It’s sad saying goodbye to lovely plant friends whose schedules don’t permit staying late in the Season. Knowing they’ll return next year doesn’t help much…
Four large Aruncus (goatsbeards) sit on the sidelines, still useful as a backdrop for the fairy fountain and my big bench, but now plumeless and slightly frumpy.
The once gaily-dressed daylilies are bowing out, too. Their graceful greenery is limp, empty of long-stemmed, nectar-packed flowers. Ditto for the catmint, whose faded flowers droop, disconsolate. If I trim them back, though, new leaves hint of a second wind, but probably too late to matter much. I mope, and mop up the dregs.
Shasta ‘Alaska’ daisies, once the life of the party, are now much diminished. Yet, a few stems show fat buds halfway down. If I trim to those, another lovely flower sometimes appears. Never mind: Black-eyed Susans have picked up the slack, blooming vigorously throughout the garden, their vibrant honey-gold flowers gleaming atop rich green leaves.
Marigolds and geraniums still show off their crisp, vivid, multicolored outfits, intermingled with graceful, purple-plumed pennisetum grasses that wave a greeting to passersby. And the fat sedum are just beginning to turn vivid pink.
Old Professor Kippenberg has lived for years in the front garden; those aster-blue eyes should open in September. And one perfumed rose out there, ‘Grus An Achen,’ is reblooming for the third time!
Impatiens, still fresh and vibrant, look wonderful under the maple’s protective canopy.
The dogwood trees are developing large flame-red seedballs. A few years ago some of their long stems fell into the huge blue hosta’s leaf fold, making me gasp with pleasure! What an idea! (It causes quite a stir with visitors.)
Hotshot Lantana has grown immense: it weaves through beds with long, touchy-feel-y fingers and hot orange, yellow and pink flowers. Japanese beetles won’t touch its leaves, so this flower remains perfect.
Huge Miscanthus grasses are poised to turn red/orange and don showy plumes, and the Tropical, purple leaved Canna lilies tower six feet high in the background. Big orangey-red flowers atop their heads do look silly, and more than a little bug-eaten, but honestly, this garden needs these overweight comedians right now…)
Sweet autumn Clematis drapes long, leafy green arms over the back fence and door arches, promising perfumed, snowy-white flowers soon. This lovely plant will certainly help make rakish Autumn, the ultimate party pooper, palatable.
The show ain’t over, yet, folks!
Four large Aruncus (goatsbeards) sit on the sidelines, still useful as a backdrop for the fairy fountain and my big bench, but now plumeless and slightly frumpy.
The once gaily-dressed daylilies are bowing out, too. Their graceful greenery is limp, empty of long-stemmed, nectar-packed flowers. Ditto for the catmint, whose faded flowers droop, disconsolate. If I trim them back, though, new leaves hint of a second wind, but probably too late to matter much. I mope, and mop up the dregs.
Shasta ‘Alaska’ daisies, once the life of the party, are now much diminished. Yet, a few stems show fat buds halfway down. If I trim to those, another lovely flower sometimes appears. Never mind: Black-eyed Susans have picked up the slack, blooming vigorously throughout the garden, their vibrant honey-gold flowers gleaming atop rich green leaves.
Marigolds and geraniums still show off their crisp, vivid, multicolored outfits, intermingled with graceful, purple-plumed pennisetum grasses that wave a greeting to passersby. And the fat sedum are just beginning to turn vivid pink.
Old Professor Kippenberg has lived for years in the front garden; those aster-blue eyes should open in September. And one perfumed rose out there, ‘Grus An Achen,’ is reblooming for the third time!
Impatiens, still fresh and vibrant, look wonderful under the maple’s protective canopy.
The dogwood trees are developing large flame-red seedballs. A few years ago some of their long stems fell into the huge blue hosta’s leaf fold, making me gasp with pleasure! What an idea! (It causes quite a stir with visitors.)
Hotshot Lantana has grown immense: it weaves through beds with long, touchy-feel-y fingers and hot orange, yellow and pink flowers. Japanese beetles won’t touch its leaves, so this flower remains perfect.
Huge Miscanthus grasses are poised to turn red/orange and don showy plumes, and the Tropical, purple leaved Canna lilies tower six feet high in the background. Big orangey-red flowers atop their heads do look silly, and more than a little bug-eaten, but honestly, this garden needs these overweight comedians right now…)
Sweet autumn Clematis drapes long, leafy green arms over the back fence and door arches, promising perfumed, snowy-white flowers soon. This lovely plant will certainly help make rakish Autumn, the ultimate party pooper, palatable.
The show ain’t over, yet, folks!