you on some projects, some things that are blooming, some new additions to the garden, and oh, and the hydrangeas are blooming. So it's like extra, extra special. I feel like I wait all summer for them to bloom, and it's just glorious when they finally all pop open. But before we get into the tour, just a reminder, our tea sale is currently going on through August 15th, and we're doing 20% off everything and free shipping over $30. And it also just enters automatically at checkout. So head on over there, stock yourself up on some tea, and thank you so much for everyone who's already ordered. It is just, it honestly, it fills me with so much joy every time I go to the post office with another little package. I'm gonna take you off the camera, and we're gonna cruise around. We're gonna look at some pretty stuff. Starting here at the front border, this is my most recent project. And I finally decided on a dark foliage for this front border. This is a geranium called Bloom Chocolata. And it's really interesting. You guys had so much feedback on this geranium. I have brought three in here on this little front border. And some of you were saying that it definitely needs over two feet to stretch its wings, which I'm actually fine with because I really have like a foot on either side. And I love the concept that it would be intermingling with my origeron. So that spacing works really, really well for me. Others of you have said you've had a hard time with it coming, just like filling in. So I'm gonna be really excited to trial this for you guys. And see how it does in my maritime climate. For those of you who are new here, I'm in the Pacific Northwest. We are a maritime climate. I believe we've been reclassed into a zone nine, but I just don't even feel like that's accurate. I really try to garden, quite honestly, like I'm in a zone seven because we do occasionally have really kind of frosty winters that freeze everything. The next thing I was gonna talk about here is right next door. My penicetum little bunny is finally sending out its little bottle brush heads. And I am just a huge fan of the penicetum grasses. I think they're so wonderful. In fact, I have a little bunny here. And then if you kind of go around to this back corner, this one is Carly Rose. Do you see how tall this is? This clump is typically supposed to get around like two and a half, maybe three feet tall. We are pushing three and a half. I would say almost, gosh, we're going on almost four feet. I don't know what has happened to this, but I love it. And Carly Rose, what it has is it has this beautiful rose tint to these bottle brush heads. And I actually clipped a bunch of these for my cousin's wedding. It's actually my cousin's daughter. And she did just a beautiful backyard wedding. And this offered so much texture and movement in her arrangement. She wanted a very like casual, lived-in wedding where everyone's making their own bouquets. I mean, it was just like, it was so, so fun. So I clipped a bunch of these seed heads and they made for the perfect frothy addition to all of her arrangements. Now, the next thing I've been working on is tidying up this border. This border was like insanely gorgeous in May. And then it promptly got super out of control. And so what I've done is I've kind of gone in, you can see right here, and I have selectively pruned out kind of spent blooms here. This is my salvia caridona. I just clipped out the middle and look at this. It's already pushing new growth. It is so, so happy. And so instead of just giving it like a flat buzz cut and taking away all the blooms from my pollinators, because that was another thing is like, these blooms right here still had tons of purple on them. And I just felt terrible taking all of this away from the bees. So I left a handful. I selectively pruned everything back. And then the other thing that did is it actually gave it a little bit more stability because it was splaying open pretty heavily. One thing I might actually do is I might actually come in here and do like a really subtle kind of tie back on this just to see if it gives it a bit more structure as it pushes into new flower. Okay, and then next door, you guys, this is my ladies mantle. And what I did is I cut off every single flowering stem. And there was a lot of kind of like dead underneath here that I still need to clean out. But would you look at this? I mean, literally within days, we have new growth pushing out. And then down in here too, like look at this. So, I mean, just goes to show that ladies mantle, as soon as it's done blooming, just give it a whack. And I wait for my blooms to turn brown. So they go from this cute yellow to brown. And you just cut it back and see what it does. And honestly, it loves a good haircut. The next thing I'm going to show you, are you ready for it? Boom. Guys, look at this gorgeous gladiola. This is a hardy gladiola called Papilio ruby. Let's just take a look at