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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.

Friday, August 15, 2014

August 2014 Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day


How can it be the middle of August already?  The summer months seem to go by faster than any of the others! Oh well, it is what it is and here's a sampling of what's blooming in my garden this month.

Anemone hupehensis

 
 
The sweet fragrance of Clerodendrum bungei and the bright pink blossoms at this time of year make me forgive it for sending up suckers everywhere.  A great plant but be sure that you want a thicket of it before you plant it.  The good news is that the suckers pull easily.

Many hardy fuchsias are in full swing right now.  Here's Delta's Groom
 And June Bride.
 
Hydrangeas



Hydrangea 'Pistachio'


A perennial impatiens that came from Annie's Annuals several years ago. 

Roscoea purpurea 'Cinnamon Stick."  Fortunately, the blooms don't last long as the plant is the real attraction.

This goofy fluorescent pelargonium will represent the many that are blooming right now.

Abutilon something or other that made it through the winter in the ground.

 Abutilon megapotamicum that made it through the winter in a pot with no protection.
 
White brugmansia.  My 'Charles Grimaldis' and the pink one suffered damage this winter when the heat didn't get turned up in the glass room so they aren't blooming yet.  Maybe next month.
 
 Begonia boliviensis

Phlox

Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Golden Arrow'  Put it in too much sun and the golden leaves burn, too much shade and the leaves turn chartreuse.  Either way it blooms.

Clerodendrum tricotomum has been more floriferous this year than ever.  The bees and humming birds have been very busy so hopefully there'll be lots of gorgeous metallic turquoise berries inside the red calyces.


Eryngium alpinum blooms are not as blue this year as usual.

Albizia julibrissin

   Macleaya cordata gets pulled up every year and somehow comes back  stronger and spreads farther.  I  love the foliage so don't want to totally eradicate it.

Impatiens niamniamensis ‘Congo Cockatoo’

My very first Crinum bloom.  I have another in the garden that has been there for at least nine years and has never bloomed.  Probably not in enough sun.  Anyway, I got this bulb on sale this spring, planted it in a pot and put it in the sun.  Hooray, blooms.

The last of the fragrant oriental lilies,  'Tom Pouce.'

Lobelia tupa survived an attack early in the season by one of the people with mental disabilities who live across the alley from me.  It was lying flat on the ground but I got a stout stake and tied the lobelia to it. It's quite a sizeable clump so I was unsure if it would pull through but it did with no permanent damage at all.   The Clematis tangutica vine on the fence behind was not so lucky and died after being pulled off the fence and torn to bits.
 
 Leycesteria formosa

NOID crocosmia that a neighbor has given to everyone in the hood.  It spreads fairly quickly and blooms nicely.  The rest of my crocosmias bloomed much earlier.


Hibiscus syriacus or Rose of Sharon is the only hibiscus that performs really well for us up here and blooms well with no summer heat.  It's also hardy in the ground. 

This NOID buddleia came home as a little start of a thing and has grown into quite a shrub.  The flowers hand downward, have a slight fragrance and are a hummingbird favorite.  Also, this one doesn't seem to be seeding everywhere. 

Dicentra scandens is a charming perennial vine and is tough as nails.

I let a few fireweeds grow in my parking strip.  They really are lovely flowers.

Romneya coulteri is just about bloomed out but there are still some blooms left.

Another weed that I allow is Lathyrus somethingorother, a perennial pea that blooms in either this deep pink or white.  They don't have a fragrance, but they climb over shrubs nicely and provide a shot of color in high summer.  It's easy enough to pull up what you don't want.  As legumes, they fix nitrogen in the soil making the other plants happy. 

Cotinus 'Pink Champagne'  and fennel for the butterflies.

Lots of roses.  This one will represent all of them.

That bad boy of impatiens, I. glandulifera, reseeds rampantly.  We pull thousands of them up each year but leave a few.  It creates a great deal of biomass for the compost heap.

