August Is Still Blooming

Welcome one and all to the Fairegarden blooms for bloom day in August 2012. The weather has been weird from January onward, but the strongest and maybe more importantly, the most adaptable plants are taking it in stride. In the lawn/meadow, a Gulf fritillary butterfly sips on Verbena bonariensis with the lavender spikes of the Liriope edging showing behind.

In the Ferngully area, the former home to a gigantic red maple tree that died and was taken down shortly after we moved to this property, Joe Pye weed, Eupatoriaum purpurea ‘Gateway’ greets the morning sun.

Every now and then, after we are blessed with precipatation from above and the stars and planets are in perfect alignment, the rain lily, Zephyranthes grandiflora will shoot up a pink flower. These were sent in error by a bulb company several years ago and finally bloomed for the first time last year.

A lone daylily, Hemerocallis ‘Happy Returns’ is reblooming in the yellow/white garden. Several of the daylilies were fed and groomed with hopes of reblooming. So far, this is the only one to do so, but hope remains for more. Hey, it could happen!

This sweet little Cuphea with no tag has been blooming all summer. A dozen of them would make quite a show, but this lone one is doing quite all right.

Calluna vulgaris ‘Red Fred’ is blooming a light lavender. The red moniker comes from the new foliage color, supposedly, but it is not that red here in Southeast Tennessee. Nice, though.

Dicliptera suberecta, blooming now in its second year here offers up reddish/orange tubes of goodness to visiting hummingbirds. This one might have cuttings taken now that is has proven hardy here. I like the silvery foliage, too.

Purchased during the Asheville Fling 2012 at B.B. Barns Nursery, Dahlia ‘Mystic Spirit’ has performed well above average in both foliage and flower. I hope it winters over like the Gallery Series of Dahlias have, so far.

Blackberry lilies, not lilies at all but related to the iris family, Belamcanda chinensis have seeded themselves far and wide in the sunny, hot and dry Shed Bed. This bed never gets any irrigation other than rainfall and is planted with species that need it not. Eryngium ssp., Salvia greggii and Stipa tenuissima, among others have proven immune to drought and heat.

Growing a little shorter this year, Rudbeckia lanciniata is beloved by butterflies, bees and goldfinches. The gardener likes it, as well, for the height and later blooming time, along with the evergreen rosette of dark green leaves.

Aristolochia fimbriata is a little puff of the Dutchman’s pipe vine family. The bloom this year is the best ever, for who knows why. Cute, isn’t he?

Rudbeckia submentosa ‘Henry Eilers’ has fluted petals and is five to six feet tall. It needs staking here, but is worth that extra bit of gardening effort.

Clematis ‘Rooguchi’ has decided to rebloom. We are thrilled about that.

Sedum ‘Vera Jameson’ is a sprawling groundcover type that edges the heather bed. She grows very nicely under the Callunas and sticks her head out towards the pathways in late summer with darker pink flowers.

We end with the same butterfly as shown in the opening shot, the Gulf fritillary, this time showing the beautiful coloration of the underside of the wings. For more blooms from around the world, check out my good friend Carol of May Dreams Gardens’ Mister Linky widget for more Garden Bloggers Bloom Day posts.

Frances