Thursday, August 15, 2013

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - August 2013

August GBBD HEADER
Wow...it's the middle of August already! It's definitely high summer here in Portland, although our weather has been atypically overcast and muggy the past few days. While I always welcome cloud cover, the humidity is not especially pleasant!

agastache blue blazes  3420
Hands-down the pollinator favorite at the moment is Agatache 'Blue Blazes'. Bees, bumblebees, hummingbirds and butterflies all jostle for a spot at this beauty.

rudbeckia panicum  3439
A summer classic, Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'. It may be common, but I still love it...and few flowers say "summer" like those bright yellow discs of gold. Of course, add the tiny, bead-like blooms of Panicum 'Shenandoah' and you have summer magic!

impatiens balfourii  3474
Even though I ripped them out by the millions this spring, several Impatiens balfourii obviously escaped me...and are now in full bloom. I have to admit, they are wonderful at filling in gaps in the garden. I'm already dreading all the weeding I'm in for next spring.

geranium rozanne  3419knautia macedonica  3408
Geranium 'Rozanne' is one of the hardest-working plants around. She's been blooming for at least 3 months without a break...and will go on like this until frost. She is constantly swarming with bees...as are the Knautia macedonica. I've discovered that while they will survive without supplemental summer water, the ones that DO get water flower all summer...while the ones in the parking strips that don't get water only bloom sporadically until the fall rains return.

crocosmia orangeade  3423
One of the first plants I bought, years ago, Crocosmia 'Orangeade'. Sadly, the expanding Sumac above them is starting to crowd them out...and they'll have to be divided and moved this fall...if anyone local wants a division, let me know :-)

garden vignette
Probably THE defining plant in my garden from July onwards is Eutrochium 'Gateway'. It's size, structure, and now, blooms, make it an extremely versatile and invaluable plant...one of my top ten favorite plants EVER!

epilobium wanding  3457
The Epilobium, which were so tall and upright for months, start to twirl and curve as summer heads into fall. The bees still love them...and they are swarming with Ladybug larvae...reason enough to keep them around, as the aphids are especially bad this year.

erysimum and agastache  3458helenium mardi gras  3477
Without a doubt, the longest-blooming plant in my garden is Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve', which thrives on TOTAL neglect...I'm talking NO WATER ever. It's been blooming for 12 months straight! I always had trouble with my Helenium flopping, but the key seems to be to plant them and leave them be...don't water them and they stay much shorter and don't flop...yet they still bloom continuously for months.

agastache black adder  3462
The clumps of Agastache 'Black Adder' are much diminished this year...perhaps because I don't water them...some Agastaches DO seem to want some summer water. They still bloom, however, much to the delight of the bees.

echinacea and sedum  3468
Another classic late-summer/early-fall combination, Echinacea and Sedum, in this case, Echinacea 'Magnus' and Sedum 'Matrona'. I love how the colors compliment each other...they seem to smolder in the front parking strip. As wonderful as the fresh, bright blooms of Echinacea are, I like them as they start to fade even more...they take on warm, peachy tones that so gracefully usher us into autumn.

echiancea showoff  3454
A new Echinacea I'm trying this year, to much success, is 'Showoff', which I love due to it's gracefully reflexed petals...and the delightful ombré coloring of its petals (I know, ombré is SO 2012...but who cares)!

macleaya cordata  3429echinacea white swan  3422
While Macleaya cordata is grown mostly for it's lovely powdery-blue foliage, the frothy flowers are pretty cool too. Echinacea 'White Swan' adds a cool pop of white to the front border...I do love it's crispness.

Lilium sarabande  3405
The last of my Lilies to bloom, I believe this is 'Sarabande', which, happily, is nicely perfumed...and beautiful!

agastache purple haze  3465selinum  3450
While the coloring of Agastache 'Purple Haze' isn't as intense as some of the newer varities, I really like how it contributes a soft, well, haze of cool color to a border. A bonus is that it's habit is reliably upright. Selinum wallichianum is just undeniably graceful in form and flower.

lobelia gerardii  3472
I can never get enough purple...and Lobelia gerardii delivers in that department!

persicaria golden arrow  3456
While it's lush, golden foliage is the main attraction early on, the cerise, bottlebrush flowers add wonderful, airy strokes of color to the scene.

astrantia star of fire  3476echinops  3466
I'm a bad gardener, I almost never dead-head flowers anymore, mostly because I like the way they look as they fade on the plants...and also, because I never seem to get re-bloom anyway. One exception seems to be Astrantia 'Star of Fire', which I just planted last month. Echinops blooms are utterly fascinating to me...I love how they are perfect, pointy spheres...and bees go INSANE for them!

queen annes lace  3441
I was pretty excited last month when I realized that some Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carrota) had seeded into my garden. Time will tell whether I should have been afraid instead. Even more exciting are the colors of Panicum 'Cheyenne Sky'!

salvia amistad  3425
Salvia 'Amistad' still thrills me...those inky purple blooms are to die for!

rudbeckia triloba  3460
This is the best year ever for Rudbeckia triloba in my garden...I have several that have seeded around and all of them are blooming...love their sprays of smaller golden blooms.

agastache liquorice candy  3461
This Agastache ('Liquorice Candy') was a gift, and a wonderful gift it has turned out to be!

vernonia missurica  3432
I transplanted these poor Vernonia missurica 3 times this spring...I couldn't decide whether I should give them away (they flopped badly in my shady garden last year) or move them to the sunniest spot possible. Well, I kind of just plopped them where I had room, and they are much happier...and starting to bloom with intensely red-purple umbels of flowers.

verbena polaris  3430agastache blue boa  3464
Verbena rigida 'Polaris' continues to add soothing light lavender flowers to the path leading into the backyard, and Agastache 'Blue Boa' still pumps out blooms, even though it's now dwarfed by the Panicum 'Northwind'.

hummingbird  3478
While I almost never seem to have my camera at the ready when the hummingbirds are around, yesterday morning I lucked out! Here, it's feasting on Agastache 'Desert Sunrise'

north border from east  3433
Let's wrap up with the wide views...here we have the north border looking from west.

north border from west  3434
The same border looking east.

north border from west v  3435
Looking over the north parking strip into the corner of the garden.

side yard  3446
Here's the north border from above.

front garden from south  3426
Here's the front garden looking north.

front border from north  3452
The front garden looking south.

backyard fron driveway  3411
Here's a view into the back yard coming up the driveway (shed on the left).

backyard v  3443
Here's the backyard looking north.

back yard from north  3453
And the backyard looking south.

corner view  3412
And we finish with a look of the whole shebang! Join Carol at May Dreams Garden for more Bloom Day posts...and I hope your summer is going well, as we look with anticipation toward autumn!

76 comments:

  1. Just amazing! Thanks for the overall shots of the borders, as well as the closeups.

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    1. Absolutely, Cindy...I think wide shots are invaluable for putting everything in perspective :-)

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  2. Gorgeous as always. I love how you show us the smallest details (I never would have noticed the ombre on that echinacea) in your magnificent garden.

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  3. I love that you close with a few wide shots, it really gives people a good look at how much you've crammed into a small space! Oh and I would LOVE a bit of your Crocosmia 'Orangeade'...I need more orange flowers!

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    1. I'll make sure to bring you some of the Crocosmia for the exchange...I think you'll love it!

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  4. Hello scott, everytime I'm suprised by the beauty off your garden. I have a lot to learn. I love the echinacea White Swan. I had it in my garden but they disappeared.
    I'm looking forward to see your garden in September. Greetings from the Netherlands Marion

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    1. I've had a few 'White Swan' just disappear as well, Marion...sometimes the just can't take our wet winters, I guess. I'm hoping we get some rain soon...there may not be much left by September if not!

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  5. Bravo pour ce superbe jardin ! la dernière photo est magnifique

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  6. As always your tiny garden is jam packed with color and form. The shots are beautiful, and I appreciate that you let us see the wide views at the end because each little star of the garden becomes a note in a complex symphony in combination! I failed with rudbeckia Goldsturm (supposed to be easy and foolproof but it got a bacterial disease) so I love seeing its golden self here.

    I will want to see how the Queen Anne's Lace behaves for you!

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    1. Oh no, that's so sad about the Rudbeckia...sometimes even the toughest plants can fall prey to those diseases :-(

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  7. Hi Scott,

    Glorious photos as always, I hope that when I move I am able to get as pretty/good views of the garden as you can. In my current place I've been somewhat restrained, knowing I always aimed to move in a 5-10 years, but the next place I'm going to unleash the inner grass-perennial-prairie loving beast and hope to have borders as full as yours :)

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    1. I hope you and I BOTH get to move to bigger properties someday...just imagine it!!!

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  8. Well the humidity is definitely working for you, your garden looks gorgeous and lush! I especially am loving your Echinaceas and the Salvia Amistad; the purple is just so striking. Enjoy.

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  9. Beautiful blooms!
    I want to especially thank you for the photo of the vernonia missurica. Just this afternoon I walking at the edge of the woods and saw a plant with purple blooms I had never noticed before. I think that's what it is! Do you know if it is a native wildflower? Or is it something that just escaped from someone's garden?
    Thank you!
    Happy Gardening!
    Lea
    Lea's Menagerie

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    1. Hi Lea...Vernonia is definitely a North American native...there are several varieties, depending on which area of the country you are from...and they can range from a few feet up to 10' tall!

