A couple of days without the burning heat, combined with a milder forecast means even more work done outside! I had actually not planned to do anything outdoors until we stopped at Lowe's while waiting for our tire service next door. We ended up getting a 3-gal Peppermint hydrangea, with tons of blooms. But I was angry at either Lowe's or Forever & Ever (the grower) because I had bought a smaller one out of bloom which clearly wasn't peppermint afterward. I am also having a beef with another F&E product that's looking a lot like their Summer Lace instead of Red Sensation. Anyhow, we also got a Red Heart Althea rose of sharon sapling and a clump of Gaillardia "Arizona" variety.

To work in these new additions, I decided to finally extend the east wall bed around to meet the driveway 5 feet up. There I placed the Althea in front of the downspout, moved the old supposed-peppermint in front of that, and also sunk my Endless Summer Twist n Shout between it and the Blushing Bride. To fill the spaces in between all of this, I divided and moved 2 types of daylilies, 2 clumps of liriope grass.

The new Peppermint hydrangea was a bit of a task, because my wife wanted it out front for everyone to see, so I really had to think hard for a location. Then, I realized that if I smoothed out the lawn's curves around the yews, it made an excellent nook for it. I then cut the bed out to suit and vwallah!

In doing these things, I was thinning down the east fence bed too. I divided the Zagreb coreopsis twice. At that point, I was really on a roll, so if anything else was done, I forget and it's not that important!

Lastly I trimmed back the yew bushes, as they need every year. More of a clerical activity than anything, and the results are usually good. I might be talented at topiary, you never know!