Agastache is another hummingbird favorite.

Carol at May Dreams Gardens is the host of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day on the fifteenth of each month.  Click here to visit her blog and see what's blooming all over the world right now.  Thanks for inviting us all to the party and for being such a great host Carol!
 


36 comments:

  1. Peter, your garden in beautiful in this GBBD! Love your fuchsia, hydrangea, anemone. I also see fireweeds in my garden but when I see their flowers that soon will fade all I know they show us how fast summer goes to end and it's so pity! Therefore I don't like fireweeds!

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    1. Wouldn't it be lovely if summer could last longer? The fireweeds were blooming in July in Alaska because they had a warm spring. Very early for them to be blooming there.

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  2. What incredible photos of the splendid show in your garden! I need to quit "wishin' and hopin'" and make an effort to cultivate some hydrangea of my own...

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    1. Thanks Rebecca, It's safe to show close ups because then you can't see what a mess my garden is. Hydrangea would look beautiful in your garden and they're such undemanding plants that bloom over such a long period of time.

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  3. Wow, so much in bloom this Bloom Day, Peter! I'm glad you allow a little fireweed to grow in your garden--it was the first plant I noticed as my daughter and I drove to the coast the day before Fling, and I thought it was lovely along the roadsides. And those gorgeous hydrangeas! Those and the crocosmia are the two flowers I will always associate with Portland. Thanks for inviting us into your garden!

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    1. Oh Rose, you're always welcome in my garden! With the fireweed, it's not so much that I allow it as that pulling it all would be a full time job and once it starts blooming, I'm glad to have it's cheerful color.

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  4. So many wonderful blooms Peter! How awful your neighbors vandalized your garden. that Lobelia tupa is great. So glad it survived. Why do people destroy others' plantings? I don't get it. That happens here from time to time and it's pretty disheartening.

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    1. Thanks Deanne! The neighbors who vandalize my gardens outside the fence are mentally unbalanced and often do drugs/alcohol on top of the prescription medications that they're on. This, of course, leads to odd behaviors. While it's maddening, at least I can understand it a bit more than the random vandals who destroy plantings. Since that spring attack, we haven't had any more plant attacks. Hope no one touches your beautiful plants! Thought of you yesterday when I saw in a store an "each day is a new canvas to paint on." dahlia square just like yours.

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  5. Thank you …now I know which one of my Fuchsias is 'June bride' !
    All beautiful blooms Peter.

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    1. Thanks Linda! Just visited a garden yesterday where 'June Bride' and Delta's Groom' were planted side by side quite by accident. So sweet.

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  6. Sheesh, Peter - you have a LOT going on! I'm sorry about your damaged plants, that's a shame. If you ever want to get rid of any of that orange crocosmia... :) Thanks for the lovely post!

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    1. Thanks but the damage happened early in the season and is pretty much better now. If you're serious about the crocosmia, I'll make sure to have some of it for you at the plant swap as I have to get rid of some that's growing over the sidewalk.

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  7. So glad to see the blooms on your Pistachio Hydrangea. Mine was drought- and heat-stressed after that week of being away in July. It recovered but isn't anywhere near blooming. It also might be in too much shade. Your Persicaria 'Golden Arrow' is lovely too! And once again, I am coveting your Abutilon megapotamicum. Happy GBBD!

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    1. That poor hydrangea is in a pot which didn't get turned at all this season so it's all growing over to one side to reach the sun. Oops. Persicaria 'Goldn Arrow' is almost always available at Far Reaches (they had a couple at the Frolic) and I think I saw Abutilon megapotamicum at Ferneys recently. Cistus almost always has A. megaptamicum as well.

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  8. So many of your photos are taken looking up with gorgeous light, such a summer feel to them. Do you find your Roscoea purpurea 'Cinnamon Stick" is a slug magnet? Mine has finally disappeared all together after one too many attacks.

