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.

Dahlia 'Jean Marie'

Our first dahlia is blooming this week in the Front Walk Garden, Dahlia 'Jean Marie'.

As summer comes to our garden, the Front Walk continues its succession of blooms that started in early April with Anemone blanda 'White Splendour' and Tulipa 'Princess Irene'. Next was Tulip 'Cum Laude' and Allium 'Purple Sensation' in May, and Oriental Poppies (Papaver orientalis), more Allium and Catmint (Nepeta) in June. Dahlia 'Jen Marie' is next on stage, with the supporting cast of Cosmos and Ammi majus. We shall see how it goes as we move into August! So far, so good...

Roses in the Hill Garden

Rosa 'The Fairy' in the Hill Garden.

The finale rose in our garden this month is the classic polyanthus Rosa 'The Fairy'. When we planted our Hill Garden, which started as just a pile of dirt from our new gravel parking area (see before photo), I planted four of these pretty re-blooming rose bushes to ring the hill. They are backed by four purple barberry bushes (which I am not sure I would recommend as they can be invasive in some areas, though they look lovely here). The silvery lamb's ears (Stachys byzantine) and evergreen moss phlox (Phlox subulata) fill in here. There is also a host of perennial flowers at the crown of the hill: Echinacea purpurea, Shasta daisies, Sedum 'Autumn Joy', russian sage (Perovskia), Mallow and others.

I love this garden in all seasons, starting with the bulbs in early spring, then tulips (early tulips and late tulips), roses and daisies for summer, bold foliage in the late summer (Cannas are in again this year!), and more roses and Sedum for October, even til December snow. But for now, we are soaking up July. :)

Pink Rose and Purple Clematis Combination for June

In our Driveway garden, an old pink rose bush makes a wonderful host for purple Clematis 'Etoile Violette'.

June is underway and the roses are blooming here in Pennsylvania. Our Driveway Garden is covered in pink and blue this week, with a bit of white thrown in to lighten the color palette.

When we bought our home, we inherited an old rose bush by the back corner of our house... and one to match it across the driveway. It blooms its socks off once and year, and then needs quite a bit of pruning to keep it in line. A newer rose would give more for repeat bloom, but the light fragrance and pink color make it worth keeping. And even better yet is the combination that happens when Clematis 'Etoile Violette' blooms along with it. The clematis it is planted at the roses feet and it appreciates the cool shade the rose provides. It easily grabs a hold on to the rose brambles and pulls itself to the sun.

Around the perimeter of this rose, which is 5 feet high and 6 feet wide (1.6 m x 2m), there is ground cover of variegated deadnettle (Lamium maculatum), evergreen moss phlox (Phlox subulata), and yellow-blooming Sedum 'Acre'.

Curb Strip Plantings with Nepeta, Sedum and Iris

Catmint (Nepeta 'Walker's Low') grows low mounds in our curb strip over ground cover Sedum 'Acre'.

The garden is pulling into summer, which make it time for many of my favorite perennials. In our curb strips (known also as parkways, hell strips, etc), we have removed all of our turf and planted beautiful, low-maintenance plants instead. These areas have required some weeding in spring, but with that little time investment (as compared to spending 20 minutes mowing them every week!) we get something that is even nicer to look at, draws pollinators and help make this outlining area part of our garden. Now, we can walk down the sidewalk and enjoy the changing scene every day.

Oriental Poppies, Allium and Nepeta in the Front Walk Garden

Blinding Papaver orientalis, round Allium 'Purple Sensation' and delicate Nepeta 'Walker's Low'. 

This week in the Front Walk, the electric orange Oriental Poppies (Papaver orientalis) are just starting to bloom.  My plants have really bulked up in the past few years and there promised to be a grand display in the next two weeks. Complementary colors are provided by Allium 'Purple Sensation' and the blue flowers of Nepeta 'Walker's Low'. 

Good Gardeners take Notes...

Time to dust off your garden journal or start a new one!

In much of my reading this winter, I keep running into this: good gardeners keep a garden journal.

They take notes on what blooms when, what the weather is like, what plant combinations they like and which ones they do not.  They makes lists of what they need to remember to change in the spring, in the summer, or the fall. And then they read them, do what they recorded, and cross them off!

And this is the moment to start: as flowers begin to bloom!

The Best of Wife, Mother, Gardener

The Front Walk Garden with Allium aflatunense 'Purple Sensation' with Tulipa 'Cum Laude' in May 2011

I am pleased, and a bit surprised, to announce that this is my 300th post on WMG!

Over the past two years, my blog has recorded what was blooming every month in our town garden, our garden maintenance, our garden's succession planting, visits to other excellent gardens (including a fellow-blogger's garden!) and scenes of our children in every season growing up surrounded by nature. It all began from my husband's encouragement to document some of our favorite plant combinations from the 2010 growing season.

Here is just a sampling of my favorite photographs of our gardens with links to popular posts from the past two years. Hope you enjoy them again - or for the first time!

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.

Driveway Garden at the end of June

Driveway Garden in June: Asiatic Lily 'Rosella’s Dream', Geranium 'Orion', Lavender, Allium sphaerocephalon

Summer is in full swing around here in PA! It has been hot and the hose has been out more than once for the kids and the new perennials which are barely hanging on through this heat.  It has been a warm summer for sure and quite dry. I am a bit sorry for my garden, though really I am mostly enjoying that it is not a cold and gloomy summer like it is some years.

Curb Strip with Irises, Catmint and Allium

Our Front Woodland was entirely turf just a couple years ago.  Photo taken May 25th, 2012.

This pretty blue and white combination developed over the past year in our Front Woodland. The blue Siberian Irises came with our house, so I am not sure of the exact variety. I did learn that when you divide and transplant Siberian Irises, they take a while to settling in and start blooming again.

Blue Siberian irises grow from rhizomes

Poppies, Allium and Catmint in the Front Walk Garden

Our Front Walk Garden

The Front Walk is sited at the front of our property and is in full sun during the summer months. (See it on the map of Gilmore Gardens.) 

This month, the vibrant orange Oriental poppies (Papaver orientalis), purple Allium christophii and blue catmint (Nepeta 'Walker's Low') have taken over from the spring tulip and allium show in early May, and the Allium 'Purple Sensation' and forget-me-nots (Myosotis) at the middle of the month.

 Shocking Oriental poppies (Papaver orientalis) and star-shaped purple Allium christophii viewed in front of the yellow-blooming Sedum 'Acre' in the Front Woodland.

Inside Reports on Spring Gardening at Christopher Lloyd's Great Dixter, East Sussex, UK

The orchard meadow (to the left) and Long Border (right) at Great Dixter just two weeks ago.

If you have been a long-time reader of this blog, you will know that I have a great love for the challenge of succession planting at Gilmore Gardens. You may also have figured out that I have done most of my study on the subject by reading about the great gardens and gardeners of our time, especially those that have used these principles (see a partial book list here).

The garden that epitomizes this ideal of year-round gardening is Great Dixter in East Sussex lead by the late Christopher Lloyd.  There are over a dozen books from Christopher that I have enjoyed over the years, but my favorite must be Succession Planting for Year-Round Pleasure. (Which I hope to review very soon...) He is largely responsible for many of our current garden trends, including returning Cannas and other exotic plants to our gardens.