Lean in

Three inches of rain last week, three more this week. Needless to say, I have not had to water anything except for a few pots and the coleus on the front porch. And everything is growing like gangbusters, including weeds. Not everything has been growing upright, however.

One of my favorite ways to round up horizontals that should be vertical are these short fence panels that Home Depot sells. They can be connected, but I am usually rearranging them to suit current needs so have never tried chaining them together. They look nice but are relative unobtrusive.

All the hollyhocks in this photo are growing from a single clump, some upright, some not.

A plastic post and little baling twine corrects that, more or less.

One reason I am growing hollyhocks is that they can be used for dyeing fiber. Depending on the mordant and modifier, dark hollyhock flowers produce colors ranging from mauve to deep purple. I have high hopes for these black blossoms.

As lovely as these look in the garden, I need to start harvesting and drying the blossoms soon.

Another reason to plant hollyhocks is they act as a trap crop for Japanese beetles.

While the tuteurs are holding up well with the clematis (or holding up the clematis well), this particular 'Betty Corning' is out of control. But then, so is the Juniperus x pfitzeriana 'Sea Green' it is sprawled across. I've been referring to these shrubs as juniper chinensis, but that is a rather generic term. In order to figure out exactly what they are, I had to search out an old photo that included the plant tag, then enlarge it. Despite the fuzziness, I am pretty sure I have the correct name now.

Something else that is too horizontal are some of the hostas. During the recent heat wave, one of my dogs took to cooling off in the hosta bed. Clio likes to bake in the sun, then search out a shady place, sort of like sitting in a sauna, then jumping in an icy lake. Maybe she is Norwegian.