The Last Blooms in August

Can you believe that it the last weekend of August?
Where has the summer gone?
School is back in session for a new year. The children
must really think summer has flown. I remember not
wanting to go back to school and seeing the summer end.
With even the added extra two to three weeks we had in
the olden days of school being let out in May and not going
back until after Labor Day it still just flew by.
Trust me, the older you get the faster the days seem to go by
for some reason.

Today is Fertilizer Friday sponsored by Tootsie over
at Tootsie Time. Time to Flaunt Your Flowers.
Mine are getting fewer and fewer to flaunt these days.
So go over and join us in flaunting your flowers while they
are still blooming. Although I believe that Tootsie's flowers
are always in bloom ;-)



Some of the reliable blooms that are continuing to show
off some blooms yet are:



Gerbera Daisies





Old reliable " Crimson Bouquet' Roses.
Thank goodness they will continue until the frost
takes them. And also the Knockout Roses.





My baby "Laura' Phlox has put on some single blooms
since it was trimmed of the spent blooms.
And it still smells just as heavenly.



"Queen Charlotte' Anemone is in her glory now
and blooming up a show.





'Edinburgh' Dalhia is still blooming.



Osteospermum's.




Geranium's.








Alyssum's



Helitope ' Marine'



Gaillardia 'Burgundy' or Blanket Flower.
(Note to self: Needs divided and moved.)



Million Bells or Calibrachoa.





White Wave Petunia and the silly triple bloom petunia is
still going.



Even "Stella d' Oro' Lily is getting a few late season blooms.

And of course there are always plenty of weeds!







And Green Brier's



And Cockle-burr's in the Hocking Hill's.


Happy Gardening Everyone!

Butterfly Wishes

Butterfly Wishes

Yesterday a butterfly
Came floating gently through the sky.
He soared up through the atmosphere
Then drifted close enough to hear.

I said, "I'd love to fly with you
And sail around the way you do.
It looks like it would be such fun
To fly up toward the summer sun.

But I have not your graceful charm.
I haven't wings, just these two arms.
I've been designed to walk around.
My human feet must touch the ground.

Then magically he spoke to me
and told me what his wish would be.

He said, "What I'd love most to do
Is walk upon God's Earth with you,
To squish it's mud between my toes
Or touch my finger to my nose.

I'd love just once to walk around
With human feet to touch the ground,
But I have not two legs that swing,
I haven't arms, just these two wings."

And so we went our separate ways
In wonder and surprise.
For we'd both seen God's precious gifts
Through someone else's eyes.

Author Unknown

Time to Take an Inventory

Although I dislike the thoughts of impending Autumn
and what comes next it is time to take stalk of the
flower beds. Time to see what needs divided, moved,
or added.
Looking over my flower beds and really seeing them
was an eye opener. I saw that I had stuck in randomly
flowers that I loved but not necessarily go well with
the surrounding flowers, so the back drops were sometimes
not ugly but a jumbled mess of colors.
So I took note and decided that I had to move quite a few
and really match them up so that they would blend with
each other. This is going to take a while ;-)
Yes, it was that bad.
SO, I intend to move flowers this fall and tidy up the beds.
I also saw that I needed an infusion of some other colors
in my beds. I have tended towards the royal colors of red,
pinks, blues and purples. But I do love these colors.
So the new garden catalogs coming in now in abundance
will be used to add more color and blends. I am determined
to have color divided in sections in the beds.
Now that I have set my mind to this project it is really
getting fun and I see many new different of varieties of flowers
that can be added to the garden.

Yesterday was spent digging up the old old fashioned
irises that were in one flower bed.




From the looks at the divisions in my old wagon you can
see how long it had been since they were divided. Sad sight.
By the way the wagon is old and Dad had built a wooded bed
for it years ago. I use it for everything around the garden though
so it is a real back saver for me having not to lug around
everything. The poor thing needs a new bed now, but since
Dad had built it for me and he is now gone I hang on to it.

Anyway, I ended up with 56 divisions which was put into
a fifty foot section in of double rows behind my lily bed
along the woods. Do you think the irises will help hide the
lilies from the deer? I am hoping it will help.



Also I had to go around the beds and pull out this terribly
invasive flower that springs up everywhere. I received it from
a friend years ago and the once love for the dark foliage and
little pink flowers have run from love to pure hate for the thing.
I cannot remember what the name was now so if any of you can
identify it please let me know.
The stuff is even coming up down in the woods now so I
will be fighting with it forever because I cannot denude the
woods. It is such a shame because it does have beautiful foliage.



