July Lawn Photo

We're moving into a very, very hot period, so I took the July shots today post watering last night. I'm hoping it holds, but I figured I should photograph this before we hit a hundred degrees plus.

I've been feeding normally (monthly), and applied the equivalent of 600 pounds per thousand of sawdust to the problem areas that don't retain water as well. That's helped this summer and reduced watering somewhat, and the long-term result should be to change the soil a bit to hold more water to begin with.

Lawn color is OK for July, nothing stellar. Hot weather tends to decrease color a bit. It also desperately needs to be mowed, but I won't do that until the weather breaks.

Here's the standard lawn shot. As always, click to embiggen it.



Here's the back garden, which is doing very well this year:



The Double Knockout rose is doing well, but I cut it back in late June. The second bloom isn't quite as impressive as it usually is:



I'm a major fan of the Teddy Bear sunflowers, but still waiting to see how good their late-season performance is. It's possible they'll stop blooming, in which case I'll use about the same number next year instead of increasing them:



Here's a closeup of one of the blossoms: