ISN'T THIS TIME OF YEAR wonderful? The spring bloomers are gone now allowing me to spend time cleaning up and cutting back. I enjoy the instant gratification and sense of possibility that comes with this task. I've been so busy that I haven't taken very many photos lately. Here are a few I took a few weeks ago.
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Japanese Blood Grass, (Imperata cylindrica) likes moist soil.
I've been keeping this clump watered and the results are gorgeous.
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| Carex 'Something or Other' (my term) looks good next to the Hypericum. |
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| This Lavatera looks great for 5 minutes. Unfortunately, the old petals don't fall off so by mid-season the plant is a mess. I'm digging it out. I'll keep this nice photo as a memento of how pretty that five minutes is. |
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| My Clemmy 'Venosa Violacea' put on a stellar performance in June and July. I cut it all down yesterday. If I keep it watered, it will grow and produce a second flush of flowers. |
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| I'm loving my Acanthus mollis (Bear's Breeches) even if it's too shady for it to bloom. |
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| Oxalis crassipes likes to bend towards the sunlight and open its bazillion blossoms. |
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| Alstromeria is also on its second flush of blossoms. Note the Persicaria amplexicaulis foliage threatening to encroach. |
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| Sorry for the blurry photo but I must show off my Saponaria 'Max Frei.' Morning sun and afternoon shade seem to be the best recipe for these blossoms. |
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| Recently, I succumbed to my plant-shopping whims and purchased this tall, stately (and big blossomed) Scabiosa. I got it planted this week after taking out one of my bazillon clumps of Phlox 'David'--a plant that is planning to rule the world. |
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| I also purchased this sweet, perennial creeping Baby's Breath that I believe is Gysophila repens 'Rosea' |
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| Here is a photo of the the plants when I brought them home three weeks ago. They're now twice as wide and blooming away in their new home on the side of a rock-line raised bed. |
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| This is the first flower on my Gardenia 'Frost Proof.' Last week I counted 13 blossoms! I am so pleased with this plant. I've never had a Gardenia perform so well. No bugs and loaded with blossoms. Now if it lives up to its name and survives the winter, I'll be in heaven. |
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| Finally, a little evidence of my voyeurism with nature. I caught these two lovers who couldn't seem to wait for a room. My photo is blurry but maybe it was intentional since it protects their identity. We wouldn't want to embarrass them. |
Lovely blooms and foliage. Love your pink creeping baby's breath.
ReplyDeleteThe last photo is cute.
FlowerLady
I have a lot of cutting back to do too. I've done some, but there is always something going out of bloom, and I can't quite keep up. Careful with the Scabiosa, mine got enormous and flopped all over other things, smothering and killing a couple.
ReplyDeleteAin't this time of the year grand? Everything looks so happy in your garden! Love the bug porn!
ReplyDeleteI happened upon a Lavatera during its five minutes and refused to heed the warnings. Five years of struggle with the darned thing ensued before I gave up and took it out. t looks to me like it must be the only bad actor in your ensemble.
ReplyDeleteI heartily agree...I love this time of year in the garden. Your garden looks beautiful. I picked up the same gardenia and I'm crossing my fingers that it survives the winter. :)
ReplyDeleteMy sister has a clump of the Japanese Blood Grass in her new yard. I was already thinking about poaching a piece, but after your picture, I'm bound and determined to make a home for it in my own yard.
ReplyDeleteMy compost bin is overflowing with my hacking back ...so satisfying after sitting around in the heat for weeks.
ReplyDeleteI finally dug up a sad / dry clump of blood grass, moved it to a shady/ moist spot, it's perked up no end . Your garden looks fantastic as always.!
This time of year is so wonderful! We have 66+ daylilies and they are all in bloom now! All different. The color of those in bloom along with everything else makes the yard look so alive!
ReplyDeleteI love your pictures. Everything looks so healthy and happy!
Your garden looks amazing - I especially like the Lavatera. I'm a huge clematis fan as well, only they don't do very well for me here in Central Florida (except the invasive kind, which I didn't know existed until I planted it). :-)
ReplyDeleteGrace, you have so lovely garden, especially I liked Bear's Breeches, its foliage is pretty!
ReplyDeleteNow is time to sit and enjoy, isn't it?
The Oxalis is so pretty! And the pink Baby's Breath--wow! I love this time of year, too. I wish people wouldn't rush summer with "back to school" messages, etc. Summer is wayyy too short!
ReplyDeleteLovely plants...lovely flowers! With our 100+ constant temps my garden is looking wilted no matter how much I water it. You are very lucky to have more moderate temps and more rain.
ReplyDeleteIt is a great time of year in the garden. It is also a time of visiting grandchildren. Deadheading and other seasonal tasks wait while we take the grandsons off to cultural sites. Mass MoCA and the Phoenix.
ReplyDeleteA great time of year in the garden and with grandchildren. Sometimes the garden has to wait while we go off to Nass Moca
ReplyDeleteYour garden always looks amazing, Grace! I always have mixed feelings about summer...the garden is arguably at it's best...if only I wasn't so sweaty all the time ;-)
ReplyDeleteEverything looks so great in your garden....mine is a train wreck...overgrown, weedy etc, etc....this time of year is so hard for me to get time to get out and the heat and humidity is so awful you can't even garden in the morning...I look forward to cool days of fall.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos of happy plants !
ReplyDeleteIt is the time of cutting back and, inevitable, the time of gaps ! Oh, how I hate gaps !
Like you, it is also a time of digging out the plants which have not performed as hoped. I have my eye on a particularly gruesome salmon pink phlox which I put next to a gold coloured Hemerocallis ! Why did I DO that ?
Looking good Gracie! I like that red grass-- and I'm sort of shopping for grass right now. "Bug porn?" [Oh Peter!]
ReplyDeleteMy favorite by far: Carex 'Something or other.' Where oh where can I get one? If you say Fred Meyer I'm gonna die.
ReplyDeleteChristine B at Last Frontier Garden