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  10. Another great visit with wonderful blooms. I always enjoy visiting and seeing your amazing photography. Happy GBBD!

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    1. Glad you could visit, Lee...and glad you enjoyed your stay :-)

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  11. If there's any Orangeade left, I'd love a division! I count as local, right? So happy to see your blooms today, and the long, wide look at your beds too. I really should go back to my local nursery and get a pot of that Salvia 'Amistad.' I love it, and its flowers will look really good with all the orange that's going into my tropical border next year.

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    1. I'll make sure to save you some, Alison...I'm sure there will be quite a bit for the taking :-) Oh yes...that deep purple will POP with the orange!

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  12. Beautiful ...all of it! Now I know we're I'm going to plant my ' Matrona'

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  13. Your garden always looks spectacular, but this is truly your time as the crescendo builds toward fall.

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    1. It's so true...mine is a late summer/fall garden...not much to look at in early spring, however ;-0

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  14. Love, love, love the Gateway and all the grasses. I especially love the photo of the Rudbeckia fulgida with the Panicum grass, wonderful combination. Also really enjoyed seeing the last photo of the house and surrounding gardens. So cool to see the whole picture.

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    1. Thanks, Deanne...I always appreciate it when others put in those wider shots of the garden too...it puts everything in perspective :-)

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  15. Everything looks great. I wish I had so many plants in bloom. The hell strip planting really adds a lot, turning the sidewalk into a path through a meadow, it seems to me.

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    1. Thanks, Ryan...that's exactly what I wanted it to feel like...a path through a lush meadow!

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  16. Your garden always looks great and it's so floriferous right now! I also liked the wide shots.

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    1. Thanks, Peter...it seems like this is the point of the year where EVERYTHING is blooming simultaneously...it's pretty glorious!

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  17. Hi Scott, even if a plant is not as fabulous on its own, they always look spectacular through your lens. I have maybe been telling you that ever since, but i am always awed!

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    1. Hahaha, thanks, Andrea...a little creative camera work can do wonders ;-)

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  18. Wow! I haven't checked in for awhile and this was a fabulous post to see so much of your garden! It is gorgeous and I must say we have many of the same plants! You have several more that I would like to try though, especially after looking at your beautiful photos! I absolutely love purpley-blue lobelia and hardly ever see it in others gardens. I love your combination of Echinacea and Sedum Matrona and would like to try it. Your shots are seriously beautiful. Great job!

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    1. That Lobelia was a total impulse buy, a few years ago, and I'm so glad I got it...it's rich and wonderful!

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  19. I would love to see your overall shots in a side by side progression throughout the year in a post sometime. It would be fascinating to see them change over time. I covet your White Swan, and that Panicum/Rudbeckia shot is gorgeous.

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    1. That's such a good idea, and I've actually done something like it once (or twice) before. I'll have to remember to do that at the end of this year (or perhaps the beginning of next year, as a "year-in-review" :-) Actually, it would amazing to get everyone to do the same thing...and record of our gardens throughout the seasons!

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  20. Lovely scenes as ever. I really love the intense purples of Lobelia gerardii and Salvia Amistad, beautiful.

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    1. I love those too, I'm such a sucker for anything purple!

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  21. Looking at photos of your garden is always a treat Scott! Amazing photos and your garden always looks so dreamy and ethereal :)

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    1. Thanks, fellas, it's a great time of year for my garden...everything is either at it's apex or just about to be!

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  22. The photo of the Black-eyed Susans with the Panucum grass is great. I wanted to ask if it's okay to use the pic as a wallpaper on my computer monitor - no commercial use or redistribution intended. I just think it's a great pic. Regardless, I thoroughly enjoy reading your blog and looking at the photo's. The effort you put into the garden and your willingness to share its' progess is appreciated.

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    1. Of course you can use it, BriarRattz...enjoy...I'm always happy when people enjoy the photos :-)

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  23. What a great collection of flowers. It is unfortunate that my balcony is small. Flowers amount is not enough. Have a great weekend!

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    1. I feel your pain, Joanna, I lived in an apartment for years that didn't even have a balcony (or even windows that opened)!

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  24. I know what you mean about Gateway. It would be my defining plant if it weren't for the cup plant. I've had the same experience with Knautia blooming sporadically when left to its own devices in the parkway. Your garden is gorgeous, as usual!

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    1. I'll really have to find a spot for cup plant...it's very impressive in all the photos I've seen!

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  25. I may shamelessly steal your Echinacea/Sedum combination. Your garden looks magnificent!