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    1. I just put that one in. There was one (not Cinnamon Stick) in my shady garden for years but the shade became more and more dense and it declined (plus got stepped on because they're a bit late to emerge) I've put out a light mulch of sluggo but maybe I'll also make a ring of copper to go around it.

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  9. Summer there looks like Spring here. I noticed that you and Alison have Hydrangeas in bright bloom, just a memory here. Fuchsias here expect to be in air-conditioned false climates. Lots of Roses? Wow.

    I've decided we need names for the 2-3 extra seasons here. Early Spring, Late Summer just doesn't describe it.

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    1. I enjoy seeing on your blog how some of the plants that we both grow behave so differently in your climate. It seldom gets very hot here in the summer so we can garden through the whole season.

      I like your idea of different names for your extra seasons!

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  10. All looking so very fresh and beautiful, but it's the references to hummingbirds that blow me away. Gorgeous plants you have there.

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    1. Thanks. Things look fresh because I've only taken close up pictures:) Actually, we've just had an inch and a half of rain over the last couple of days and the garden really enjoyed it!

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  11. So much in bloom! Remember to save some of the Macleaya cordata pull-outs for me.

    Is that Lathyrus latifolius? I think I need to stick that in somewhere too...

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    1. When would be best to send Macleaya cordata to you? I'm thinking spring? Always happy to pass it along.

      It is Lathyrus latifolius which just showed up on their own. I'll try to save seed if you wish. (I'm pretty forgetful about seed saving.) They don't transplant very well in my experience.

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  12. What a cool garden, Peter. So bizarre about the Lobelia tupa. I used to get a lot of stuff smashed in the hell strip, and with the drought on haven't bothered to replant it. I loved seeing that Pistachio hydrangea at the Fling.

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    1. Thanks Denise! The folks from the home exhibit a variety of interesting behaviors when they add alcohol and street drugs to the prescriptions they're already taking. All part of the fascinating tapestry of urban living.

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  13. You have a LOT in bloom! I was especially taken with the Cotinus. Does your Albizia self-seed indiscriminately throughout your garden? Mine remains intent on world domination, despite a severe pruning in late January.

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    1. I love that Cotinus as well. The foliage is not as showy as the purple and golden varieties but the blooms are very nice and they start when the bush is very small. Here Albizia does not seed at all. I don't know if it's the wet winters or perhaps our season is not long enough for that to happen. It's always the last tree to leaf out in the spring and the first to loose it's leaves in the fall. I've heard that they're very weedy in the south as well.

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  14. I always love seeing what's blooming.

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  15. It's encouraging to see how beautifully your Abutilon megapotamicum is blooming with the conditions you described. I put in a small A. megapotamicum this past spring, and yours gives me great hope for it overwintering. You have so many lovely blooms this month!

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    1. Only once, during the second PKW, did the Abutilon die. In very mild winters, it remains evergreen. In cooler winters, the leaves fall but come back in the spring. It can be a little late to really fill in but it does. With your warmer summers, it will probably be faster than it is here.

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  16. That was a delight going through your pics Peter. Strange thing about the Lobelia tupa, and loving that Cotinus and fennel combo!

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    1. Like so many things in my garden, that combo was an accident. The fennel was planted by the birds. I love letting fennel go as it thrives in very poor soil where little else wants to grow.

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  17. What a wonderful selection of plants you have Peter, I have some the same as you but you also have some that are new to me. Love the pale pink flowers on your Cotinus and it's good to see someone else growing Leycestaria, the blackbirds love the berries and spread the seed over the garden, I'm always potting them up and giving them away!

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    1. Thanks Pauline. That silly Leycestaria does love to seed about but I can forgive it as the flower/berry clusters are so interesting! Happy GBBD!

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  18. I've been losing my battle with the pink weedpea, so appreciate having some of its positive attributes pointed out. It really is quite pretty. Your garden is loving August!

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    1. You'll notice that I only showed close ups; there's a reason...

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