The flower power in my garden usually diminishes significantly by August, although we've had a relatively mild summer along the west coast so far this year. We've experienced two heatwaves but our temperatures never soared above 95F (35C). Nevertheless, some plants did get toasted and others aren't looking their best, yet I still managed to accumulate a large number of photos. I've thrown the vast majority of those photos into collages this month.
Dahlias and zinnias provide the real fire power in my summer garden so I'm giving them the starring roles this month. Some are still taking their time about flaunting their blooms but there are enough to show off. I've listed the dahlias in order of their appearance.
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| Dahlia 'Mikayla Miranda' was not only the first to flower but she's still the most vigorous. Bees seem to love this one too. |
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| 'Labyrinth' came in on Mikayla's heels |
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| I had 2 'Creme de Cognac' Dahlias in my garden last year and I have 2 again this year but I also gave away 2 divisions of the tubers. It's a sturdy and prolific dahlia! |
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| 'La Belle Epoque' is new this year and I haven't made up my mind about it yet. I like it better in its early bloom stage (left) rather than the paler mature version (right). |
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| The tuber for this was sold to me as 'Cafe au Lait' (which should be pale peach/pink or beige in color) but it looks more like 'Cafe au Lait Rose' or, in its faded state (right), possibly 'Cafe au Lait Royal' |
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| This is 'Summer's End', another of my favorites. It has a waterlily-like form. I planted 2 of the tubers and gave away others. |
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| As it turned out the tiny tuber I threw into a barrel with the large 'Labyrinth' turned out to be not that but a second 'Catching Fire' Dahlia and the first of the 2 in my collection to bloom |
I've twenty dahlia plants in total in my garden this season of which three are duplicates. Of the seventeen varieties, two more were on the verge of opening but not quite there.
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| Both 'Blue Bell' (left) and 'La Luna' (right) were close to revealing themselves yesterday afternoon but hadn't fully opened yet |
Three more dahlia plants have obvious buds; an additional three have what may be buds, and two have offered no signs of buds at all yet.
Just four Zinnias grown from seed are doing well but I have hopes for other seeds I sowed later.
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| Clockwise from the upper left are: Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Giant Lime', 'Queeny Red Lime', what I think is 'Queeny Lime Peach' (but could be 'Queeny Orange Lime' which I also sowed), and 'Benary's Giant Wine', the most vigorous by far |
Several other plants deserve notice for their vigor as well.
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| I have at least 4 varieties of Abelias in my garden but Abelia grandiflora 'Kaleidoscope' is the most vibrant of them all |
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| The majority of the Agapanthus that came with the garden are done for the season but a few named varieties I've planted in recent years were later arrivals. From left to right are: 'Elaine', 'Stevie's Wonder', and 'Twister' |
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| All of a sudden the Amaryllis belladonna have exploded into bloom in my back garden. To my knowledge, all my bulbs came from a blogger friend based in Virginia years ago (including a few white ones). How one clump ended up on the upper level of my steep back slope (middle photo) I can't fathom because there's no way I crawled up there to plant them. |
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| I planted a lot of Eustoma grandiflorum (aka lisianthus) obtained as mail order plugs this year but I've lost the majority of them due to a combination of low rainfall and poor timing with my planting schedule. I'm disappointed but at least I have 3 varieties in carmine, green and white. I'm still holding out hope for a few of a light apricot variety too. |
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| I didn't catch Globularia x indubia (aka globe daisy) at the height of their bloom. The small flowers have a bad habit of turning a dingy brown but the bees love them! |
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| With a little pruning last month, I managed to get another flush of blooms from Leonotis leonurus (aka lion's tail) |
As always, there are a range of my old dependables in bloom, not as flashy as some plants in my garden but offering colorful spots nonetheless.
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| Gazanias, some new and some self-seeded |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, Grevillea 'Moonlight', G. sericea, and the ever-blooming G. 'Superb'. The first and the last are bee magnets. Hummingbirds also love 'Superb'. |
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| Masquerading as flowers, Leucadendrons 'Blush', 'Summer Red', and 'Safari Sunset' |
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| The common myrtle (Myrtus communis) was just starting to get its bloom on last month |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Pelargonium peltatum (aka ivy geranium) in coral, red and dark pink. The last one (lower left) is an unknown Pelargonium (although not P. pelatum). |
A few plants took me by surprise once again.
