July end of the month view - can you help my tree?

I actually didn't forget the end of month view that I've been joining in with Helen from The Patient Gardener, but just couldn't take pictures of this area in the state is was in.  It needed some serious cleanup and I finally had a chance to do some today.  The Japanese Maple 'Orido Nishiki' in this bed isn't looking so great right now and I'm hoping someone may have some advice on what I can do about it.  Everything else in this area looks great and is blooming on time.

I had to cut many flowers from the lower parts of the Hydrangeas.  They were laying completely on the ground.  Because this bed faces northwest it gets very little to no sunlight from the tree back towards the house.  The soil never really dries out especially after the very wet spring and early summer we had and having a gutter downspout draining into this bed I think that could be contributing to the trees problems.

Aside from the tree looking like the middle of September everything else is very happy here.

Fuchsia 'Queen Esther' just started to bloom and the Spiderwort (Tradescantia) is beginning to bloom again.  I probably cut off 20 Hydrangea blooms and it still is full of flowers.

The Hosta behind the little girl has been doing well.  Most of my Hostas are full of holes from the slugs that still are wreaking havoc in the garden.

If you look at the base of the tree you can see it's black in the back.  I remember noticing it in the same place last year, but never thought about it.  Hydrangea flowers were laying right over that place and when I pulled back the flowers to cut them, I found ants and aphids in the black area.

Up close you can see the black looks like oil.  It feels "wet" to touch.

Normally the leaves would still be mostly green and white (it's a variegated variety), but they are turning reddish and then falling off as they do every fall.

So, other than my tree not looking as good as it should I'm still happy with this area.  I think I need to work on drainage in this bed.  My husband suggested we divert the downspout completely out of the bed and then I think I may need to remove some of the heavy clay soil and try and amend with more compost.  The tree has been here for about 6 years and replaced a Vine Maple that literally tipped over one day.  Now that I look back I have a feeling it was because of the poor drainage in this soil that caused it's death.  If anyone has any ideas on what the problem could be I'd love to hear.  The large Japanese Maple on the other side of the house is losing a few leaves, but otherwise looks good.

Fertilizer Friday - new flowers to flaunt.

Another week has passed by so quickly it seems like just yesterday I was doing last Friday's post.  The garden is looking good this week with new blooms and roses on another round of flowers.  I still have quite a few bare spots I'd like to fill and am trying to keep in mind bloom times as I fill them.  I tend to pull up the annuals and then fill all the empty places in with what end up being end of summer bloomers and then once Spring rolls around I feel like nothing blooms until mid July.  Now that I've realized what I'm doing it's easier to make sure there is more year round interest rather than everything blooming at the same time and having to wait a long time for new blooms.  I've also found that I've done far less plant moving this summer than usual.  I think I'm finally getting the right plant in the right place, although it took many years for some of them to get there.

 I'm so happy that Rose 'Gertrude Jekyll' has started blooming again.  I was a bit concerned about how it would end up doing this year.  Both this and 'Abraham Darby' were really hit with black spot pretty bad, but after using an organic spray and some organic rose fertilizer they both look much better.

 I always forget how many Phlox I have until they start blooming.  The plant blends in so well with everything else, then suddenly I'm surprised by all the bright spots of color.  I've lost track of which are which now.

 This one is the reverse coloring of the one above it and also reseeds quite a bit.

 I always remember 'David' since it's the only white one.  It also reseeds like crazy.

 Echinacea 'Double Decker' which is now in it's third year in my garden and also in it's third year of not being a double.  It did have some strange extra petals last year, but nothing like it supposed to look.

 Behind the Echinacea is Aster 'Monch' which I moved last year.  It's in more sun and is growing up instead of reaching sideways for the sun.

 A new Echinacea 'Summer Sky' which is the color of the powdered cheese that comes with macaroni, not that I've ever served any of that to my kids.  ☺  Not sure if I like the color, a little fluorescent, and I'm not sure I would've bought it if it was in bloom at the time.

 By this time of year Dragonflies are constantly swooping over our yards.  I love seeing their shadows float by when I'm outside.  This one seemed to like landing on the warm stones and pavement to rest.

 I've never had Sweet Peas bloom this long, they are usually long done by now.  These are planted by the back door and the scent really carries.  I keep picking little bouquets to put around the house.  Sweet Peas are one flower I do pick regularly, one to prolong the bloom time and two because they smell so good I like them in as many rooms as possible.

I'm so happy the Pear trees are producing pears in their second year.  They each have about 6 pears which seem to be growing quickly now.  Our apple tree still just has one apple, the fig tree is loaded with figs and the Blueberries are ripening and at the tart and juicy stage which is just how I love them.  There has been a baby Robin that loves them as well, almost every time I walk through the area the blueberries are I see him hopping around underneath.  He doesn't even seemed scared of me when I walk by, just looks up and then keeps going.

Tootsie hosts Fertilizer Friday each week.  This week she is sharing garden pictures from non-blogging gardeners so they can get a chance to share their pretty gardens with all of us. 

Adventures of another hummingbird.

This past winter I watched a hummingbird's adventure in our back yard.  We had an unusually cold couple of weeks, and this one hummingbird seemed to rely on me hanging the feeder out early each morning.  At this time of year there's no need for filling feeders because there are so many of their favorite flowers blooming.  They are all over the front yard; Fuchsias, Monarda, Verbena bonariensis and the Butterfly bush seem to be the favorites.  Several times a day two will fly past me, one being chased by another.  Sometimes as one is feeding on a flower another will hide in a tree chirping.
As I walked out the front door I thought I would try to get some pictures of one of them on the Monarda 'Jacob Cline' since that's always the most popular.

 How lucky that there was one of the Butterfly Bush right then.  I was surprised it wasn't on the Bee Balm since that really is the favorite.

She didn't stay long, but I did get a couple of pictures.

 After she left I thought I'd get the camera focused on the 'Jacob Cline' that I was sure would have a visitor soon.  But, then I thought I saw movement under the plants.

 One of our neighbor cat's was rolling around under the plants, probably breaking more stems of my flowers.  Since they seem to do a pretty good job keeping moles and squirrels and other unwelcome visitors away from the yard in the past few years I've gotten over being annoyed with them.

Then I saw his brother peering out, this one is much more shy.

I figured no hummingbirds would be around with two cats under the plants, but was quickly surprised when an angry hummingbird began dive bombing the black cat and chirping angrily at him.

 She flew just over head to a Weeping Willow and chirped repeatedly, I guess hoping the cats and I would leave.

Here it looks like she dropped her wings down as if to say "I give up" even though she did try dive bombing the cats another time.  She eventually flew off and I chased the cats away.  Not long after I saw her through the window getting the nectar she was after in peace, by then I had given up getting any closer pictures and just watched from inside.