It's not all sunshine and daisies....

Since I flash so many beautiful pictures of the gardens, I think it's only fair that I tell you of the failures, lest you think I'm some sort of gardening magician. My gardens have their ups and downs just like every one else.

First - this spring was very disappointing, with barely a bloom from any of my spring bulbs. I think that was partly do to the cold snap we had in late spring, but I also suspect some of it was due to the squirrels.

The gladiolus that were so pretty in the side garden last year didn't come back this year.  The garlic that started to grow just up and disspeared  - I can't find it at all now. The squirrels ran off with ALL the sunflowers and the chives I started from seed didn't survive transplanting. And lets not talk about my sad attempt at spinach.

It's been a rough year for tomatoes at my place.  I don't know if it's the weather (hot, humid and zero rain) or my decision to do my tomatoes in pots this year, but the poor little grape tomato plant is no more than 10 inches tall with two sad little tomatoes on it.

The yellow pair tomato is bigger and has more fruit, but it was larger when I got it from the nursery, and it's not much bigger now. Normally by now I'd be swimming in tomatoes.

I think the same issues are behind the slow death of my strawberries too...

I think I may have to give up on my dream of backyard strawberries... that or dig another garden!

The  weather is definitely responsible for the trouble with the roses. When the warmth was more moderate, they did just fine. But with this super high heat and humidity....

... they appear to be melting!

And Rocky's poor potted rose...

 It just started dying off for no apparent reason.

You're probably wondering why you haven't heard me mention the Butterfly bush much. It did survive the winter...

But I'm not sure if it's going to survive the insects! It's just getting flower spikes, so hopefully it's bouncing back. Lots of my other gardening friends say this year has been particularly bad for bugs.

As for new additions this year, I don't think the English Daisies are going to make it. One of the poppy plants died right off, the other two aren't looking great. The Sea Holly I got from Brecks rotted before it even sprouted (though they did refund my $)

And the Dwarf Pincushion plant....

It's looking rough, but those little green sprouts have me hoping it will bounce back.

So... it's definitely not all perfection... but those blooms that do survive...

They make it all worthwhile!