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    1. Hahahaha...steal away! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

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  26. Beautiful combinations! I especially like the rudbeckia paired with Panicum 'Shenandoah'

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    1. Thanks, Lisa...that's one of my faves, as well :-)

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  27. Your garden is stupendous. I would say I'm in awe but actually I'm jealous! I recently saw Agastache Blue Boa at the Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh and made a mental note to get some. It seemed to have a much better, richer color than some of the other varieties, even Black Adder.

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    1. It truly does have better color and much fuller blooms than 'Black Adder', Sarah...it's not nearly as tall, however, so it takes a little extra planning to make sure it's not swamped by taller plants :-)

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  28. Just fabulous, I love all your combinations. I really want Echinacea 'White Swan'; I'm going to have to search for seed, I haven't seen this plant here. Interesting your sedums are flowering already, Matrona isn't flowering yet for me but the deep purple leaved one is. I love them all and your combinations work stunningly.

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    1. Thanks, Christina! I'm so jealous of your purple-leaved Sedums...they never do very well for me...but I keep trying them!

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  29. That Rudbeckia triloba is my favorite of that tribe, but I find it tricky to get in sync with the biennial thing. And I always take notes on your fave agastaches. It's like the definitive agastache trials!

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    1. It's so very true, Denise...the biennial thing is very hard to plan a garden around, it's very tricky to have a 6' tall plant in a spot one year, only to have it missing the next! I'm always willing to put those Agastache through their paces ;-)

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  30. Scott everything looks so lush and it is nice to see flowers that have been long gone from my garden like the geranium....agastache is a magnet here too.

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    1. Thanks, Donna...isn't Agastache amazing for attracting pollinators...they must produces gallons of nectar!

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  31. I enjoyed your photos, your garden looks wonderful as usual, the tall Gateway Joe Pye weed really is a focal point. I'll have to consider it. I am growing related but much shorter Eupatorium coelestinum, Mist flower, but it is very small so I don't know how long it will be before it blooms. How great to get a hummingbird shot! Thompson & Morgan has seeds for Echinacea White Swan, and also mixed colors, though some are out of stock now. I suppose they will be available next year. I was surprised when looking at some in a nursery that many are actually pretty fragrant.

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    1. I'll have to keep an eye out for that Eupatorium, Hannah...I've seen it on other blogs and it's utterly stunning...but does bloom later in the year...love it!

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  32. A trip to your blog never disappoints. I was at dinner at some friend's house who had the same lobelia. It's very intense in person.
    Ray

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    1. Thanks, Ray...I agree...that Lobelia is such a rich, deep purple, it's impossible to really capture it in a photo!

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  33. I always enjoy seeing the Astrantia on your posts, Scott! And the Agastache. And the Grasses! When I think of the term "bad gardener," you are nearly the last person who would come to mind! Deadheading is optional, anyway. ;-) I think I must be the only gardener who doesn't have Joe Pye Weed. But I'm thinking of adding a close relative--Boneset--this fall. Lovely post, as always!

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    1. Hahahahaha, glad to know I'm not on the "bad" list! Boneset is gorgeous...I hope you post photos of it!

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  34. Every time I think your garden couldn't get more fabulous I'm proven wrong. All those tweaks you made in the spring paid off--everything looks amazing. I love how so many sections of your garden seem to glow. And a hummingbird shot! I'm so jealous!

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    1. That is seriously the only shot of a hummingbird I've gotten all year...which is crazy, since they are always around, but I'm never fast enough...until now...mwahahaha!

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  35. Hi Scott! Gorgeous garden and blog! Thank you so much for visiting our garden last Sunday, you are both most welcome to our garden any time! So I did it, I started a blog - http://chickadeegardens.blogspot.com/ - ! Yay! thanks for the encouragement.....hopefully see you around! Tamara and David

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    1. It was my pleasure to visit, Tamara...your garden is so lovely..and I'm so excited you've started a blog!!!

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  36. I always love my visit to your garden. I have a number of the same plants, but they don't get the long season to grow as large. Your grasses are always the best too. Beautiful photos as ALWAYS!

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    1. Thanks so much...I have such a weakness for grasses these days...I can't get enough!

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  37. Seriously!? Can your garden be any more gorgeous. Wow, and the hummingbird shot. Well done. So graceful. Always inspirational Scott, Thank you!

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    1. Thanks so much, Jenny...I do try ;-) I hope that Willow is happy in your garden...and provides some much-need screening ;-)

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  38. Your garden is so lovely at this time of year, Scott, with the late summer bloomers and the grasses starting to join them. Lobelia gerardii is such a gorgeous clear purple. I think I need a little of that color in my garden. And your Rudbeckia triloba is beautiful - I mentally thank you every time I look out and see mine blooming!

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    1. That purple would really pop against all your orange, Jane...I think you should go for it!

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