Late August in the Garden

I wanted to at least post some photos of what's in bloom right now so I'll have them on record. My main focus has been getting the front beds ready for tilling and building up so I can plant them. I've go Blue Princess and Blue Prince Hollies waiting for planting, and started some hollyhock seedlings as well. I'm waiting for my big purchase, a Nova Zembla rhododendron, to go on deep discount at a local nursery.

I cleared most of the stone out of one of the front beds today, so it's just about ready for tilling. We'll wait a few more weeks for the weather to cool and then move out the coral bells (heuchera), which I hope to divide and replant. There are also a ton of hardy mums in there which I may keep some of, I'm still undecided.

I have a nice purple aster that has just started flowering, so that should pop within the next week. Sedums are also doing well so I'm waiting on those. That will finish off the fall blooms and then I'll be able to move those plants and really dig up the beds.

Here is what is in bloom in late August, in addition to impatiens and coleus, which are still going strong.

Buddleia Nanho Butterfly Bush:


Rose of Sharon bloom. I can't wait until I free up this shrub so it can grow and flower properly, and be seen!


Rudbeckia Black-Eyed Susans have been putting on a wonderful show and are still going strong:


Clematis in bloom, better late than never. I made some pruning errors last spring, I will know not to repeat them.

This Week's Garden Happenings

I made a couple of important discoveries about my landscape situation this week. The first is the pesky row of hydrangeas growing on the north side of my house, against the foundation. There are 10 of them, all planted on top of each other, leafed out with diseased looking yellowish foliage, and reaching about 5-feet tall. I hacked back six of them this morning and found an old tag identifying them as Nikko Blues. They produced no blooms this year (but I didn't prune them at all since we bought the house in November 2007, only fed them). Last year they produced 2 sorry looking blooms. Apparently, Nikko Blue isn't hardy in our zone, so that explains it. I don't have the time or energy to cover them in the winter, so whatever I can't give away is getting dug up and tossed. For now, the north side of the house will be barren except for the wild poppies that have taken up residence there.

The other discovery I made is that 2 hearty but barely flowering perennials in my overgrown island garden appear to be Cinquefoil. I bought a very nice gardening book this week and figured it out right away. I have a yellow and a white flowering variety which will get transplanted in the fall.

I did a bit of damage in preparing for fall planting of the new front beds. Ordered a bunch of bulbs and plants from van Bourgondien including poppies, phlox, lilies, muscari and crocuses. Also ordered some peaches n' cream hollyhock seeds which I'm going to plant in the fall and see if they'll come back.

A few pics of this week's garden happenings are below.

I believe this is Yellow Cinquefoil, in complete shade right now beneath a huge viburnum. It will get moved.



White Cinquefoil, again, I'm guessing.



Black-eyed susans doing well:



One of my 2 pink gladiolas:



The long-awaited first flower on my clematis. I think it's a common Jackmanii clematis. I count 16 buds now, can't wait until it fills up!



I'm really pleased with the echinacea this year:

The Clematis is Budding

I thought I wasn't going to see any action with the clematis this year, but sure enough it started budding this week. Is it just a late bloomer? Or perhaps the flower food I gave it a couple of months ago did the trick. I can't wait to see what color the flowers are and perhaps try to identify it.

Things are looking up in the gardens. The pool bed is in full late summer bloom with coneflowers, bee balm and black-eyed susans. I have some nice red and yellow lilies blooming out front, and my hot pink gladiolas are just coming into bloom. I pulled up a bunch of juniper ground cover as part of the front landscaping project, and freed up Butterfly bush and a sedum. There's also something else in the island bed with lots of light green foliage that doesn't look like it will bloom this year.

I think I've decided on a nova zembla rhododendron for the front garden near the garage. And I'm considering an azalea for the foundation planting, in addition to the boxwood I plan to transplant. I was thinking about a climbing rose as well, but I think that will be too fussy and high maintenance. Also some hollyhocks and other flowering perennials, as well as some existing things I'll be rearranging.

Here are a few pictures, I'll take more of the pool bed once the rudbeckia is at its peak. Still waiting for my Russian sage to do something, but so far no blooms. It looks healthy though. And I think I'm getting slightly better at photographing these flowers, although I still have a long way to go.