Quite frankly I think the garden is 7-10 days behind a year ago. There are still daylilies that are blooming, and even a few daylilies that have not yet begun to bloom. Savannah Knockout, a pink double shown sometimes recently, put on a display with about a dozen flowers today. Flames from Hades, had its first bloom two days ago. Sandra Elizabeth still has its bud stalks just barely half way to blooming size.
So it is August, the bane of many gardeners. The back to school sales herald the early arrival of fall, which is the time when the garden dies back. When our children were younger (they are now 27 and 29) we used to go away for a few weeks in August, so that really was near the end of the garden.
I have made it a point these last few years to try very hard in August and September to keep the garden going. Here are some things to keep it going.
Rule number one- get plants that will bloom after August 1.
Rule number two- just keep planting new things. I am making cuttings from coleus, impatients, and Persian shield, and will just keep planting them right up till October 1. I sometimes buy out annuals from some of the venders at the farmer’s market.
Rule number 3- Get out in the garden, clean it up, keep it weeded, and enjoy it from the very hot days to the cool of the fall.
Rule number 4- Plan for the next year, with new beds, or redone beds.
Obviously some of these are more important than others.
So what pictures do I have this week for the poll. The quality of the pictures hasn’t fallen much, even as the quantity has diminished. The theme of the week is the red end of the spectrum,
Which do you like this week?
First- there is this stained glass window called a caladium, variety Red Flash. If you backlight these enormous leaves early in the morning you can take lots of pictures.
Flames of Hades is a late daylilies that is 4-5 feet tall, and is one of those flowers that you just see from across the garden. It also gets points in the best name contest.
This little beauty is a blackberry lily. Its foliage looks like an iris, it blooms about now, grows reasonably well in semi shade, and spreads
This is the lilium Black Beauty. It has been blooming for weeks.
The there is Sumatra. It is an Oriental lily. We saw this as a cut flower in a florist shop three summers ago while on vacation. We checked out its name and then found it for sale the next spring, in 2006. This is its third year. Its as tall as Silk Road, topping 5 feet on two of the four stalks. It is suppose to be about as dark as they come. (I think that Chamberlain is almost as dark.)
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The pink double just edged out the red and the orange daylilies in last week’s poll.
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I do have extra pictures this week.
There are white pictures. The waterlily can be relied upon to produce just about a perfect picture every time. Next is lilium speciosum album. Finally there is the nice and surprisingly large flower on the hosta Fragrant Dream.
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Here is Thalictrum Lavender Mist, one of 3 varieties that is blooming now. It is also about 6 feet tall. It is so very delicate and so hard to photograph. This is the single flowered one. I will try for a picture of the double one for next week.
Here are more daylilies. There is there is Brookwood Vandide, a charming little lily. It is way back in a corner where no one can see it at the moment. It is slated to move this fall. It wants a better stage.
Then there is Savannah Knockout, with much performance today. Single pictures of flowers sometimes just do not have the same impact that you get with an entire clump in bloom at once.
I close this week with a little old business. There is no word on the plant theft from last week. I did send off today for some replacement orchid cactus. It is my dream to have many, many different varieties, all hanging from the trees for all of us to enjoy. Maybe this theft will get us there quicker. Sometimes progress is made with strange steps.
Enjoy the week.
Philip
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