Sunday, September 15, 2013

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ September 2013 GBBD

Blooms and foliage in my zone 5 garden for September.
Welcome to Pennsylvania in September!

We have had quite a variety of weather in the past weeks. One day it is unbearably hot and dry with the temperature over 86 degrees F (30 C). The next day we are all in winter coats at the damp morning soccer game in 40 degrees F (4 C). Despite all of that drama, the garden is still blooming on...


Sedum 'Autumn Joy' making its debut this year in an eight foot hedge by our Driveway Garden.
The asters are poised and ready... but meanwhile Geranium 'Rozanne' is still blooming like crazy over top of Miscanthus sinensis 'Dixieland'.
Hardy hibiscus hanging its enormous flower petals down after a little rain.
It is a great flower for adding some "wow!" factor to your garden.
Potted dragon wing begonia is still blooming away by the Shade Path garden...
Sedum 'Frosty Morn' is ready to bloom soon. The leaves have been having a spotting problem this year, which I have not encountered before. Any tips?
Native flat-topped aster, Doellingeria umbellata, is just beginning to bloom in the Shade Path. I cut it back by half in May, and sometimes again in July, to keep it a bit more bushy. It flowers profusely until the end of October.
Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight' soaking up the setting sun by the fence. The panicle hydrangeas are preferable to the florist mophead varieties in colder climates (zone 5 or colder) as the former produces their flowers on new growth every year. If you have been disappointed by the lack of flowers on your hydrangea bush, Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight' is well worth a try!
Still loving this potted begonia on our back steps.
In our Curb strip, purple catmint Nepeta 'Walker's Low' is still blooming away. I have only deadheaded them once this year.
Sedum 'Acre' is the chartreuse ground cover in our curb planting, with a few self sown black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia) and wild carrot tucked here and there.
Japanese anemones (Anemone japonica) is a pink profusion this month in the Front Walk.
Pink Anemone japonica, red leaved Canna 'King Humbert' and chartreuse Spirea 'Goldflame' in the Front Walk.
View of the Front Walk to the Front Woodland (our large front curb). Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia) are flowering near the sidewalk for passersby.
In our corner garden, fittingly named Cherry Corner in honor of its weeping cherry tree, I planted out fall Chrysanthemums to fill the gap from the shorn summer daylilies (read more on cutting back your Hemerocallis post-bloom!... my most popular post to date).
Cherry Corner looking back to the Shade Path...
I really like the Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' planted among the fall mums here. It adds a little sparkle to any planting!

Thank for taking a walk around our tiny (less than .2 acre) town garden! Read more about our gardens and my succession planting plans for flowers from March through November.

Thanks to May Dreams for hosting Garden Blogger Bloom Day!

Hope you have a lovely start to your September week!
~Julie

21 comments:

  1. Such a beautiful garden!
    My mother loved to grow begonias, so they have a special place in my heart. Yours are lovely!
    Happy GBBD!
    Lea
    Lea's Menagerie

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  2. Julie, what a marvellous September garden! Might the slugs have got to the sedum earlier in the season - Not a plant you usually associate with slugs but I've seen this on the odd occasion in my garden.

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    1. Thanks Angie! At the moment I am thinking that it is a mildew... black spots, yellowing, falling off. I need to do a bit more research on that for sedums...

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  3. Julie your garden looks lovely, your the second post I've just read featuring hydrangea paniculata limelight I think I must look for it, Frances

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  4. Looking at your garden, Julie, you wouldn't know the weather has been so crazy! Your blooms are very lovely! It amazes me what you have done in such a small space. I hope your family are well! Happy September! P. x

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  5. Hi Julie,
    Your garden looks BEAUTIFUL! It is hard to believe we are at Japanese anemone and mum season already. Didn't it seem like just yesterday we were admiring our tulips and forget-me-nots. And here we are on the heels of Fall already. I'm looking forward to seeing more photos of your garden through the season. It is lovely!
    Susan

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    1. Thank you Susan! It is hard to believe we are ready for fall... but that just means spring will be here again :)
      ~Julie

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  6. Absolutely beautiful, as always! I really must remember to add some pink Anemones...I just have the white ones.

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    1. Thanks Scott! The pink are fun... wishing I my Russian sage was a bit larger this year to go with them :)
      ~Julie

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  7. Hi... your garden is lovely... even in mid-September and your photography is fantastic... the quality of your pictures always brings your posts to life, no matter what the topic! Larry

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    1. Thanks Larry! Very kind of you. Looking forward to "walking" around your garden as well!
      ~Julie

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  8. Your garden is still beautiful and very green. Mine has had too much water, too much heat and it now looks a bit bedraggled. I love the strip garden.

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  9. I'm so excited that I found your blog. I'm a new gardener in the same zone (Chicago). I'm just collecting tons of plants and planting a lot of them in temporary beds. Your garden looks incredible and looks so much bigger than it is. I have 1 acre and planning the gardens out. So looking forward to creating beautiful gardens like yours. I was bitten by the gardening bug early this summer and am obsessed. Love your posts. Thanks so much for sharing!

    Margaret @ Live Like No One Else

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    1. Thanks Margaret!! So sweet. Glad you are enjoying reading along. It makes gardening so much more fun for me when I get to share it with others. Happy October!
      ~Julie

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  10. I'm now wondering Julie, if hardy mums were to be planted among the daylilies, do you think they would grow? Or be choked out by them? This way, after cutting back the leaves, the hardy mums would continue to grow and bloom.

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    1. Hi Margaret!

      Funny you should mention that: this is the bed that I tried planting hardy mums with the daylilies. It did not work. The mums need more room to grow during the early part of summer, even though they are not blooming. (Hint: They also need to be cut back by half at the end of May to make them more bushy, just like the taller Sedums, Echinacea, Black-eyed Susans and Asters.) I recommend the book,
      The Well-Tended Perennial Garden for more advice on this technique (see my book page at the top!).

      Some plants just do not deal well with being planted this thickly in succession, and hardy mums and bearded irises have both been killed off in the Cherry Corner because they did not have enough room to grow. (The irises needs to have their rhizomes baked in the hot summer sun to be really happy, so only a very limited ground cover can grow with them.)

      So, great idea! But I have found that plunking garden center mums in these newly opened spots works much better.
      ~Julie

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