September's Blooming

It's winding down in the garden, and while I've removed some annuals and pruned back some perennials, there's still plenty of color splashing about:

This garden verbena went through a period in July and most of August where it just looked pitiful. No matter how much I watered it, the foliage got crispy and brown and the flowers were sparse. So as a last resort, I cut it back and let it start over and voila! Beautiful blooms again.


I'm never planting mums again. I lost a dozen or so of them over the winter this last year and that just irritated the heck out of me. I've since read that mums are not considered hardy to zone 5 anymore, so I'll be planting more asters. This is the only one I have at present and I've had it for several years. It looks fabulous every fall and the purple color just glows against its dark green foliage. The Cabbage White butterflies love it, too.


The Chinese Forget-Me-Nots (Cynoglossum amabile) have been blooming non-stop for many, many weeks and show no signs of stopping yet. I love this color in a flower. (Wish I could grow those Himalayan poppies . . . )


Hosta 'Masquerade' may be small in size, but its flowers are big in comparison. I'm a big fan of stripes in flowers and other things, so I love the petals here.


For the first time ever, my Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) has put on seed pods. That's what is sticking up just behind these blooms. It's pretty well done blooming, but there will be one here and there, like this one.



The Hardy Hibiscus 'Fireball' is living up to its name. Its blooms are enormous, measuring 10-12" in diameter. And it's got those funky outer space centers that it shares with its tropical cousins.

My white one, 'White Chiffon,' is blooming too.




The Hardy Glads are putting on a show right now. I don't know the name of these, but in addition to the reds, I've got some yellow ones with pinkish centers. These bloom later than 'Atom', which I've got as well.


The Cosmos sulphureus is still blooming, but it's not quite as prolific as it was earlier. I've stopped deadheading it so that I can keep plenty of seeds for next year. I just loved how it performed this summer.


The Heleniums went NUTS in my garden! This was my first year for them, so I didn't know what to expect. I've got solid yellow ones blooming, too.


'Memorial Day' rose is doing very nicely, as usual. The blooms seem to get larger as the season goes on. It's very fragrant, too. I like that in a rose.

I just LOVE this miniature rose. I bought it last winter at Lowe's and I thought I was going to kill it before it got warm enough to plant it in the ground this spring. Thank goodness it hung in there, because it's a real stunner. There was no cultivar tag on it when I bought it, so I don't know which one it is.


Coreopsis rosea is one that I've attempted to grow before, but haven't had a lot of luck at it. It tends to remain spindly for me, but I thought I'd try this larger-bloom cultivar, 'Sweet Dreams,' and see how that goes. I've only had this a few weeks.


This is a pink annual that I planted from seed this spring and I can't find the seed packet, so I don't know its name. I love how delicate it is.


It's looking a little ragged now, but this is from a 'Whirligig' mix of zinnia seeds I got at Walmart. I love flowers that have pink and yellow together.


This Veronica spicata was planted rather late in the season, so it hasn't gotten just real large, but it has bloomed well ever since I've had it.


I think this Tricyrtis is 'Tojen.' I've got several toad lilies and 'Lightning Strike' is loaded with buds. It wasn't blooming when I got it last fall, so I'm anxious to see it in bloom.


'Rozanne' hardy geranium is a very strong grower and bloomer for me. It had gotten quite large so in mid-summer I cut it way back and in no time it was filling its spot again and then some.




I have Sweet Autumn Clematis (Clematis terniflora) in two different locations. Most of it is planted on the arbor entrance to the pool area. I had a small start of it that I planted on this obelisk trellis this spring, and oh my goodness. If I pruned that thing back once this summer, I pruned it a hundred times. It was just too limiting for this vigorous vine.

HOWEVER, I'm not sorry.



About a month ago, I stopped pruning, because I knew flowering season was upon it and now it's a mound of white blooms with tendrils of delicate flowers venturing out in all directions. Sometimes our 'mistakes' suprise us as if to tell us, "You think you screwed up, didn't you? HA! Just watch me now!"


I've still got some daylilies (Hemerocallis) blooming, like 'Sarah Christine,' which has got to have one of the biggest flowers I've ever seen on a daylily.


Pelargoniums are blooming, of course. I've got various cultivars of red ones, pink ones, and salmon ones. This one is somewhere between pink and salmon. I love the veining.


I have bought Rudbeckia 'Prairie Sun' in plant form, but this one I grew from seeds this spring. It started blooming later than the other ones, of course, but is no less an attention grabber with its big yellow blooms.


I absolutely love this Scotch Heather (Calluna vulgaris 'Robert Chapman'). A lot of heathers aren't hardy to our zone 5 winters, but this one is supposed to be. I sure hope so, because it's beautiful in three seasons. I think I might just like it best in fall, with it's blazing red and yellow foliage. The flowers aren't bad either!

I've got other things blooming too, but with being so far behind in my blogging, I'm not posting all the pictures I took. I feel like my life is out of control right now! We went from flood > garage sale > Columbus trip > 50th birthday > day trip with my friend Marsha plus a few days of work in there and an attempt at getting some fall garden work done while dodging mosquitoes.

I really do love this time of year, but I feel so far behind with things, I'd like to get caught up so I can relax a bit and enjoy it! I'll get there!