Summer's Last

This long, HOT Summer has been hard on the garden...AND the gardener.  And yet, these amazing plants continue to bloom...and while some of them are not exactly flourishing...they're still beautiful enough for me to do a little bragging!

This is the Autumn Clemitis (actually two) that grows on our perennial garden arbor.  FINALLY...we have bloomage up and over.  And I cannot tell you how WONDERFUL it smells!  It's taken me probably 8 to 10 years to get it to look like this.  And guess what?  NOW I have seedlings of this everywhere...growin' like weeds!

Late season ground-cover roses in pale pink.  

"Clara Curtis" Chrysanthemum.  This is a great "weaver"...to grow among taller, spindlier plants.  Next year, I'm going to try this under the roses.

"Immortality" Bearded Iris (a re-bloomer.)  Usually, my re-blooming Iris show up much later in the Fall.  This recently transplanted beauty didn't bloom this past Spring...so I think it's making up for lost time. 

 


Sedum...one of the most reliable plants in the garden.  The butterflies love this. 

Gaura "Whirling Butterflies"...

...and Russian Sage.  I struggled for years to grow these last two...unfortunately, they don't like our heavy clay soil.  However, I'm pleased to say that they seem to be happy in their home in the front garden...at last!

And here's Rusty...peeking out from under the Plumbago that grows by our front step.  I've heard that if you can't grow Plumbago, you'd better move to the city.  Well...for awhile there, I thought I was city-bound!  Thankfully, it seems to have taken hold...and now it's my favorite Fall bloomer! 




And there you have it...an early Fall garden tour!  How did your garden fare this year?