The porch garden at end of July 2023

 

Some cuttings seem to be doing ok in the square bed. I had to severely prune the begonia (see below) and just stuck a stem in the dirt to root. We'll see if that works.

Nobody really likes the afternoon sun, so coleus is kept most of the time where just morning sun hits it.

Another blogger suggested when I top off the buds to throw them in my dinner, so basil buds were a good addition to leftover stew that night.

The hanging geranium continues to produce blooms, and survives the heat up there! I have to make sure to flood it with water at least every other day. Our forecast rain storms seldom happen!

I tried hanging up the peppermint plant, because it's got these long stems going out so gracefully, but it was too hot, so it's back on the porch floor.

The Nonstop Joy Begonia looked so beaten down after the one storm we had last week. So I've tried taking off all the sad looking flowers and leaves. But yesterday I cut every one of the growth buds on the stems, like I do on the Basil. It wouldn't really help the plant to keep growing longer stems that just fall down. So maybe now it can make some new growth closer to the stem. That's my fingers crossed.

Here's the porch yesterday. But I've switched the mint and the coleus as hanging planters, to keep both of them happy. Neither one can take that afternoon sun that comes directly at them. This was taken in the morning.

I confess I haven't worked much on plants...2 orchids are demanding to be repotted, and I hang my head in shame. 

Today's quote:

Fearing no insult, asking for no crown, receive with indifference both flattery and slander, and do not argue with a fool. 

-Aleksandr Pushkin, poet, novelist, and playwright (1799-1837)