her. Isn't that gorgeous? And what's so funny is I planted this like three years ago and didn't have any signs of life on it. In fact, what's so funny is I was over here clipping my ladies mantle and that's how I discovered it was blooming. Also, I was crawling around on the ground and look at this. I found another gladiola. So in the past couple years, all I've seen is this. And this is literally the first time I am seeing the gladiola push out growth. In fact, I was kind of peeking in through here, kind of thinking, gosh, is there more that I have somehow missed under all this Mexican feather grass? Nope, just two random gladiolas. But this guy, oh, the Papilio ruby, this is so pretty. So I'm actually gonna be on the hunt to potentially add more of these because I actually think this color would go really well down in my new back border. This next thing I wanna show you may not seem like a lot, may not seem super special, but it is special to me. And this is one of those things where whenever I work a garden, I always look for signs that certain plants are happy, and I always know that they're happy because they send out new little babies into the world. And it just gets me so dang excited. So I wanna show you some new babies I have found while weeding, and I've decided to leave them where they are. I have removed some that were kind of in the way, but I wanna show you what has decided to reseed itself throughout my garden. First up, of course, I know this is probably not a surprise to anyone. I am obsessed with Lady's Mantle. I love it. It's one of my just ideal plant matches, and it has started reseeding itself here. And I have another little clump here, and it's like, guys, look at this. It is the cutest baby I have ever seen. And of course I left it because I figure if nothing else, I can transplant these two clumps down to the garden in the back because we're redesigning some of those spaces, or I just leave them up here because they are so happy. Okay, now the next thing, you guys, I can't even believe I found. Do you guys know what this is? This is a scented geranium. I believe the botanical is, I think it's carcifolia, but it is an oak leaf variegated scented geranium. And it's self-seeded. Like my mind is blown because I have never seen a scented geranium self-seed. Usually this is the method of kind of like multiplying these as propagation from cuttings. But you guys, right here, here she is. She's so cute. And this is just like one of those little nature signs that this is a plant that really is super pumped to be in my garden. So scented geraniums, you and I, man, we're having a moment. I wish you guys could see the crazy looks that my neighbors give me as I'm like crawling around on the ground with a video camera, like recording all of this for you, getting like obscenely excited. So if you happen to be my neighbor, I'm so very sorry. I totally look like a nut job out here. If you saw my last video, then this is no surprise. You guys, this is salvia caridona. It is reseeding itself in my garden. I've never had that happen. And this is another one of those plants that I just love endlessly. And here she is loving me back. I was about ready to head to the back to show you some great stuff back there, but then I walked past this container behind me and it has its first dahlia bloom. And so I want to share that with you. And this was something that I'm just kind of trialing different things this year. And I thought I'm going to use a dahlia as a mid layer and specifically dahlias that I think get a little bit lost in a cut flower garden, but look really beautiful in a container. Here she is. This is dahlia totally tangerine, and it is such an awesome, awesome performer. And the reason I have it in a container is because this is one of those more landscape varieties that are just more petite. It doesn't compete with the giant dahlias in the cut flower garden, but offers something really spectacular when elevated in a container. And then underneath it, we have, of course, all of my Calibrachoa going crazy. And you know what? I was even going to pass this by because I didn't think my trailers were doing very well. I'm like, my sweet potato vine, it's okay. It's not, I'm not having my socks blown off yet, but you guys, I just looked back here at my lotus vine and I was like, oh, it's okay. And then I zoomed in closer. You guys, look at this. I never have my parrot's beak lotus vine bloom. And would you look at that? Okay, red is not the color for this container, but I don't even care. Look how gorgeous that thing is. That is stunning. So first time I've ever had it bloom in my garden. Friends, you can see the dining patio over there, but before we head back, I want to show you, I know most of you are here for the flowers, but can we talk about my shishito peppers and how so stinking cute these little guys are? Look, here's another one over here. If you have never grown a shishito, this is one of my favorite peppers. I love it. I love it just like blistered and a little bit of oil with some nice crunchy salt on it. It is like, they are just the best. Look, here's another one coming out and these guys are loaded with blooms. And you know what's so funny is I got these in the ground and I was like, eh, maybe I could do okay up here, but they are doing swimmingly. These are my jalapenos up here and I just spied my first baby today. Look how cute he is, you guys. