The horrible heat wave and dry conditions wreaked havoc on our garden. We only got a handful of tomatoes and peppers.
A lot of other plants were really stressed by the end of summer.
So as I look back at photos from the 2012 season, I was struck at how wonderful the plants really looked at times.
Or maybe they just photograph well. Like some Hollywood types.
What follows are some of my favorites from this year.
Early Spring carried with it the hopes of the best year ever.
Phlox looked really good.
By Memorial Day, some of the Lillies were blooming.
Dianthus blooming after Daffodils were spent.
Peonies had their best year ever. Irises did pretty good.
Love these white Echinacea. Started these from seed a few years back. Definitely need to get some more.
More, smaller-sized Lillies. There's an "Easter" Lilly or two, from our church, in the back there, but the heat got them. Hope they come back next year.
Shasta Daisies beat the heat.
I planted some Zinnias in the vegetable garden. By accident. But I liked how it fit in with the other plants. I think it was the color.
These are my favorite pictures of the year, featuring the Asiatic Lillies. They smell even better than they look.
Bee Balm in foreground, Lillies in the background. I think this was the first night of summer.
Oriental Lillies during the heat wave.
A couple of volunteers from 2011, some Coleus and Vinca, lived through the drought fairly well this summer. Below that are some Wild Strawberries. I have no idea where they came from.
Back in spring, I had high hopes for 2 new trees I planted in 2011, the Japanese Maple and the Smoke Tree. They got off to a great start, but a late spring frost shortly after these pictures were taken really knocked them down, and they never really recovered. Then came the drought. I think they'll make it through the winter, though.
I guess it wasn't such a bad year after all.
Anyway, what inspired this post were the great photos over at Dave's Garden. Here are the winners of that site's photo contest for 2012. It's worth a look around, especially during these gray and gloomy winter days.
