August Gardening ~ Garden Blogger's Bloom Day August 2016

The Hot Border in August

    Hello all! August this year has brought some much needed rain, which has largely improved the garden.  Yes, there is more blight on the tomatoes. But everything else is really greened up and looking less tired than it did in July. The big pruning/dead leafing in July has done its job to create a nicer garden picture that will carry us through the autumn.

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...

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD Sept 2012

Pink Dahlia with Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' in our Front Walk Garden.

Welcome to Pennsylvania in September! My garden has definitely perked up for fall. We finally had a normal amount of rain for the month, which is the first month since last year. The plants are putting on new growth, looking greener and flowering a bit more. Here are some highlights from around our two-tenths of an acre at Gilmore Gardens.

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ August GBBD 2012

Sedum 'Autumn Joy' and Mandevilla 'Pretty Pink' in PA zone 5 for August.

Welcome to August in my Pennsylvania, zone 5 garden! It is not what I had hoped that it would be, but the garden is perking up after having some much needed rain in the past two weeks. I took these photos last night after another rain came.

Large-flowered hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos 'Pink Elephant') in our Driveway Garden is blooming away this month.

More in the Driveway Garden: Hibiscus 'Pink Elephant',white Miscanthus 'Dixieland',  a tall blue Buddleia and Agastache foeniculum 'Golden Jubilee'. The ground cover in front here is Sedum 'Acre' which is a much used cover plant in our gardens.

Rain!

White meadow rue (Thalictrum pubescens) in our Back Woodland with raindrops.

We finally had rain yesterday, which all of the flowers and foliage have been yearning for weeks, not to mention the gardeners. It started with a cloud burst and ended with a nice slow rain for the rest of the day well into the evening. Here are a few wet scenes after our downpour in the afternoon...

Hosta, a Christmas fern and Brunnera 'Jack Frost' around a maple on the Shade Path.

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD July 2012

Lavender and purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) in the Driveway Garden for July

Welcome to Pennsylvania in July! It has been a hot dry summer here this year, as it has been in most of the US. My gardens have had very little supplementary watering this season. Everything was looking tired around the edges until we had a garden clean-up this past weekend.

Mulch new plants with your Christmas Tree

The cookies have been eaten, the eggnog is drunk. The last party of the season saw the children running around with noisy horns for the new year. December is over, and it is time for that most arduous task: stripping our Christmas tree of its ornaments and lugging it back outside.

This can be depressing for people who loves parties and all the excitement of the holidays, but as gardeners, we can find some redemption even in the dismantling of our treasured decorations.

The weather has continued to be very mild for this time of year, but I am trying not to be lulled into forgetting that the coldest part of the year is yet to come. Some of my plants are in need of extra coverage in January, especially those that were newly planted this past growing season. Their roots are just beginning to establish themselves, not yet fully gripping the soil around them. Also, those in wind-blown areas are often just bare stems and earth by this time since the wind has stolen their leaf cover. This is where our dearly loved Christmas tree comes in to help.

Stems of a newly planted hibiscus made bare by the wind

After hauling/tossing/lugging your tree outdoors, cut off the branches where they meet the trunk. Use these to create a framework around the stems of your precious plants. I usually use 3-4 medium branches per plant, though windier areas my call for using larger and/or more evergreens.  This teepee-like-framework will filter the desiccating winds of winter.

Evergreen branches set in a sort of teepee around the plant.

For ease and in warmer climates, the branches may be enough cover for the winter.

But if you live in a cold zone 5 or higher, you might want to consider taking an extra step on an unfrozen day to protect your plants: Grab handfuls of leaves from elsewhere in your yard and tuck them in and under the evergreen branches. Or do this process in reverse: first pile the leaves around the plant, and then add the branches on top. Either way, this will hold your extra winter cover in place through wind, snow and rain.

Leaf litter tucked into the branches around the hibiscus and the newly transplanted lavender (at left)

My new OSO Easy Rose 'Paprika' surrounded by evergreen cover to help it establish.

An added bonus: the evergreen branches look really pretty scattered in your garden boarders with a dusting of snow!

This photo just taken this evening after our snow fall - finally!

In the first growth of spring, after the weather is less constantly icy, pick up the branches from your plant and scatter the leaves so that you can watch it come out of dormancy. Another winter gone by... oh, for that day!

Merry un-trimming to you!

Late-Summer Improvements for the Driveway Garden

The Driveway Garden works hard through spring and early summer. (See March, April, May, June 2011.) But by July it starts to look weedy and uninspired.

I had been thinking that a "big statement" would be satisfying at this time of year. After one trip to the local nursery, I had found my statement.

In the center section of the Driveway Garden, I placed a plant I have long admired but never dared to bring home: a large-flowered hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos 'Pink Elephant'). Its pop pink blooms are 10-12 inches across. Rather like something Alice might have found in Wonderland. 

Flower buds.

A. 'Golden Jubilee' attracting a Red-Spotted Purple butterfly.

I gave this hyssop, Agastache foeniculum 'Golden Jubilee', a second look because I remembered how beautifully it performs at Rhone Street Gardens for Scott.  I have admired its brilliant blue spikes and shining chartreuse foliage. Nice balance to all the pink.

Tying this area together has been one of my challenges for the last couple of years. I like to have an almost formal sense of rhythm running through my plantings, with the odd focal point thrown in to keep things a little off kilter. I have struggled with how to have something blooming in every part of the growing season in this small area (only 2 1/2 feet deep in some spots).

Some white foliage to brighten the combo.

I first chose this dwarf miscanthus grass (Miscanthus sinensis 'Dixieland') to add some white to lighten the foliage combinations. After bringing it home, I started wondering if it was the answer, at least partly, to my need for some continuity. A clump at the far left, one beside the walkway... still formulating that answer. But I am liking what I am seeing so far.

First hibiscus blooms in front of the purple butterfly bush (Buddleia hyb). 

I would still love to add some more electric colors here - red or even orange. I am liking more color punch these days.  I have already made a note on my bulb order to include some orange Lily tigrinum splendens which I hope to plant with the purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) already planted here, ala Great Dixter (Thanks for the current photos Bertie!).

We shall see how it turns out!