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, I've got more. Oh my gosh. Okay, Brian is gonna freak. He didn't think we had any jalapenos yet. He's gonna be so dang excited. We love a jalapeno in our family. We love to roast them. We love, okay, there's this recipe that a friend of mine makes. He runs a company called Woodshop Barbecue and he will smoke the jalapenos and then puree them and then mix them into like a bechamel cheese sauce that he makes into mac and cheese. It is so, so good and it is like the perfect way to enjoy a jalapeno. Also, we love cowboy caviar. If anyone has, or no, cowboy candy. If anyone has ever, ever made that, it is the best. It's candied jalapenos. We love it like cheap and dirty on like a saltine with cream cheese or like super elevated on a beautiful cracker with some brie cheese, little jalapeno candied on top. It is so, so good. And in fact, we had leftover juices last year and Brian put them on like a pork loin. You guys, it was so good. So if you like a little bit of spice, a little bit of sweet, that is the recipe for you. Okay, one more thing I wanna show you before we head to the back and it's my limelight hydrangeas. They're finally blooming. This is the limelight hydrangea hedge that has been growing in my front yard for quite some time. And I kind of had this dream when I planted it. I really wanted just the tops of the hydrangea to kind of like kiss this window. This is our front window. This is where I like to like wake up early on the weekends with a good book and just sit there and I'll peek open the curtains just a little bit and read a book and look at the birds and just take a moment to kind of admire all of the hard work and everything that has been created here. So to have this portion of my dream where the hydrangeas are just peeking up, they're crawling up into that window. These are those little moments that are so meaningful in this gardening journey. And it may seem very insignificant to some, but for me, this right here, these little hydrangeas peeking their heads up, this represents very much my happy space and just a way that I get to be with my garden when it feels like the whole world is still asleep. And here we are looking back this way. This is kind of from the corner of the house where it starts to go downhill. And what's really fun, you guys, is I am so surprised. This is literally a leftover corner. I had a random hosta leftover from one project, threw it in. I had another random hosta leftover from a project. I threw it in. I had a ninebark that was looking so scraggly. Well, I threw her in. And then guess what else? This was a peony tuber that was half dead at my nursery. It was literally in a garbage pile and I thought to myself, well, I asked them, I was like, hey, I know you guys are pitching this, but can I just pop it in the ground and see what happens? You guys, I didn't get a picture of this, but it was the most incredible peony ever. This one is a Carl, oh gosh, what is it called? My brain sometimes at the end of the day, it's like, nope, we're all done working. This was Carl Rosenfield. Now, I will pop up a picture on the screen of this peony, but it is a deep raspberry. And when I say it was stunning, it was stunning. And honestly, one of the reasons that it was so gorgeous is because of its location next to this ninebark. If I'm remembering correctly, I think this is Diabolito. I will have to kind of go back in my records and search, but this was just nothing more than a twig when I brought it home and put it in my garden and it is finally growing. I mean, my goodness, this is like its first real stem that it's put on, but it has this beautiful, beautiful burgundy undertone. And when I had this Carl Rosenfield peony, which by the way, it has never bloomed until this year, and I got one singular bloom and it was sensational. And it was so good, in fact, I went to my nursery and I bought two more. So this is kind of where my project had stopped. I really haven't done anything here to the side yard. Well, I'm gonna start this week. I'm gonna carve out the first, I would say, maybe four feet down the side of my garden. And I'm putting in two more peonies here because I just think this punch of color here, it was so sensational. I just, I gotta have more. Friends, here we are in the side yard and here's my wisteria blooming in July. In fact, here we go. There's one, I don't know if you can see it, there's one bloom right here