Seasonal Page: August: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly! Page 2

Decided it was time to split the page. The picture shown above was taken last August. I needed something new and didn't have any current photos that seemed worthy to add. The Gladiola looks like a variety called 'Traderhorn' and is growing in the Oak Bed near the Echinops ritro. This year it was tall and floppy (like most everything else)! I had always thought Gladiolas were better used in the vegetable garden as cut flower material, but am thinking that they can really add some zip to the borders in July and August, when used judiciously. For the price and ease of planting, they really deliver.

	I've already shown these Eryngium planum flowers (Sea Holly) on the July page, but thought I'd get a closer view with Robert's camera. Our rains earlier in the summer kind of bent the poor thing down. Weeding it when I did probably didn't help it to be compact either. The flowers are still fascinating, however, and nice for cutting or drying.
Let's hear it for REBLOOM! This Climbing 'Altissimo' is putting on quite a show again. Cutting off the old blooms is essential if you want more flowers later on...especially on a variety like this that sets huge hips. They are actually kind of pretty during the winter, so I will usually leave a few on when it's getting toward fall. That reminds me...it's time to cut all the old blooms off all of the rose bed. I never did spray them this year! Bad! There's a bit of disease here and there and mostly some holes in the leaves from the little rose slugs.
	This Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' was just planted in spring of '98 from a four-inch pot. I had one there a few years ago, but it eventually died out from getting too dry. We've weeded and mulched, so I hope this one will do better. It is surrounded by the serpentine spikes (too much shade since it was first planted) of Perovskia and the bright orange flowers of the common Crocosmia crocosmiflora...a real colonizer!
A familiar vantage point, but I want you to notice the changing color of the "lawn." I just don't have the water or inclination to keep it green all summer. We've actually had more rain this year than many, but sudden heat in August really cooked things. Pretty soon, there will be moister nights and some sprinkles to green things up.

	Here are Ron, Diane and Karen picking beans from the garden. Ron has done the vegetable garden this year with the girls' help. I used to be a lot more involved, but there's so much to be done in the rest of the yard, that I'm grateful that he's doing this. There are quite a few weeds in there, but we are still eating lots of produce from that small area. In years past, we would have planted twice as many rows, but this is as much as I want to be canning at one time this year!
A moderate but adequate harvest.That's what two canner loads of beans look like (14 quarts). Since we ate some and gave some to my sister, I didn't do the second load and held a few over in the fridge to can with the next picking (not ideal, but it will be okay).
	This isn't the picture I had hoped to take, but will serve the purpose of illustration (There was a totally gorgeous and humongous flower the previous week and I forgot to capture it while it was in the shadows...sigh.) It's interesting to me how our frame of reference can affect our ability to see beauty. This pumpkin flower is REALLY spectacular....you can get quite lost in one (almost literally, as huge as they are!). If we didn't have the mindset of growing this plant for its fruit, we might use it as an exotic annual vine in the flower garden. We'd be out there making sure to pick the little fruits off to prolong its season of bloom (horrors!). Just a thought.

I sure am enjoying Robert's camera. He may have trouble getting it back when he gets home from Europe! This is a flower spike of Penstemon 'Midnight.' There is sun lighting it all up, but normally it is a bit darker and duskier looking. This variety stays nice and bushy and comes back well each year here. I just have to cut it back periodically and take off the old bloom spikes. It grows in the Rose Frontal Bed.

If you could get a long shot on this, you would see that it is flopped over the edge of the lawn like so many other perennials in the garden this year (early on, we had extra rain and more overcast than normal). I love the beautiful silky cool quality of the flowers on Malva alcea 'Fastigiata.' I probably started with one plant and now have this seeding all over the back garden. It is a rampant seeder and it's easier to pull them when they are young since they have a deep root system. This makes them more drought tolerant, however. Something to keep in mind for difficult situations.

One of my favorite workhorse perennials, coming into its own this month. Aster frickartii 'Monch' usually is in full bloom by the middle of July, but the Asters seem to be later this season (again, probably because of so much overcast in early summer). This perennial goes with so many things, is easy to grow, has a long bloom season, and doesn't spread. It takes a bit to establish a big clump, but it will pay dividends in the garden.

I don't have huge and gorgeous Hydrangeas in my yard like many folks who live in the Pacific Northwest. The soil here is too sandy for their tastes, but this one puts on a modest display underneath one of the Birch trees in front. I think the variety was 'White Wave.' It's near the white bed.
	I said this would be the good, the bad and the ugly, and I thought it was time for more UGLY! This poor tomato plant looks like the others in the garden. I think they have been touched by blight or something as noxious and we will probably not see very many good tomatoes from them. I put this here to validate those of you who have had this same problem in recent years. Maybe it's isolated to this part of the country, but I don't remember this disease taking out tomato plants like it has in the past five seasons.
In the Ash Bed near a fountain of Carex buchananii are these charming little volunteers. I was delighted to see two tiny Snapdragons. They are nearly identical to the ones I placed two years ago in color and size. We should get a better show from them during the next two months before the weather gets too cold. The Johnny Jump-Ups behind can always be expected in this spot and I especially like the soft colored ones in shades of blue and yellow.

	To see Anemone 'September Charm' you have to walk to the rear portion of the back bed ...behind the Buddleia 'Pink Delight.' This is such a soft color and I have always thought the Japanese Anemones had an understated charm and elegance (this photo is a bit brighter than the originals). The bright little tufts of cerise red are the beginnings of flowers on a small Aster 'Alma Potschke.' She should be relocated to a more prominent position in the garden.
This is a closer look at the flowers on Anemone 'September Charm.'
	The heralds of late summer and fall are the diminuitive flowers of Cyclamen hederifolium. The foliage will follow and was pictured on the Late Winter page earlier this year.The poor little guy on the left looks like a fallen warrior. Now that he's lost his head, the stem will gradually make a coil like a spring and work its way into the ground, where the seeds will form just underground. Interesting plants! All those heart shaped leaves nearby belong to an annual Violet that has become a nuisance! Hundreds of them spring up from spring through summer. They are kind of cute, but enough is enough!
The Lamb's Ear in the foreground is 'Silver Carpet' (non-flowering) and it was reset this spring when the first half of the Rose Frontal was weeded and mulched. I'm pleased to see it coming back. Just above are volunteers of a small Snapdragon that had been in the bed a couple of seasons before. I love surprises like these! You've seen the other plants before, so I won't list them all. Wish the lighting on this photo had been better.
How about a bug's eye view of Lily 'Journey's End,' dripping with nectar? I'm amazed to see any flowers on this plant because it has been in the shadow of a large Pine tree for several years. Ron cut the tree down last season and now this gets more light. It should be moved so that I don't have to hike to the back of the bed to see the flowers, which are facing the mountains (away from the yard)!

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This page last updated on August 31, 1998.

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