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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day August 2017

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is a meme hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens on the fifteenth of each month to allow bloggers from around the world to share what's blooming in their gardens. Having participated in GBBD for five years, I've found that it also creates a garden journal of sorts that helps us keep track of bloom times of various plants. Thanks Carol for this valuable and enjoyable tool.  To join in the florapalooza, click here.

The really big show of spring and early summer is over and many plants are looking a bit tired. Seems that once the last of the Oriental lilies drops it's petals, the garden begins the inexorable glide toward autumn. This year the old Linden tree, which creates much of the shade in the side garden, is hosting an infestation of aphids which means that the many plants beneath are coated with a disgustingly sticky clear syrup (aphid excrement.)  The ladybugs have arrived to counter the aphid population but the sprinkler must be used to wash the plants and path every couple of days.  New to me this year is powdery mildew attacking the tuberous begonias and fans of the hot dry weather, spider mites have taken up residence in the brugmansias.  Weekly spraying with neem oil after the pollinators have gone to bed for the day  and plants loosing leaves is not fun.  Just before my garden open, the leaves  a native Ribes sanguineum suddenly decided to turn brown so out it came. My 25-year-old Corylus avellana 'Contorta' is showing signs of the usually-fatal Eastern Filbert Blight that is infecting filbert/hazelnut trees all over the region and once again I'm battling Botrytis blight on a couple of patches of lilies.  Amidst the pestilence and decay, there are still happy and healthy blooms.  Here's a bit of what's currently blooming in my zone 8 Western Washington garden.

Fuchsias

'Delta's Groom' 

NOID hardy fuchsia

F. 'Golden Herald' 

F. 'Blackie'

Sanguisorba hakusanensis 'Lilac Squirrel,' Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer,' NOID mophead hydrangea.

Noid clematis.

Clematis 'Nelly Moser' 

Don Juan climbing rose is now so far overhead that one can only enjoy this view. 

R. 'Betty Boop.' 'Zephirine Drouhin' and several others are also in bloom.

Cyclamen are just beginning to bloom.

Variegated New Guinea Impatiens putting out flowers and growing like summer will never end.

A few of the Pelargonum (Geraniums)




Kirengeshoma palmata

Campanula x pulloides 'Jelly Bells'

Canna 'Tropicanna' 

Clerodendrum bungei 'cashmere Bouquet' and Anemone hupehensis

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Bavaria'

 Mahonia gracilipes

Abutilon megapotamicum

Abutilon megapotamicum 'Orange Hot Lava'
 Abutilon 'Victor Reiter'

Despite their powdery mildew affliction, The stars of the floral show are tuberous begonias.








Crocosmia 'Hellfire' 


Angelica stricta ‘Purpurea’

 Eryngium 'Big Blue'

Persicaria 'Golden Arrow' whose foliage is more golden with a bit more light.  Too much more light and it turns a crispy brown.

Roscoea 'Family Jewels' hybrid

Tricyrtis hirta (Toad Lily)

 Bougainvillea 'Raspberry Ice' has survived a couple of winters in the greenhouse.


The carnivorous Pinguicula 'Pirouette' not only split into four plants this spring but it's now blooming.

Hosta 'Rainbow's End' 

As they sometimes do, the spring-flowering magnolias are putting out a few off-season flowers. 

Albizia julibrissin (Mimosa Tree) is starting to drop spent blooms everywhere. This plant sex is messy business.

Tropaeolum speciosum

The last few Romneya coulteri of the season will soon be but a memory. 

Agastache somethingorother

Hope I find the tag for this cool European native Linaria.  It's not supposed to be a thug. 

Some annuals,  gifts for teacher appreciation week in May - Dianthus and Sweet Alyssum.

 A non-invasive weeping Buddleia 

Hibiscus syriacus (Rose of Sharon)

Impatiens glandulifera

Dactylicapnos scandens 'Golden Tears'

Clerodendrum trichotomum 'Carnival'

Cotinus coggygria 'Little Lady'
Happy GBBD everyone!

33 comments:

  1. Wow! What a great selection of wonderful flowers!
    I scrolled through several times to decide what I liked best. The Begonias! The Red Rose! The white and red/purplish Geranium! The 'Tropicana' Canna Lily!
    Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!

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  2. OOoohhhh I love these jewels. I have been looking for that nasturtium variety...did you plant seeds? You have some real gems there in the garden in August. Thanks for sharing them.

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    1. Tropaeolum speciosum is a crazy thing. I've heard that seeds must be fresh and can take up to a year to germinate. I started with rhizomes many, many times and have had the plants flourish for a year or two and then disappear entirely. The long fleshy rhizomes like summer water but appreciate a bit of dryness in the winter. They say that either you can grow it or you can't but I keep trying and currently have a couple of clumps that have been happy now for about three years (fingers crossed, knock on wood, breath bated.) One is in a large pot beneath the eaves of the house which keeps winter wet away a bit and the other is in the ground competing with greedy bamboo and conifer roots. It's a difficult plant to find in commerce but sometimes can be found at specialty nurseries or plant sales. Sometimes you can find rhizomes for sale online.

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  3. Everything looks as gorgeous as I was expecting including those fabulous Fuchsias. I've never seen anyone get a Kirengeshoma shot with the flowers so outward. Your list of plant problems is sobering. I appear to have jp. beetles. Have not actually seen them — only the damage. Ugh.

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    1. There's usually a little pest problem or two in any garden but they usually right themselves. Sorry to hear about your jp. beetles! Yuk.

