This year the garden is somewhat out of sync compared to previous years. Some things are flowering sooner than usual, and at least one– my double tiger lily– was inexplicably later. A few flowers simply burned up within days, due to several heat waves early on.
As climate change continues to mess up our weather, it’s not surprising to observe stressed plants reacting in novel ways. The extreme heat has stunted growth for some and interrupted or accelerated flowering for others. Even so, my garden still managed to look fairly good despite the challenging conditions. Here’s are some snapshots of it over a period of about two months, from mid-June to mid-August.
I love kniphofia, but some cultivars have proven difficult for me, or at least in the places I tend to plant them. This year has been the best year for it so far. This variety, I forget the name, is a pretty combination of coral and soft yellow. It is also fairly robust in habit so it doesn’t get lost.
Two other cultivars, 4-foot tall Lady Luck (a white-chartreuse blend) and Bee’s Lemon, a cheerful yellow-green, also did well. They enliven the warm-season grass Karley Rose grass, maiden grass Morning Light, and our native tall liatris.
Three magenta-hued selections shown here are annual cleome, a new agastache for me called Desert Solstice, and short, perky Millenium alliums. All love hot dry conditions. This agastache is rather delicate in form, but so far it’s growing nice and bushy. The hummers love it.
Moving along, we see my recently revitalized front bed, still developing. I removed a Kousa dogwood that was throwing too much shade. Now that I’ve got plenty of sun, I’m populating the bed with agastache, asters, phlomis, red valerian, artemisia, baptisia, and short-toothed mountain mint. The silvery mint is a whopping bee magnet! A lovely contrast, too.
To fill in the gaps while perennials establish, annuals gomphrena Buddy Purple (a dwarf form) and Victoria Blue salvia add color and bulk. Asian aster Blue Star, a demure 12″ variety which blooms all summer, enlivens the phlomis rosettes. It should make a fine border plant once it matures.
Moving around to the side and rear, a very lovely tall beebalm called Judith’s Fancy Fuchsia punctuates the planting with a clear, deep watermelon pink. A well-defined, high crown makes this beebalm especially attractive. Some hybrids have deformed flowers but not this one. Spectacular! It also blooms much longer than most varieties.
Culver’s Root Fascination sports fuzzy, bluish-purple racemes. Shasta daisies add sparkle. Unfortunately the Shastas didn’t last long in the intense heat, they were over quickly– but nice while they lasted.
The rear of the property is beginning to get overgrown and some things will have to be removed. Several winterberries and viburnums are crowding each other, and a redbud had its top taken out by a storm. I plan to remove a viburnum, the damaged redbud and the winterberries, which have had very weak berry production.
But, I’ll be adding a second Jelena witch hazel in their place!
All the hydrangeas outdid themselves this year. Preziosa turned slightly lavender at first, no doubt due to acidic mulch. The oakleaf Gatsby Pink is loaded with blooms, and nativar Haas Halo drew in the bees by the dozen with its huge infloresences.
Showing a neighbor around the garden one day in July, we spotted a penny-sized red-banded hairstreak butterfly right on the foliage of a Carolina sweetshrub. Hairstreaks are less common than they used to be, so the sighting was a welcome one.
Don’t you just love those striped knee socks with antennae to match!
Preziosa deepens in hue as the summer goes on, eventually becoming dark red. This is the same plant two months apart. A white, variegated foliage New Guinea impatiens at its feet provides contrast.
On the other hand, apple green Limelight (on standard) blushes pink and functions like a small tree. By August is it quite top heavy, weighed down by the immense flower heads. So far I’ve had no breakage.
By late summer the north bank is a riot of foliage and grasses. Orange-striped Helenium Wiltraut stands out against native grass Little Bluestem. Rudbeckia hirta, our native black-eyed susan, is the nicest it’s ever been this year thanks to the deer leaving it alone for once! Statuesque patrinia is lovely but sparse, as the deer were not as kind to it earlier in the season. Many different species, both native and non-native battle it out for visibility. I pretty much let it all do its thing, aside from taking out the biggest weeds. This area takes care of itself.
By the front door, blue and white agapanthus did well in pots, blooming for a longer time than in past years. A lovely white angelwing begonia also performed nonstop next to swedish ivy.
Finally, looking back for a last view from the street, the side bank is a study in foliage contrasts. I gave the gro-low sumac a much-needed haircut recently, neatening up the lower half. Amsonia hubrictii’s feathery billows soften the effect, while spirea adds a pop of red.