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| Pelargonium schizopetalum produced another batch of flowers! |
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| I don't look forward to blooms on Mangaves (or Agaves). This is one of 4 'Pineapple Express' Mangaves planted in the same area and I dread the possibility that others will follow soon even if they produce pups as the mother plants dry off. |
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| Ignoring my back slope at the height of summer is egregious on my part but I try to avoid the area when the fire ants are most active. I just about missed the 5 Drimia maritima bulbs (aka sea squill) in bloom and I certainly didn't catch them at their best. They didn't bloom at all last year so, with rainfall so low this year, I really didn't expect them. |
Everything else of note was tallied up in color-themed collages.
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Top row: Digitalis purpurea (with bee), Polygala myrtifolia, and Monarda 'Peter's Purple'
Middle: Felicia aethiopica and Salvia 'Mystic Spires'
Bottom: Hebe 'Grace Kelly' and Salvia canariensis var candidissima |
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Top row: Arbutus 'Marina', Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid', and Rosa 'Pink Meidiland'
Middle: Cistus x scanbergii and C. 'Sunset'
Bottom: Argyranthemum 'Grandaisy Pink', noID Dianthus, and Impatiens hawkeri 'Celebration' |
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Top row: Alstroemeria 'Claire', Argyranthemum 'Mount Everest', and Crassula pubescens
Middle: noID Dianthus, noID Dipladenia, and Echinacea 'Pow Wow'
Bottom: Fuchsia 'Windchimes White', Osteospermum 'Lemon Ice', and Oxalis triangularis |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Arctotis 'Large Marge', Argyranthemum 'Aramis Apricot' (now yellow), Chrysocephalum 'Desert Flame', Echinacea 'Sombrero Lemon Yellow', and noID Lantana |
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Top row: Aloe lukeana, Cotyledon orbiculata, and Salvia 'Skyscraper Orange'
Bottom: Daucus carota 'Dara', Crassula perfoliata var falcata, and Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun' |
Check in with Carol at
May Dreams Gardens, the band leader for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.
Best wishes for a nice weekend.
All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
So many blooms and just about everything represented! You have plants blooming now that I would not associate with flowers this time of year (like digitalis). I only have a few dahlias in pots and only one is blooming now.
ReplyDeleteI'm scratching my head about the foxgloves, Phillip. They're generally cool season flowers here. I planted the plugs a little later this past winter and they did little to nothing this spring. I usually pull them in early summer but our temperatures stayed on the cooler side and I got blooms from a few this summer, especially the one included in this post. Fours plants crammed in between dahlias in my cutting garden still look good, even if they've produced only a couple flowers stalks so far, but others elsewhere look awful and I'm in the process of removing those. I'm chalking the situation up to the whims of our weather!
DeleteI know your garden is large, and the blooms are spread out, but still that's a lot of flowers for August! Almost the day before heading north last April my Grevillea 'Moonlight,' trained as a standard/small tree, lost a huge branch. And as you say, it is so good for bees and hummers, so that's a big loss. Maybe I'll replace it eventually with C. 'Cane's Hybrid.' Your grevilleas look healthy and strong. Love that species pelargonium bloom!
ReplyDeleteGrevillea 'Moonlight' took its time to bloom in my garden, Denise! It's been in that spot over 5 years and is only now producing more than a couple flowers at a time. I hope it's not a fluke! Meanwhile, the 'Cane's Hybrid' Callistemon has grown to tree-like proportions. It's been there 10 years so perhaps that's be expected but I'm now having my tree guys cut it back each year.
DeleteWow, no wonder you have enough for 2 and likely 3 arrangements every week! I like your water lily type dahlia, as well as the Creme de cognac with it's darker center. I have a weird cafe au lait that put out maybe 1 or 2 blooms last year, this year it's blooming better -but it's 8' tall? When I see your Grevilleas & Leucadendrons I always think to myself, I need to add more.
ReplyDelete'Cafe au Lait' (and its cousins) do get big but 8 feet is really BIG, Tracy! I've found that dahlias do better after the first year or 2 as the tuber mass bulks up. Although I dig up and divide my dahlia tubers at the end of each season I rarely cut them down to a single tuber. I'm not good at identifying the "eyes" necessary to ensure the production of flowers and I figure the more tubers connected to a neck, the better the odds of ample flowers.
DeleteSo many beautiful blooms! To me that Pelargonium schizopetalum looks surprised. It's crazy that we've been hotter than you. Our latest heatwave was three days at 99. Strangely we're looking at rain (an atmospheric river they're saying) today and overnight, so odd for the dry season.
ReplyDeleteIt's be nice if that atmospheric river materialized AND it crept down our way! But then I can't remember ever getting a weather system like that during the summer months. The best we can hope for is a tropical storm from the south or an off-course monsoonal system from the eastern desert area. Neither Weather Underground nor AccuWeather show any chance of rain here in the foreseeable future. The persistent marine layer is what's keeping us on the cooler side of the spectrum along the coast.
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