A Midsummer Trim

Late July to early August is the time when the garden begins to look a little long in the tooth. Hubby graciously helped me with the trimming, electric trimmer in hand. The main victims of the "hair cut," the perennial flowers. Down went the spent Mexican sage blooms, the lavender neatly edged from the delicate annuals, the orange kangaroo paw pulled back from the garden path, and the other lavender and lemon balm beat back to a neat hedge. I hope that the trim encourages more growth, but if not, it gets us started on our autumn clean-up. The tomatoes, as well, are looking worse for wear. We have opted to pull the Hillbilly (it never did very well - I only got 2 -3 tomatoes) and one very spent volunteer Black Pearl. This weekend, we'll pull 4 out of 6 of the Tomatomania plants. They had a good run and huge production of fruit, but they are at the end of their life cycles.

Trimmed Mexican Sage - Now I can see my succulents!

Cutting back the lavender to make room for the zinnias.

Hedge-ified lavender and lemon balm