It happens every year about this time.
Some plants need replacing.
When the heat and humidity, plus my lack of enthusiasm for going out and watering every single day collide, some babies just don’t make it until fall.
There are always a few that just don’t handle that late-seasonal combination well.
Most gardeners would probably admit that this summer has been extra challenging. So much heat and humidity for days at a time, with very little cooling off in the evening. Extremely tropical conditions for some places that just aren’t used to them.
I’m not used to them.
I’m proud that with the help of a regular sprinkler set up for my main garden, enough water (grateful), and my determination to take care of all my floral babies as well as I could, that this year’s crop of July plants needing to be replaced is surprisingly small.
I lost a couple of hanging plants and a few annuals that I just took too long to plant. My fault. But I lost very little else.
Fortunately, my local big-box store is still receiving deliveries of fresh plants. So I was able to score another healthy, hanging geranium, two smaller arborvitae (which often sell out so fast!), and two more hydrangeas for pots for a corner I still want to Jazz up.
Plus, I can enjoy arborvitae in the garden and in pots all year long.
Considering the 2025 relentless weather pattern, I think I’ve done good.
But now, I have to plant them all, something about which I’m not nearly as enthusiastic as I was in the spring. But I am committed fully to my new floral kids, and not wasting money, so I will plant them in a timely fashion.
Once the sun goes down.
Fortunately the days are getting shorter now. That’s in my planting favor.
How about you?
Are you replacing a few tired summer plants now, too?