A Happy, Abundant Growing Season

We had a terribly wet spring and a hot, muggy summer so far, though we seem now to be settling into some more normal, pleasant August weather. But apparently it's been a grand growing season because everything looks good. Take, for instance, my tomato vines which are burying me alive in big, juicy, ripe red fruit:

The miniature roses are blooming again and the Rose Of Sharon bushes are producing flowers on their new growth after I cut them all down to within 18" of the ground this spring:

I have a double purple Rose of Sharon out behind my kitchen. This was supposed to be a specialty "Bluebird" variety, but it used to have one side of each color. Eventually the expensive Bluebird side died out. I'm guessing that the Bluebird was grafted onto the hardier root stock of the double purple. Well, I like this one too:

The big, single purples are doing just fine and blossoming profusely:

And they sure are pretty:

Here's a close-up of the double purple:

A pink:

And a white. The spring rains and July heat may have seemed excessive to me, but apparently the plants loved the weather: