Mid-August in the back 40

I ran in to Kelly at the Dead Can Dance concert last weekend. She said Garden Blogger Spring Fling 2013 is slated for San Francisco? Is that right? First I'd heard of it! Anyway, I may or may not participate in the Fling itself, but I definitely have some suggestions for gardens you should visit and maybe for accommodations too. San Francisco is expensive. I would love to meet some of you. Would you come over for dinner one night?

Anyway, our chance encounter reminded me that I am a garden blogger. I took some pictures to prove it.









The big pivot to monocots continues as the monocots already planted get bigger and bigger.



It won't ever be all monocots though, at least not in this garden. I've always got to have something for the insects. For the last few years, the fennel (I have three big clumps of it) are crawling with swallowtail caterpillars, but that has not been the case this year. Wherefore art thou, caterpillars?



I thought I had more Asclepias curassavica than just this one. I most have lost a couple. I will grow more.



The Meyer lemon is bent over with fruit. We'll be having fancy lemonade for indian summer in September and October. Meanwhile, I've been snipping off the leaves as they turn yellow. Ugly!



I snipped all the leaves off the buckeye too. It loses them this time of year anyway when they turn brown and drop off to mitigate the effects of the long summer drought, but I don't care to witness the transition.



I culled all the dead things out of the nursery, and replaced them with new, living things. I'm ready to sow seeds like I used to, but first I have to get my lazy ass to the real nursery to get some growth media. I'm out.



I came very close to removing Fuchsia 'Miep' this year in a made pruning frenzy, but at the last moment, before the last cut, I put the saw down. She's now growing back all over the place and making bright pink flowers.



This garish, inappropriate lily which I really did try in earnest to kill is perhaps the most vigorous plant in the garden.



I didn't know Lilium lancifolium was super-common and even weedy when I bought it. I've been plucking bulbils off and potting them up for a couple weeks now. If you didn't know, the spots are purple. How groovy is that!



We had this container on our front steps, but I decided to move it to the backyard when we painted the front steps. It was crowded up front, so I made room for it back here. I am happy.



Usually aeonium go dormant in summer, but this one seems more alive than ever. Also note: Seaside Daisy (Erigeron glaucus).