Saturday, September 15

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - September 2007


September always seems like a better month in my garden than August, one unfortunate planting combination notwithstanding. My grasses start to show off their inflorescences, cutback perennials begin to rebloom, and even annuals seem to get a second wind.

Some plants, like the flamboyant canna 'Wyoming' and tiny, gemlike silene maritima 'Compacta' shown here, continue about their business of blooming without a break. Fall bloomers are just beginning their part of the garden show. Interesting seedheads, from the inky black pods of baptisia australis to the golden hips on my 'Dortmund' rose, are making their presence known as well.

By far my favorite part of the yard right now is the area surrounding the Japanese rock garden. Near the property line, next year's fruit-bearing branches arch out from the base of the newly pruned thornless blackberry. Once the fence goes in, they will have some support for their canes.

In the front, a tapestry of 'Bertram Anderson' sedum, 'Newe Ya'ar' salvia officinalis, allium senescens var. glaucum, 'Voodoo' sedum spurium and 'Caradonna' salvia keep catching my eye. I love the dark stems and tidy leaves on 'Caradonna' so much that once I determined she is as long a bloomer as 'May Night,' I gave away the latter to another gardener to make room for more 'Caradonna'! That these plants grow in poor soil with little mulch and no extra watering makes me even happier with them.

In a small strip between the rock garden and the sidewalk the extends the length of the garage, blue-green clumps of chives and garlic chives sprout from a bed of the greyish-red 'Voodoo' sedum. Their coloring bridges the color shift between the front and back plantings of the Japanese rock garden very well.

In the back, 'Purple Emporer' sedum, 'Frosted Curls' sedge, the blue-flowered plumbago ceratostigma plumbaginoides, bergenia, and various oreganos (including a cream-edged variety that I just planted) surround the dark 'Diablo' ninebark and dwarf sweet cherry.

Behind these, a red-stained arbor is being built for the 'Concord' grape started from cuttings my grandmother gave me. The chartreuse 'Sum and Substance' hosta, 'Hewitt's Double' meadow rue, various ferns, and even a zauschneria garrettii 'Orange Carpet' (on the dry, sunny edge) are planted beneath the arbor space. The smokey-colored atriplex hortensis var. rubra self-seeds itself in this area as well, which will provide some good dynamic change in this bed throughout the years.

Also in bloom and/or bud, in addition to the plants detailed above, are the following:

Perennials/Biennials:

tricyrtis 'Lightning Strike'
tricyrtis 'Samurai'
ajuga reptens 'Silver Queen'
cimicifuga 'Hillside Black Beauty' (bud)

hosta 'Dawn'
ligularia dentata 'Othello'
sorghastrum nutens 'Sioux Blue'
hakonechloa macra 'Aureola'
echinacea 'Merlot'
'Ozark' alpine strawberries

'Black Watchman' hollyhock
artemisia 'Powis Castle'
sedum cauticola '
Lidakense'
sedum 'Vera Jameson'
sedum sieboldii
salvia lyrata 'Purple Knockout'
echinacea 'White Swan'
achillea 'Paprika'
bronze fennel

zauschneria latifolia v. etteri
golden oregano
Japanese anemone 'Party Dress'
Japanese anemone 'Robustissima'

lamium 'Purple Dragon'
nepeta 'Walker's Low'

unnamed toad lily
perovskia atriplicifola
'Matrona' sedum
variegated liriope
asclepias tuberosa


Annuals/Vegetables:

begonia 'Cocktail Whiskey'
nicotiana sylvestris

red snapdragons
upright fuchsia 'Koralle'
portulaca 'Margarita Banana'
portulaca 'Yubi red'
orange cosmos
'Ichiban' eggplant
various pepper plants
various coleus in need of deadheading
'Sonic Cherry' new guinea impatiens
my gorgeous yellow lantana
'Hopi Red Dye' amaranth
gladiolus 'Lime Green'
2 other glads with missing tags
cinnamon basil*
pineapple sage
verbena bonariensis

*Anyone else growing cinnamon basil have a tough time keeping this one from flowering? I've been impressed with its tenacity!

21 comments:

Carol Michel said...

I wish my toad lily was bloom. And that canna, that is quite the color on that!

Thanks for participating in Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!

Carol at May Dreams Gardens

Anonymous said...

Kim: Love your combinations! Great post as always! Don't you just love blue plumbago! Ours are blooming together!

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

I've long admired Salvia 'Caradonna,' but I can't make it fit stylistically into my faux prairie. I'm thinking of trying it with 'Black Jack' Sedum & Physocarpus 'Diabolo.' At least that's the idea for next year. I have to kill some more lawn 1st. Nice Canna (I still hate orange). NIMG.

Silly Goose said...

Beautiful canna! And the toad lily is sweet. I'll have to see if mine are blooming.

I agree that September is probably a better month for gardens than August. But as I didn't participate in the August Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, I can't prove it. LOL

Unknown said...

Carol, thank you. I like that canna flower, too. It's kind of mottled with different oranges in an interesting way.

Layanee, isn't it funny to know that we're a day's drive apart and yet we both have those blue plumbago blooming now? (And yes, I adore that shade of blue... but I love the red fall leaf color even more.)

Mr. McGregor's Daughter, I am all for killing more lawn. :) That would be a neat combination together, I bet--the 'Caradonna' visually works with the 'Diabolo' in the background as you're looking over the Japanese garden in my yard, anyway. I would think it would be nice in a prairie-style garden, though. I know that I've seen those salvias in drifts along with short grasses and lots of pebbles in various garden magazines, and it looks lovely on the edge of a garden.