and there's a second bloom back there. And I'm telling you, you guys, I gave this wisteria the biggest haircut of life. And, oh gosh, here's another bloom. Oh, is that so gorgeous? It has turned out so beautifully. It is ready, oh, you guys can see the sun setting back there. Oh my gosh. It is ready for its midsummer haircut. And so all these little whippy bits, I do need to come through and prune them back. But I did something really special in my last video. This side yard here is a space that is just a utilitarian pathway for right now. And behind me directly is the side door that we come out. And I just decided I really wanna take my mundane spaces and make them special because I just need more of that magic sauce everywhere in my life. So I hung up my lady here. She's now in the side yard. She's so gorgeous. Someone actually offered the thought that this might be Demeter, the goddess Demeter. Let me tell you, I am not mad at that. I am not mad at that idea at all. She is beautiful. I love the way that the florals wrap around her face. She looks like she's wearing a bit of a veil. And then as you come down, there's a little bit of that hint of wisteria from the canopy above. And then as we've been out here clipping things and deadheading, I'm just, I don't know. I just threw a couple of flowers out there. It's been a couple of days, so they're all wilty. But I just thought how special just to decorate this little lady in my side yard. Here we are, friends. Sun is setting over the cut flower garden. Oh, this garden has been a journey. Is it perfect? No. Did I get everything done? No. But am I proud of it? Yeah, yeah, I still am. Because it's represented so much work to get where it is here. And so I want to take you down there. I want to show you things that I've messed up on. Some things are going great. And most of all, I want to share some of the treasures of this season because it is good. So here we are in the Sweet Pea Tunnel. And this was one of the most fun experiments of the season. I was just blown away time and again by how much this piece of my garden brought me joy and whimsy. And it felt very childlike. And I was even talking to Camille Paulson. We did our garden tour together. And as we were going through her garden, what occurred to me is she created so many moments of childlike whimsy and joy in her garden space. And it was one of those things that I took from her. And I just thought to myself, with how busy our lives are, with everything that happens around us, what if we can reclaim a bit of that childlike joy? And I feel like my Sweet Pea Arch has done that. This month, I also had the chance to go up to the farmhouse, Flower Farm. And that is the home of Marin Mathis. And she is the one who wrote the book, Sweet Pea School. I know I've talked about it on here, but she is an incredible, incredible grower. She is actually growing her own sweet pea that I got to see. Oh my gosh, you guys, that was so, it was so incredible, it was so special. So just feeling really inspired by her and her work and loving all my sweet peas. And I think the next adventure for me and my sweet peas is beginning to tag the ones that I want to save for next year. And I probably won't do the arches again. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. But I may make these into topiary forms, in which case I'm gonna be really selective about what I grow. And I'm imagining them nestled into beds where their roots can remain more cool and more protected, and their little faces can be in the sun. I wanna take you down here because you know what? I'm even loving about this. Brian was like, should we move the pitchfork? And I'm like, no. You guys, this is the old pitchfork that came with our house. I mean, you can see how old and tattered this thing is. Look at this old handle. I mean, this is one of those things where I just don't feel like they make tools the same. And for me, I love that it just rests here in my garden. You know what I mean? It's like having an old friend down here that comes to greet you. I don't know, you guys. I think the older I get, the more nostalgic I become. And the more I love beautiful things, and not so many things, but just the right hint, just the right little thing. As we say goodbye to all of our sweet peas here, it's more like a see you later because there's gonna be ones like Sweet Pea Bix. Would you look at her glowing in this late day sun? I think this is gonna be a repeater for me next year, of course. Here we go. Here's my honest internet moment. Look at those aphids just lined up. So I gotta get out here and do some squishing. But it's so fun to experiment with different things like this. April in Paris. This is one I will absolutely be growing next year. And so I need to tag it. But do you see that purple edging? Just really, really loved this one. Every once in a while, it'll throw like a random speckled one. But these sweet pea pods are very full. And