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On this weirdly moist summer season, it appears as if we hardly had any actual summer season climate, and, instantly, I can really feel the strategy of autumn. Within the woodland border, the foliage of our native columbine, Aquilegia canadensis, has turned to crimson and the Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum) is in bloom.
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However, summer season shouldn’t be over within the backyard. In mid-August, there are nonetheless about twenty sorts of daylilies with flowers – however most of those have just a few buds left to open.
| One exception is the aptly named ‘Autumn Minaret,’ with its delicate flowers that float excessive above the foliage on slender stems. I’ve two of those vegetation, one within the again backyard and one within the entrance; each are loaded with buds and may proceed blooming by August and into September. |  |
One other tall flower that blooms from late summer season till frost is Rudbeckia x ‘Herbstsonne’ (aka ‘Autumn Solar’). This plant is placing on a tremendous present in the back of the blue and yellow border, with flowers which might be eight toes tall!
I’m pleased to be having fun with summer season phlox (Phlox paniculata) this summer season. Final 12 months, the phlox had been all eaten by the resident woodchuck, however this 12 months’s woodchuck was faraway from the backyard by a predator in June, giving the phlox vegetation time to get better. Proper now, each ‘Blue Paradise’ and ‘David’ are blooming within the again backyard, with different cultivars in different components of the backyard in bud.
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Different vegetation which have had a chance to bloom this 12 months within the absence of the woodchuck are Liatris and Echinacea purpurea.
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In August, the entrance slope is dominated by beebalm, particularly Monarda fistulosa and Monarda punctata. These vegetation are each enthusiastic self-seeders and might simply grow to be an excessive amount of of factor. I maintain that means to tug up extra portions of Monarda punctata, however I hesitate to take action as a result of this plant, with its pineapple-like tiers of pink bracts and noticed yellow flowers, is a magnet for pollinators. I notably worth the truth that it attracts the attractive nice black digger wasp, with its iridescent blue wings, to my backyard.
One other plant that’s blooming profusely is fake sunflower, Heliopsis helianthoides, which retains popping up in locations had been I didn’t plant it, assisted I think by the goldfinches that wish to perch on its stems and systematically strip the ray flowers from every blossom earlier than consuming the seeds.
One plant that has been extra-happy with this 12 months’s moist climate is my Hydrangea paniculata ‘Pinky Winky,’ which is planted in a melancholy that catches water from a downspout on the entrance nook of the home and has extra blooms this 12 months than I’ve ever seen on it earlier than. Its flowers bloom white in late summer season after which flip to pink after which to crimson. In mid-August, they’re simply starting the transition to pink.
Even when the exuberant floral show of excessive summer season is previous, there’s nonetheless lots happening as my backyard begins its flip from summer season to autumn.
Backyard Bloggers’ Bloom Day is a celebration of flowers hosted every month by Carol Michel at Could Goals Gardens. Go to her weblog to see what different gardeners have blooming in August.
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