Dirty Knees, I love your "handle!" Very appropriate for a gardener. :) Thanks for stopping by.

Sweet Home and Garden Carolina said...

A beautiful post, as usual, for Garden Bloggers' Bloom day.

Anonymous said...

I'm trying to grow cinnamon basil on my kitchen window sill, but it's rather slow-going. I don't think I'll ever have a problem with keeping it from flowering. However, I definitely had a flowering problem with my African blue basil and I finally just gave up. It looks great in the herb garden though and the bees love it.

Anonymous said...

The Cardonna salvia is one of my favorites, and what an interesting toad lily! Have you ever read about viruses in toadlily stocks? I stupidly worry about it, when I'm not sure that I would know the difference.

Anyway (I digress) - your gardens look beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of blue plumbago, though I don't have any, it is blooming now in Austin too. What is that, a two-day drive from you?

I love the soft colors and texture in the Japanese rock garden, especially that silver and purple combo. You know I like that!

Green thumb said...

your garden is loving september. Blooms are all so lovely.
I love cinnamon Basil, unfortunately the climate here doesn't support it.
Referring to your comment on my Henna post; It is the same Henna, which is used to dye hair. Natural one is the best.
Generally, if your hair are of a lighter color, then only will they take a reddish tinge.

Entangled said...

Zauschneria garrettii? Is that in the third picture from the bottom? I'm putting that one on my list right now, if that's it.

My cinnamon basil was cut back hard in early summer when it first started to bloom, but yes, it's blooming again. Some people think the flavor is better before the plants flower, but I use the same plants throughout the summer.

Laurie and Chris said...

Wow you still have a lot blooming. I don't have much left in my gardens. I didn't plant any annuals this year so everything looks pretty sad. Your flowers look great!!

Unknown said...

Thanks, Carolyn Gail!

Heather, you're right--I've grown African Blue basil before and noticed the same thing. The leaves still taste good on my cinnamon basil, so maybe I should just stop trying to fight it.

Pam, I haven't... but I look at all hosta suspiciously now, searching with my eyes for signs of Hosta Virus X! I will be doing an online search for the toad lily issue so I can keep my eyes out for that one, too.

Pam/Digging, I thought you might like that! I wish I could find a way to add some of that purple beautybush that you show off in your silver/purple combos, though. That would be lovely there, if only I had more room. (Your plumbago is the tropical kind, I bet--the lighter blue, taller plant. Our "plumbago" is a short groundcover that's not a true plumbago.)

Green Thumb, thank you for the answer on the henna! I'm surprised that the cinnamon basil doesn't work well there--we have to grow it as an annual in the summertime because it isn't hardy through our winters.

entangled, the one in that picture is actually zauschneria latifolia var. etteri and I like it MUCH better than the z. garrettii. The former has a much prettier, silvery leaf and the orange flowers are a better color somehow than garrettii's but I can't explain why. I got both from High Country Gardens, hence the links to HCG's pages in this comment.

And thanks for the info on the cinnamon basil. I'm making a mental note to cut mine back hard earlier in the season next year.

laurie & chris, I know what you mean--in my first garden, I had all spring and early summer bloomers. By August I felt like gardening was over for the year... and then I discovered fall blooming plants. I think I almost appreciate the fall bloomers more for the wait, if that makes any sense. :)

Annie in Austin said...

Starting with a tall orange canna works for me! Your extensive list is a knockout, but one can feel the season poised to turn in your photos.

Kim, the lighter blue Plumbago I've shown in my photos from Austin is the tropical Plumbago auriculata, but we also grow the dark blue, hardy plumbago, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides. I put in a small plant earlier this year and it's only had a couple of flowers and barely grown. I've seen it do well for another Diva of the Dirt so I remain hopeful!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

healingmagichands said...

I sure enjoyed visiting your beautiful garden. I had a few red cannas that seemed to be hardy, but they got suffocated by the ice storm last winter and I didn't have the heart to replant. I may have to revisit that decision, they are so beautiful. Maybe it would be worth having to dig them up every winter. and maybe with global warming coming along I wouldn't have to.

Unknown said...

Annie, good to know--I had assumed that the ceratostigma wouldn't get enough winter cold there for it to be happy. I should know better than to make such assumptions! I hope Pam/Digging sees this correction...

healingmagichands, I don't think that they are hardy here, either, although frankly the 'Wyoming' might be close enough to the house to make it through. I'm going to dig them up anyway so that I can share some with a few friends next spring. Some of the warmer-climate gardeners whose blogs I read have warned that they spread rapidly in the ground, anyway, so maybe we're better off having to dig them up, eh? :)

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

Lovely long list of blooms Kim. That Salvia is very nice. In my previous garden I had a Ceratostigma too. The blue of the flowers of very vibrant and the leaves turn red when it gets cold, which looks very nice.

My blooms are up too.

Ki said...

Great looking Silene Kim. When I saw S. maritima in a book I immediately wanted to buy some but sources for this plant seem to be scarce. Very nice diversity of blooming plants in this late season.

lisa said...

Your September garden is rocking hard! I'm glad to get your assesment of zauschneria, because I've long admired these, but my climate is so different from HC's...good to hear from a gardener with snow experience! I see you already have purple emperor sedum...should'a known! ;-)

Bev said...

Kim, I love the "wildness" and free style of your gardens, and I particularly enjoy reading your blog and your thought processes behind your combinations and ideas. I share your thoughts about daylilies also!

Sorry to be off topic, but you had asked me earlier for the name of the paint on my friend Barb's fences. I finally got it for you. She is "pretty" sure it is Behr's House and Fence Stain - Redwood oil latex HD #330, tint base #30. Hope this helps.

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