so I'm gonna start tagging these. And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go ahead and I think get some of those thick twist ties and just twist them around the ones that I want to keep. And then what Marin was saying is she's out in the fall, like literally every day, seeing which ones are ripe and ready to go. And then coming down here, there's ones that I loved that I'll grow again. And then there are ones like this. This is Fandango Moon, where I just decided it wasn't my cup of tea, you know? And there's no shame in it. This one is Zinfandel, another really pretty one. I feel like this is it. The sweet peas are going over. I've really fallen in love with my speckled sweet peas. The speckled blue ones I find are especially breathtaking. I've got one down here. This one is Earl Gray. And there's just a deep smokiness to this one that this is also one that I'm gonna be tagging because there's no way I can't not grow this one next year. It is just sensational. I think we'd be here all night if I attempted to show you every single dahlia. So I'm just gonna show you some special ones that have popped up that are really, really stealing my heart right now. The first one that is stealing my heart. You guys, Cozy Town Baby Cakes. Holy smoky rose yumminess. I, oh, you guys, I am so tickled with this one. This is 100% my jam. It is beautiful. I love how it is fading out. Just absolutely obsessed. Okay, the next one, you guys. This is like my pink patch. Can we get a moment for Foxy Lady? I am loving this one. This has all of those tones. It's a little bit more of a bright version, but really love these deep, deep smoky, kind of smoky raspberries with that shot of yellow coming through. Such a beautiful selection. I would say this one is a bit smaller, as you can see, but I mean like so loaded down with all of these buds. This next one, I don't feel like you see. I don't feel like it gets any airtime. This one is Verona's Obsidian. I love a black flower, and this guy is just awesome and spiky and funky, and I'm so excited to have it in the garden. Okay, and you guys, the next one. I'm gonna tell you right here. It has not popped yet, but I have one, two, three Riveter Ants that I'm growing for myself. I've given away a ton of clumps to various friends, but this one is about ready to pop open, and I want this guy to come into the world. Like, no one has it, and I love it so much, and it's such a beauty in the landscape, and it has just, I mean, look at this foliage. This foliage is so dynamic. It is like a true olive-y green. It's so yummy. I'm just loving it. Oh, and by the way, these are old gladiolas that have decided to emerge. Now, this next one, I'm just gonna give you my hand for reference. Look at this thing. This is Kelgai Ann, and this is from a girlfriend of mine, Alicia. She belongs to Adalia Association, and she went to their member sale, and she picked up this tuber for me, and I'm freaking out because it is so beautiful. I mean, just look at this thing compared to my hand. It is stunning, and really, really a unique form. Do you see these petals? This is, it is so sensational. Okay, let me show you, let me actually go around here. Okay, do you see it in the bud stage? This actually reminds me of a chrysanthemum, how it's opening, like, really, really tight, and then just super unfurls. It is so beautiful, and I just can't sing enough praises about this one. It's the perfect, it's the perfect, like, blushy pink, but it has a smoky quality to it, and I find that with my pinks, I need a bit of smokiness to it. Otherwise, it feels like I'm at, like, a baby shower. You know what I mean? So this Kelgai Ann, if you see it, you grab it ASAP, because this sucker is, it is sensational. It is absolutely wonderful, and I am so grateful. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Alicia. I just, I can't even believe you found this for me. Here we are in the back border at the end of the day, and things are actually doing really well. I mean, I definitely have weeds for days, but I want to take you in and show you some things that are just, just rocking my world right now, and I think we need to start with my new hydrangea, because look at this bloom. This is a hydrangea from Blumanisi, and it is called Moonrock. You guys, this isn't even, like, half of what it's going to become, because it's just starting its, like, bulbous formation. Okay, let me show you, okay, let me show you this guy right here. So do you see how you get, like, kind of a little lump of, like, cluster of florals here? What'll happen is as this thing fills out, it becomes the most massive panicle of white blooms, and it just is smothered. You guys, this is the first year of this hydrangea, and look how covered it is. It is healthy. It has transplanted beautifully in my sandy soil, which I'm telling you right now, for doing this in July, that is a big, that's a big ask for any plant, to be transplanted