Robust garden phlox

Garden phlox

A quick trip back down the Blue Ridge escarpment to the Piedmont found us thinking, hmm, it's certainly hotter and more humid at home in Clemson (in spite of the heat wave that we've experienced on and off in the mountains).

My vegetable garden spaces looked wan (uh, the main vegetable garden IS being fallow to starve out the root-knot nematodes, but looks drought-stressed, for the few plants that remain, and the satellite garden is full of crabgrass, although the asparagus beds and honey fig (thanks, CEN!) look fine.

All of the flower and vegetable beds are ready for clean-up and fall planting; that'll happen in a couple of weeks when we return home for fall semester.  It won't take long to get the vegetable garden beds ready, but will take a bit more time to get the rest of the garden 'in shape'  -  thank goodness we're 'natural gardeners.'

I was impressed by an amazingly robust phlox, in the bed next to the garden shed.  A offshoot (I think) from the nutrient and water restricted plants in one of the perennial borders has become a standout in the rich, deep soil of this raised bed.  Hmm, yet another example of how rich garden soil transforms perennials.