Brilliant Days of Summer Blooms

The colours of summer blooms are vibrant and pop in the garden, well most of them anyway.  There are a few muted tones in the campanula and some delphiniums and hollyhocks but then there are those that are sizzling hot, just like summer days.  Echinacea, for instance, consists of many cultivars that are brilliant shades of yellow, orange and pink.  As spring begets summer, summer soon begets fall and often the flowers of August continue to bloom right through September.  Some just linger on the stem, drying in place.  They liven the garden landscape wherever they are found.

 Echinacea Hot Papaya (coneflower)

 Echinacea Pow Wow Wild Berry (coneflower)

Delphinium 'Guinevere'

Echinacea 'Cantaloupe' (coneflower)

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Endless Summer'

Osteospermum 'Blue Eyed Beauty' (annual African daisy)

Veronicastrum virginicum (Culver's Root) cultivar unknown

Veronica spicata 'Royal Candles' (Dwarf spike speedwell)

 Alcea rosea (Hollyhock) - cultivar unknown

Larkspur (Delphinium) - cultivar unknown

Lychnis (Maltese Cross)

Rosa 'Campfire' (Campfire Rose)

Rudbeckia ' Cherokee Sunset' (gloriosa daisy)

Veronica spicata (possibly Red Fox)

Campanula 'Light Blue Clips' (bellflower)

Delphinium

Delphinium

 Alcea rosea (Hollyhock) cultivar unknown

Trollius 'Orange Globe' (globeflower) 

Digitalis 'Dalmation Purple' (foxglove)

Digitalis 'Dalmation Peach' (foxglove)

Alcea rosea 'Queeny Purple' (Hollyhock )

Phlox and Monarda (bee balm)

Hydrangea macrophylla (mop head) (possibly 'Endless Summer')  photo by SWM

#Augustblooms  #zone3summerflowers 

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Keep Your Garden Fresh with Autumn Blooms

It's something we, as gardeners, sometimes forget.  We are so excited to see spring and summer blooming flowers that we can overlook autumn bloomers.  Is it that we are then tired, just as those annuals that linger but look distraught after a hot summer?  Do we forget our love of gardening as life gets busy, school is back in and vacation is over?  I know some days I look at my planters, the annuals drooping and withered, blooms spent; and I want to yank out the spent annuals and just be done with it.  That is until I go to the garden centre again or visit a botanical garden.   Then the yearn for gardening is renewed.  I've got something up my sleeve for winter.  Just wait and see! ;)

Well, in case this describes you too, here's some inspiration to remind you gardening season doesn't have to be over.    

Clockwise from upper left:  Echinacea, Gaillardia, Rudbeckia possibly "Goldsturm' variety (perennial brown-eyed Susan), annual garden mum, a mixed bed of Rudbeckia, possibly Goldsturm and Autumn Colours.  Some of the above photos were taken on the grounds of the Muttart Conservatory, others at a local greenhouse and my garden.

Perennials from left to right:  Stonecrop/sedum Autumn Joy, Aconitum (Monkshood), Toad Lily

Left to right above:  Sunflowers, Shasta Daisy, and container of succulents.

And don't forget the flowering kales:

What do you do in the garden at the end of summer?  Do you plant fall blooming annuals?  Change out your pots with kale and mums?  Please share.  I could use some more inspiration.