Here in Zone 6a/6b, summer started off rainy and mild, but finally settled down to a normal, warmish, less-waterlogged typical summer.
I haven’t been out to weed or maintain my flowers for a few weeks — rain, houseguests, Life just getting in the way, as Life does (especially when one has a four-year-old son). Yesterday evening, after dinner, my son and I took the tour around my various beds and borders to document what’s in bloom this August. Here’s what we turned up.
As always, the hydrangea paniculata takes first prize amongst all my flowering perennials for Most Awesome Flowers With Least Amount Of Maintenance.
The double Rose of Sharon has seen better days. I think she needs a rejuvenation pruning come spring — or maybe just some attention to cutting out dead wood.
I never get out at the right time to photograph the purple Rose of Sharon — she’s got all her flowers closed up by evening. When I leave for work in the morning, though, she looks fantastic and is in full bloom.
Underneath the shade of the purple Althea, the purple phlox has come out. I really should move these (along with the smattering of white phlox) together where they can really make an impact.
Some of the sedum has started to bloom, but hasn’t gotten its color yet.
This yarrow comes out every summer, and stays through the fall, but it’s in such a spot that it can’t really be appreciated. I would love to have a bigger stand of yarrow.
The white Rose of Sharon isn’t blooming yet this year, for some reason. Even the leaves are looking a little off. I hope it hasn’t developed some sort of disease. These two blooms were the only two I could find on the whole tree; meanwhile, the purple one is covered in blooms.
Hibiscus! I love these. This red one is in an unfortunate spot behind a white one and a yucca plant, so I may come up with a better home for her in the future.
I have two white hardy hibiscus plants — no, make that three, since I just discovered another one in one of my other beds yesterday. (I didn’t plant my borders myself; they came with the house. They were plated by the late Jewish retiree from whose estate we purchased the house. It makes for some surprises, even three summers in.)
In the back, I have three different yellow flowers in various states of health and vigor.
This one is in a more shady spot, and was looking like this last August, too.
This one I don’t remember having last summer, but is nearly six feet tall.
And this one, I think, is some sort of perennial sunflower, well-loved by big fuzzy bees. Its flowers were larger last summer, but it’s still doing well.
This nightshade grows like NUTS. I see that my neighbor managed to get it out of his adjoining bed, so I figure it’s my job as a good neighbor to take care of mine next.
I am super stoked that the butterfly bush has been attracting so many pollinators this summer! Several kinds of bees, shiny blue hummingbirds, eastern tiger swallowtail butterflies, and others. I actually have a hard time figuring out when to deadhead it, since it’s always covered with bees that I really don’t want to disturb.
Finally, my Japanese anemone, which I just learned may be some variant of the “September Charm” cultivar. This flower is another favorite of bees.
As always, many thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day every 15th of the month! Without this monthly reminder, I might not have such a detailed log of my blooms for the past year I’ve been participating.
Love Butterfly Bush!