smoothly here. In fact, this is probably one of the areas that I was the most intentional about when I was putting things in, and I did kind of second-guess myself on this hydrangea. I was like, man, am I gonna kill this thing? No, no, not a chance. It's happy as it comes, and look at this. Is this not the prettiest nepeta? I love it. So this is a catmint, and this is one of the ones that I picked up from Dan Hinckley's. Again, smoky, pinky lavender. That, you guys, that is my jam. It is absolutely my jam. This is my penstemon blackbird, and as you can see, it's finished with its first flush, and so I just cut back all the blooms. We're just gonna see how she goes, and I love how upright this is. It's performing very, very well for me. Now, down here, you guys, critter alert. I've had the darnedest time keeping the bunnies out of here. They really, apparently, love asters, but I think I've won the battle, so fingers crossed for me, but then coming down here, my smoky peach salvia is looking amazing. Of course, here we go. Here's our honesty on the internet, bindweed. Good gravy, and then look at this. I had a freakout moment because I was looking at my astrantia, and its leaves were yellowing. In fact, I'll show you down here. Do you see that? I was feeling really nervous about it, and I was like, oh no, did I make the wrong choice, but then it started greening up, which is always, always, always a good sign, and then it threw some blooms, so you guys, everything back here is doing its thing. It's doing its thing, and also, you guys, look at this. This is one of my scabiosa, my pincushion flower. This one is gigasilver, and it was like half dead, neglected in my driveway. I mean, would you look at this? It is just happy as a clam, and I cut everything back, and it's about to bloom, so just spectacular. Oh, you guys, I have to take a moment for this one too. Funny enough, this one is brand new. This is a physicarpus, a ninebark. It's called panther. I really love a dark ninebark. I think they're amazing in cut flower arrangements, and you guys, this one is brand new to me this year. It has been only in the ground a month, and would you look at how beautiful and bushy it is? I mean, look at this. It's sending out all, look at this. This is brand new growth. This thing is so sturdy, and this is another one that I'm trialing for bloom and easy, and it is loving this garden, so I am, you guys, I am really tickled with how everything is coming along. I also, my oregano finally bloomed. This is an ornamental oregano, also from Diana Hinckley's nursery, and I love, again, what's so funny is it's echoing the smoky mauve, that smokiness of the nepeta that I brought in, yet in a really different form, and then we just have more of the same all the way down. I was letting my blackbird hence to men bloom a little bit longer, but I think I'm gonna give this a haircut, and then I'm gonna take you down here. Oh, you guys, another one of these incredible moon rocks. This is just getting started. It's like I can't even wait to see what it's gonna be like next month, and then sweeping around here, here we are. This is a dahlia called Starry Night, and this is one that Dan Hinckley and his crew have been working on, and it's this white floral. It's just a hit of pink, and this foliage is the glossiest black. It is so awesome, and so what you can see I'm doing in this back border is I'm bringing those little hits of black foliage in the dahlia as well as in my panther ninebark to kind of help tell the story that I'm hoping to convey down here. I'm just gonna give you a little drive-by here of all of my zinnias kind of in full glory. These ones are a lot of like the Benary series back here that I love so dearly. You know what's so funny is I'm actually discovering I don't like the Liliput white. What is my problem? I loved them last year. You guys, I guess things change. It's wild, but I'm still, this is, I believe, wine. Love this one, and this is, I believe, Benary salmon, or it's just such a great one, such a great one, but I will tell you as we come down here, more sweet peas, these ones have been really interesting, so I bought a bunch of floret seed, and a lot of them are coming up as singles instead of doubles, but the coloring on them is pretty fantastic. I believe this one is Precious Metals. It's got kind of a cool undertone to it, really, really beautiful, and then I have the Zinderella series. This is Zinderella lilac, and then down here, I've got Zinderella peach snuggled up with that calendula that's gone to the seed, but they're all supposed to be super double-petaled like this. I'm not getting those results, which is kind of bumming me out. I did get a couple, which I cut for my cousin's daughter's wedding, but not having that many, not having that many. Now, the thing that I am, banana's over. If you are new here, hi, welcome, and I am obsessed with the Queen Lime series. Okay, you guys, this