Feeling rather downbeat about everything this week, despite lots of things flowering and fruiting. We have been picking strawberries and raspberries most days, and the apple tree is loaded, but I have had no time (and if I’m honest, even less inclination) to do anything by way of tidying or weeding. I have the day off on Wednesday so maybe I’ll do something then. My mood is not improved by the loss of some of the cosmos and all the sunflowers that went in the ground last weekend – despite a liberal top dressing of wool pellets, slugs or snails have done for them. I shall give up trying to grow sunflowers as I never get more than a couple of pairs of leaves before they get eaten.
Anyway, the current situation at the back is this:
It’s a lot more colourful than that makes it look, though. Newly flowering this week we have scabious (given to us by our friend H, I thought it was last year but am doubting myself now and think it may have been two years ago). Anyway, it’s got huge this year and has lots of buds which seem to be way bigger than I remember scabious being, and one of them is now open:
Verbena bonariensis, dotted about in various places and mostly self-seeded, is also coming into flower now.
And some yellow lilies, to go with the orange ones I posted last week:
Of course I can’t post without another photo of my favourite bit of the garden. The dianthus just blows my mind, it has been in full flower for weeks, and the alstromeria complement it beautifully.
Meanwhile at the front
One of the cosmos to survive so far has a little flower
and the salvia “Amethyst Lips” is looking lovely surrounded by foxgloves and lavender.
It looks as though the weather here is staying dry for the week, so maybe I will manage to get some tidying done on Wednesday!
The Random Gardener 
Does ‘Amethyst Lips’ salvia bloom randomly whenever it wants to, or does it tend to bloom more for autumn? I just featured Salvia microphylla, which I found to be confusing. I learned some of the cultivars as Salvia greggii, and more recently learned that both species actually include a few hybrids. I also learned that Salvia greggii blooms for autumn. For us, it blooms randomly throughout the year. I do not remember any of the cultivars ever lacking bloom, even when I cut them back at the end of winter.
As far as I’m aware, all the “Lips” varieties bloom throughout summer and into early autumn. That’s certainly what we’ve seen, anyway. Just o add another layer, though it is a greggii, apparently its alternative name is Salvia “Dyspurp”.
Gee, that is an odd name. It sort of makes it a bit more interesting though. We only recently acquired a white cultivar from a neighbor that I should like (because it is white), but I actually find it to be . . . somewhat boring so far. ‘Hot Lips’ is nice, but has become the most common cultivar within our landscapes. Anyway, the observations sounds about like ours, in that they seem to be loom whenever they want to.