The 'Brandywine' tomatoes have been ripening fast now
that we had a hot spell. I was wondering if I would ever get
any after such a cool summer.
I am not going to plant it next year though because the vines
grow so large, too large for my containers. I had to start pinching
off the tops when they reached 6 feet because I could not hold them
upright above that in the containers. Also I have tasted a lot more
better tomatoes. Maybe the weather had something to do with the
taste but I will try a bush tomato next summer.

On the agenda today is moving the three Heath plants to
a better location along the garage bank. They just so not
look good now in their location and I do not want to just pitch
them. Changes are going to happen around the beds and
more plants added that will also bloom later in the season
to keep the color going through the summer.
Also I find that I am in need of using more annuals in
my garden and more of a variety. This all will be in my
garden notes so next spring when the seed catalogs come
pouring in I will choose new annuals instead of just the old
standbys.
So is everyone taking a new look at their garden beds and
making changes also? I would love to hear about your
evaluations and moves.

Happy Gardening Everyone!

The Rose of Sharon

I have saw so many beautiful Rose of Sharon
bushes or trees lately. There are so many varieties
now and many more colors.
Mine were grown from seeds taken from my
Grandmother's bushes so I am a little sentimental
about the ones I have growing.They also bring back
memories of when my cousins and I were little and
grandma would give us toothpicks and we would
make little dolls from them. Farm kids found simple
and cheap ways to keep occupied --way-- back then ;-)



Since I wrote a posting on it last year I won't bore
anyone now with repeating it.




They were later this season because of the cool
summer and I was hoping that the Japanese beetles
wouldn't find them but they did so they have a few
riddled leaves on them.




At one time I had a line of them in front of my porch
that was kept trimmed as a hedge. Like all gardeners
I got bored at looking at that and cut them down to make
room for, of course more flowers.




Rose of Sharon Hibiscus Syriacus is a very easy shrub
to grow. It does well in zones 5 to 10 and is evergreen
in warm climates. Here in the north the leaves turn
yellow and fall off after a frost so the fall foliage on
them is not a pretty sight.



The Rose Of Sharon loves full sun but I have some spindly
ones blooming down near the woods where trimmings were
dumped. They have seed pods with many seeds in them.
They can be considered a little invasive because of so many
seeds. I have to pull them from flower beds and from around
bushes every spring.
I trim mine back heavily in the fall to keep it a smaller
compact shrub. They can also be limbed up into a tree.



The new double blooming 'Blue Chiffon' looks to be
a pretty variety, but I would like to hear from gardeners
who have one to see if it is blue or more
purple in color before purchasing one.
Other than the invasive character of the shrub, the blooms
are gorgeous for a late summer show and the Hummingbirds
love them.




Remember Balisha @ Never Enough Time
in your thoughts and prayers.

Happy Gardening Everyone!

Blooming Now in August

With the blooms waning around the yard it is
starting to look pretty ragged around here. This
morning after a walk around in the yard many of
the blooms were gone from the pounding storms
we have had here in the hills. The only thing that
looked good was the Impatiens that I plant everywhere
to fill in the shady spots. Anemone Queen Charlotte
had her blooms on the ground but than goodness she
has many buds yet.







But even the shady gardens are getting sparse now with
the Brunnera's, Jacob's Ladder, Columbine's, and Bleeding
Hearts going dormant. I had to set little pots of Impatiens
to fill in the holes where they were.




The window boxes of geraniums and potato vines have
leaves that are now riddled from insects and many are
turning yellow. With only one hydrangea that bloomed out
of the seven, they were my greatest disappointment this summer.




The Nikko Hydrangea under the window box is twice as big now but not a bloom to be found. Last summer it had blooms all summer along with the Forever Pink Hydrangea.

The pansies have been cut out and the Shasta daisies and
coneflowers are on the last of their second and smaller blooms.






The tall Phlox and Yarrows have stopped their blooming
and need cut back along with the dried Astilbe blooms.






The Petunias are getting straggly looking and are
constantly being pinched off because of seed pods
sitting on them.



The small quantity of Monarda and Delphiniums
that I have are now almost spent.







Most of the roses are done blooming for the summer and
I am thinking I do not care much for August anymore.





But the Lantana is still blooming.



And Sweet Caroline Purple Potato vines are blooming.

Helitrope Marine is still putting on a show.



I always have my Geraniums.






And the one rose that I can depend on to bloom
until frost is the Crimson Bouquet. Some of her
last blooms will be dried because it has such a wonderful
fragrance and makes the best smelling potpourri to
set out in the winter.



The Chrysanthemum's are getting buds now and the
Deep Purple Osteospermum's are blooming up a storm.



Today is also Fertilizer Friday over at Tootsie's so do
not forget to go over and join in and "Flaunt your
Flowers' while they are still in bloom.

Also Send your thoughts and prayers up for Tootsie's
Dad.


Happy Gardening Everyone !