is Queen Lime blush. I love it. It is so green and awesome, and then over here, we have Queen Lime orange. Again, I love this Zinnia. It is such a great performer, and almost all of them are big and full like this. I mean, look at this thing. It's not even bloomed out fully, just a beast and a half, and then last but not least is Queen Lime red. This one is probably, this is its version of a single, but even then, we still have a couple rows of petals, but the Queen Lime reds that I love are these ones that are just like a little chunk-a-monk-a-ball. It's so good. So for me, I think the Queen Lime series and the Benary series, those are it. Those are my little jams, and I'm kind of gonna be interested. I love the floral coloration. I just don't know if it's stabilized yet, you know what I mean, which it takes years, and I do mean years for her genius to create something like this, and the coloring on it, this is undeniable. Oh, oh my gosh, you guys. Did you see who I just uncovered here? Oh, this is so funny. Okay, there's a bumblebee sacked out in there that I literally almost touched, and so we're gonna let him go to bed. Sorry, buddy. But this is the other thing I love about all of my zinnias is they just attract the most gorgeous collection of creatures that rest on them every night, and it just brings me joy. And here we are ending the tour down on the bunker. Obviously, I still need to adjust things. I have my eye on a coffee table. Not gonna pull the trigger yet. I'm gonna wait. I'm gonna think about it. We're doing slow design out here, but can I share with you these awesome containers? I'm so happy. The Estrantia are not as happy as they could be down here, but that's fine. Not everything has to be happy all the time. This is an experiment, but my lavender is great. Look at this. My geranium ballerina is blooming again. It's so cute. My millennium allium is about ready to just explode. My lady's mantle, she got a little dry, so that's why this container is not looking its very, very best, and probably why my Estrantia isn't happy. But then look at this. This is my Helen von Stein lands year, and I am obsessed. All of these things, I think, are gonna end up in the garden behind me. We're gonna have to just wait and see. There's also part of me that's like, what if I just let this container be, and it comes back every year? Oh, and by the way, this Estrantia wasn't very happy, so I cut back a ton of it, and look, pushing out a new bud. And then for those of you who aren't familiar with the millennium allium, it is an allium. It's a perennial. It goes all summer long. Yes, it smells like chives. I love it. And bees just smother this entire plant, so it's really, really good for pollinators. And I love that I have this kind of perennial moment here. So it's just, again, bringing me just a little hit of joy. I kind of love how grayed out our fence is. It's just, again, it's lived in. It's lovely. It's a little bit of a barrier. I love that. You guys, look. I can sit back here, and I'm not staring in the new neighbor's windows, because as most of you know, we had a giant home get built right on the alley. I don't even know how it was permitted, but it's neither here nor there. They're doing this all over Seattle. And sometimes it's done tastefully, and then other times it's done very intrusively. So I love that I still get protection and greenery and a little bit of privacy. A lot of you also brought up the concept of shade down here, and we actually do have an inexpensive shade cloth, and we haven't brought it down. I'm not sure why. I think we just haven't hosted down here. We haven't been hanging out here as much as we have last year. And also, even though it's been hot, it hasn't been as hot as it has been in years past. But we do have a shade cloth, and it attaches to the top of these little posts with little eye hooks. So it creates a cozy little spot down here and offers us some protection. So this is a good mental reminder that I've got to dig that out. And I was also thinking that I might redo the tops of these fence posts and connect them together with more of like a traditional perla style. I don't know. Lots of ideas. The ideas are always coming. Brian's probably like, no more ideas on the to-do list. But in any event, I hope you've loved this garden tour. It has been really fun to do a garden tour in the evening and have everything just kind of settle down for the day. So I hope you're enjoying your garden wherever you are. I'll see you in the next one. Happy July. Thank you for being with me. And if you haven't checked out my new series, I'm doing a container a week for the next year. So make sure to tune in. I'm doing that every Friday. We're gonna call it a floral Friday and come along for the challenge. It's gonna be a good time. Okay, I'll see you soon. Say hello to your garden for me. Well, look who showed up to the party. Ladies and gentlemen, Martha has bloomed.