Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - August 2011

As I work on this August Bloom Day post I'm listening to the blissful drumming of rain on the roof. We haven't heard that welcome sound often this summer, which makes us greatly appreciate this almost full day of rain so much more than we otherwise would. 

While the hot, dry summer has been hard on our upstate New York garden, it hardly compares to the heat and drought our gardening friends are experiencing in Texas and some other states. My heart goes out to the people of Texas, praying refreshing rain and cooler temperatures will ease their situation very soon.

We had some good rain on August 6th, 7th and 8th, bringing the green back to the lawn and giving the plants a boost. The moderate temperatures made gardening a pleasure during the past week.

Rather than digging these gladiolus, planted in the veggie garden last year, we covered them with bales of straw in the fall and they overwintered well. I planted more this summer but they'll be blooming much later.

Window boxes and containers have filled out and are looking bright and colorful.

That's "Misty Lilac" Wave Petunia in between a couple of regular Petunias. One Wave goes a long way!

Hydrangea macrophylla "Oak Hill" has been blooming since early July.

These perky pansy faces are growing at the base of the hydrangea.

Mr. Lincoln Rose had a late start, as did all the roses this spring, but it's done a good job catching up. I wish you could smell the wonderful perfume!

Sea Pearl Rose, in the pink garden, is still very small but it has bravely produced this pretty bloom and has more buds coming.

I was thrilled to find Agastache "Salmon and Pink" at our small local nursery. The hummingbirds love this plant.

The lovely Fuchsia in the hanging basket is "Marinka". It's putting on a spectacular show after overwintering in an upstairs bedroom.

Here are some of the containers crowding the back patio. I got a little carried away, as usual, even though I was determined to plant fewer this year. There are several overwintered geraniums in the mix, and a few other overwintered plants as
well.

Ivy Geranium "Comedy"

And on the front porch, baskets with "Tidal Wave Cherry" and "Pink Morn" Wave Petunias.

Ivy Geranium "Belladonna" with "Marimba" in the background, both overwintered.

This lovely Lophospermum was also overwintered.

As was this container with Vancouver Centennial Geranium and Blackie Sweet Potato Vine.

I love this very tall self-sown Sunflower growing by the front porch under the bird feeders. It branches more and has smaller flowers than the usual large-headed sunflowers (Blackoil) that sprout from dropped birdseed.

In the small rock garden pink Batface Cuphea, planted last year, has sown itself and produced several pastel colors. This was another exciting find at our wonderful local nursery.

The Daylilies are almost finished. There are just a few producing a last flower or two.
This one is "Dallas Star" and beside it is Sedum "Autumn Joy", which has grown much bigger than I thought it would.

Coneflowers are blooming up a storm - bee and butterfly heaven, although none were about when I took this photo.

Hydrangea paniculata "Limelight" has abundant blooms.

 

In the Lilac Garden, tall Phlox blooms with Shasta Daisies, red Bee Balm/Monarda (another absolute favorite of hummingbirds) and Gloriosa Daisies/Rudbeckia hirta (Black-eyed Susans).

The Driveway Garden has plenty of tall Phlox, Monarda and Lilies.

The elegant Tiger Lily blooms last a long time. I planted this one from a seed several years ago.

August is a colorful month for the front yard.

 

 

Gloriosa Daisies bloom for a very long time.

 

The Rudbeckia laciniata hortensia/Golden Glow (aka Cut-leaf Coneflower, "Outhouse Flower") is sprawling outside the little fences that my hubby built to keep it upright. It spreads rapidly and I haven't had time to dig up the escaping plants and give them away to other hapless gardeners who are blissfully unaware of its spreading habit. Today was too wet to get a wider shot of how it looks now. We're actually enjoying its sprawling outside the fence as it looks very pretty doing it, which makes it easy to forgive its tendency toward thuggery. 

You'll find well over a hundred gardeners eager to show off their blooms over at Carol's blog, May Dream Gardens, in Indiana.

Happy Bloom Day everyone!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - August '08 - Late!

I didn't get this done on the 16th when I meant to (see previous post)....but here's my Bloom Day post at last. I'm holding fast to the old proverb: better late than never :)

The driveway garden is looking a bit scraggly, but there are still some bright spots of color.

The Butterfly Bush (buddleia davidii) lives up to its name, drawing plenty of the lovely 'flying flowers'. Unfortunately, I didn't happen to catch any on it when I took these photos.

The White Temptation daylily is still opening a couple of flowers each day, but its blooming days are almost over for the summer.

Catherine Woodbury is like the Energizer Bunny - she just keeps going and going! What a beauty she is!

There are several colors of phlox in the driveway garden, including this vibrant red....

.....and this soft pink with the darker eye. The Cerise Queen Yarrow (achillea) blends nicely with it. There's lots of Bee Balm (Monarda) in this garden as well.

Looking past the Butterfly Bush to the lilac garden, we see more phlox providing the most eye-catching color there.

The red Monarda and white Shasta Daisies are still blooming, but are beginning to wane. These pink phlox spread very easily and must be kept in check. I dig out lots of the monarda and daisies too at the end of the season. Perennials save planting time in the spring, but thinning the spreaders can be labor intensive.

This pretty pastel Monarda goes well with the Yarrow.

The bees mix up the colors when they polinate, and I end up with lovely shades of pink and purple. There's a couple of ants sharing this bloom with the bee.

Tiger Swallowtails are abundant in our gardens.

The dwarf campanula (campanula carpatica) makes a pretty edging.

It's very easy to move pieces of this around to other gardens.

Here's a view of the driveway and fence gardens looking bedraggled after all the rain we've had. The garden in the foreground is filled to the brim with phlox which badly need thinning. I've found a few neighbors who want some :)

The Coneflowers (echinacea) are pretty in pink.....

......and the Gloriosa Daisies go on and on. They're both rudbeckias. Can you see the resemblance?

They're easy to grow from seed, and the birds sometimes spread them around.

Down in the lily garden a few daylilies are not quite finished blooming. Cherry Cheeks is still putting on a show....

...and Mariska, planted last year, is doing nicely her second summer.

Strutter's Ball, further up in a different garden, only had a few blooms this second summer. I added more compost so we'll see if this improves her performance next year.

Back in the lily garden, portulacas seeded themselves from annuals planted last year...

....and the wave petunias reseeded for a third summer. Other annuals that reseeded and are blooming in this garden are Nicotiana, Painted Tongue (salpiglossis), Snapdragons, Larkspurs and some pretty blue Petunias. I've never had so many annuals reseed before.

Aren't these rust colored Gloriosas pretty? They've been blooming for weeks in the fence garden, and really can't be beat for long-lasting blooms.

These bright Petunias are also in the fence garden.

I don't know the name of this Heuchera because it wasn't labeled. It's grown large in the clematis garden up by the house, where the soil is rich in compost. I've just pulled out all the Gloriosa Daisies that planted themselves here. Most of them were finally beginning to fade. I wanted to replace them earlier in the summer with some annuals, but didn't get it done before they bloomed, and then they looked too pretty to move. I have some other things I want to plant here to try and brighten it up a bit.

This lovely lady is Social Climber, bought on sale and planted at the end of the season last year. She was slow to start in the spring, but has done well since then, and given us some beautiful blooms.

There's lots more blooming, but this will do for now.

Many thanks to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day. I hope she'll forgive me for being so late!