Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - August 2010

August in the gardens is Phlox, Agastache, Golden Glow, Gloriosas, Coneflowers, Cosmos, Cleome, Dahlias, Zinnias......

and so much more!
Wonderful color everywhere!

Now that the daylilies are finished in the Lily Garden, that large clump of Agastache foeniculum/Anise Hyssop is the main attraction. It's been blooming for weeks!

In the Lower Rock Garden there's plenty of Gloriosa Daisies/rudbeckia hirta and other lovelies.

Coneflowers are still blooming happily with Phlox and Gloriosas.

The Phlox in the Driveway Garden have had a spectacular season, with blooms more abundant than I've ever seen. I took lots of photos and will have to do a "look back" post to show you some of them. Is it just me, or does summer get busier every year? I just can't seem to find time to blog lately. 

The Golden Glow/Rudbeckia laciniata "Hortensia" (aka Cut-leaf coneflower, Outhouse plant) falls all over the place in gay abandon and still manages to look beautiful. Hubby's rustic fences are meant to keep it upright, but it creeps out beyond them and I haven't found time to dig it up and put it back where I want it.

The red shed makes a perfect background.

Hannah and the other cats think it's their own personal jungle.

Let's wander down to the Lily Garden where there are some pretty annuals blooming.

Cleome in glorious shades of pink.

Aka Spider Flower

Coreopsis Ruby Frost was a gift from Terra Nova nurseries for helping to name the new plant through a Birds and Blooms magazine competition. What a lovely surprise when 4 plants arrived in the mail! Isn't it beautiful?

I love this Dark Opal Basil paired with Zinnias, and it smells wonderful whenever I'm working near it and brush against it.

I left this one Gloriosa seedling where it planted itself and am very happy that it's turned out to be a double with some rusty tones in it. I haven't seen many of them this year. They're mostly the more common school bus yellow.

I'm so pleased with my beautiful Verbena bonariensis growing in the Lower Rock Garden!
Thank you, dear Barbara of Abenteuer Garten!
A few of them self-seeded from last year but most of these were started from seed indoors in the late winter.

It also pairs well with Zinnias.

We are lucky to have a small, local nursery owned by friends, and it's a real treasure chest of new plants to try. I was excited to find, among other things, 2 salvias that I haven't seen in these parts before. This one is Salvia greggii "Desert Blaze"/Variegated Autumn Sage.

And this one is Salvia coccinea "Coral Nymph"/Hummingbird or Texas Sage.

Bright orange nasturtiums are blooming with calendulas and marigolds at the bottom of the Rock Garden.

Speaking of bright orange, the lovely Oriental Tigerlily has been blooming up near the butterfly bush in the Driveway Garden for weeks!

Windowboxes are overflowing with petunias! This one has "Pink Morn" paired with Scaevola/Fan Flower, Alyssum, Vinca and an Ivy Geranium.

Soft mounds of Cosmos glow in the morning sun outside the back door.

Across the driveway, Dahlia "Park Princess" is pretty in the Pink Garden.

Daylily "Summer Wine" is the only one still producing blooms. There aren't many buds left now, but it's been blooming for more than a month. This is a late July photo because I forgot to take a current one.

August is the month for my overwintered geraniums to really come into their own. The Ivies are blooming like crazy and looking glorious.

We've had some cooler weather and a couple of good rains lately. One recent misty morn I caught the geraniums sparkling with jeweled drops after an overnight rain.
This is "Belladonna".

and  "Chirocco".

Vancouver Centennial Geranium is beautiful once again with Sweet Potato Vine "Blackie" and Calibrachoa "MiniFamous Tangerine".

There are many more blooms - too many to mention, so this will have to do for now. Thanks for visiting and happy Bloom Day to you!


I hope you'll manage to find the time to visit Carol of May Dreams Gardens and have a look at what's blooming in other gardens all over the globe on this August Bloom Day.