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  4. Wow! your garden is touched by the Godess Flora! I love Fuchsias and used to have many but one day the evil Fuchsia mite showed up and ruined all the fun.. now I only have some Fuchsia Magellanica that tolerate severe prunning when the mite attacks. Yesterday I saw a very long fence covered with Abutilon 'Victor Reiter', they are very popular hedging plants here.

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  5. I'm so glad I planted Begonia tubers this year, those big beautiful flowers cheer me up almost as much as a fake cop strip-o-gram. It's always interesting how you have a couple of things flowering, like the Kirengeshoma, whereas mine are just about to open, but not yet. That six hundred feet of elevation makes a difference in summer too.

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    1. Isn't it interesting that that little elevation change makes such a difference? I always attributed the winter difference to my proximity to the water and the urban heat island effect.

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  6. You really like the dangling blooms! How do you know the Buddleia isn't invasive? Definitely not producing seeds?

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    1. I am fond of the dangly bits - er, um blooms. Good question about the Buddleia - I was told by the small grower here in western Washington that it's not invasive so just believed it. I've had others that do pop up around but this one hasn't produced any progeny in the 10 or so years it's been there.

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  7. So sorry to hear about the tree and shrub losses, but what a lot you have for consolation. So weird that I always prefer the hardy fuschias to the tender types. I love that NOID hardy fuchsia -- reminds me of 'Hawkshead' maybe? That clerodendrum is just spectacular. And now I know Dicentra scandens had a name change!

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    1. What's a garden without a bit of drama? I was thinking that it was 'Hawkshead' but recently saw one and it was pure white with green while mine has a bit of a pink blush so I stopped calling it that.

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  8. You paint an ugly picture, but your flowers are all happy and healthy. Hope there's more good than bad. So Abutilon 'Victor Reiter', did that one spend winter in the greenhouse? Mine's dead...

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    1. Victor spent the winter in the greenhouse where it bloomed off and on all winter. Took a bit of a break when it went back outside but has been blooming nicely for the last month.

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  9. What a collection of begonias, Peter, wow! I love them all but I think the yellow with red edges in my favorite. The hibiscus and Toad Lily are beautiful.
    Happy GBBD!

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  10. There is something unique about your Bougainvillea 'Raspberry Ice' that makes me swoon every time I see it. If the leafs weren't variegated, or if the flower was a different color, it wouldn't have the same magical effect.

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    1. Found it at one of the box stores on sale near the end of the season one year and didn't know if it would survive or not. Thankfully it did.

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  11. Your list of problems made me feel like we are kindred spirits then I saw all your successes and realized, I need to plant more stuff. The more I have, the more successes I will experience...right?
    Thanks for letting me see all you have blooming. It is inspiring.
    Jeannie @ GetMeToTheCountry.Blogspot.com

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    1. If you plant too much and half croaks, things balance out, right?

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  12. Your collection of begonias make my heart go pitty patter. If I had a green house I would have a large collection of them too. As it is I have only 2 that I bring inside. Fun to see all of your blooms. I don't envy your aphid or other problems. Here I am having mostly drought to deal with. Not a pretty sight I must say.

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    1. The tuberous begonias stay outside in pots until the first frost cuts them down when they're taken pot and all and thrown in the dark basement for the winter and ignored (no water at all) until they start showing growth in February or March when they're hauled up, thrown in sunny windowsills, watered and fed until they can go outside again on Mother's Day.

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  13. I love you Fuchsias of course Peter ! I have failed so often with tuberous Begonias, but I have seen them growing around town so I know it's possible. If you ever find yourself in Connecticut you should visit White Flower Farm and stroll through their begonia house. Take some smelling salts with you. lol. Happy Bloom Day !

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  14. Beautiful, beautiful. Tuberous begonias! They are so glam. Too dry here to make them happy, so I'll envy yours instead.

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  15. It's fun to see all of your bloomers. Hmmm. Well, you know what I mean.

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  16. I sincerely hope that as you put together this post, you realized how many exciting and beautiful blooms you have right now. Your garden will gorgeous for it's opening! The heat and smoke really threw us for a loop, but you wouldn't know it looking at all of your blooms.

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  17. I didn't realize you had a mimosa tree too - it really is the messiest plant ever, isn't it? Your fuchsias and begonias have me itching to get to work on our lath house but my husband insists we wait for cooler weather to start that project. Your reference to the Pinguicula as carnivorous surprised me - it looks so sweet and innocent!

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    1. The mimosa is messy but fortunately, the dropped blooms aren't sticky here and easily blow away with a leaf blower. the Pingulcula has sticky leaves that trap and digest little flying insects. Fun.

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  18. What a wonderful selection of blooms, I agree your begonias are stunning! Thanks for the wander around your garden. Pauline.

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  19. I wasn't expecting all that color after getting through your sobering intro. It is the time of Pests and pestilence but it also looks as if there's plenty to make up for it. I hope the begonias make it through the mildew and it doesn't become an annual problem.
    Funny about the buddleia, a friend was just complaining about how it was trying to take over the world and was starting with her yard. Funny how differently things act in different climates.

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    1. I think the warmer than usual weather helped the powdery mildew along. I'll keep spraying and sprinkle the soil with a bit of fungicide when I store the pots for the winter. Some Buddleias do spread like wildfire here but this one is pretty well mannered.

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  20. I really like that Clearodendrum! And a weeping Buddleia? Who knew?

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  21. So varied and beautiful! The Fuchsia is F. magellanica var. molinae alba (Maiden's Blush), one of my favorites.

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  22. What beautiful pictures, especially the "golden hour" shots. You have a beautiful garden, even with the struggles to maintain it. Spider mites are a wicked, wicked foe!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.