It's September

Welcome to September. For many gardeners September is a great month with cooler temperatures and a second planting season. For me, my garden is starting to go downhill, I'm back at work [trying to convince college students that are only taking science because they have to that Biology really is cool!] and Winter Is Coming.

But it's not all doom-and-gloom. Yet. I still have tomatoes ripening.

My Buddleia, butterfly bushes, are just past their peak (with a patch of Gaura to the right) but still attracting butterflies.

My Sambuncus (Elderberry) Black Lace is looking gorgeous and the birds are nibbling on the berries.

The view against the side fence is fabulous but hard to photograph because the neighbor's house is white. It really needs a paint job - do you think I can convince them to change the color so I get better photographs? Left to right - Physiocarpus, Ninebark Diablo, Buddleia evil ways and Paniculum virgatum, switchgrass Cloud Nine

Lacecap Hydrangea, possibly Lady in Red, past her peak but still handsome

Hard to photograph but this is Thalictum, Meadow Rue (afraid I don't know the variety) growing up over the edge of the deck (as planned).

My experiment with Palms in pots got mixed results. The palms grew but also got some sunburn. I think I'll try something different next year. The New Guinea impatients in the bottom did very well (they're pinker than they appear)

That's my garden as the month changes. How's yours doing?

Favorite Plant in the Garden this Week - Gaura

One of my all-summer long favorite plants is Gaura lindheimeri.

The "white" flowered Gaura (which still has some pink, especially in the buds) is the hardiest and largest variety, growing to 3 foot tall and hardy up to zone 5. Pink colored varieties can sometimes be shorter both in height and in lifespan but often have more colorful foliage.

Gaura are drought hardy, derived from plants that are native to Texas, but unlike some drought hardy plants they can tolerate more frequent rains.

Gaura will self seed in your garden but have shallow root systems and are easy to remove if they show up where you don't want them. They are also easy to move, but they will wilt horribly at first. They will also cross breed with each other. Most of my volunteers come up white. I'm not sure if that means that white is the dominant color or if they're just more prolific.

Best of all these plants bloom from mid-summer through killing frost AND the pollinators like them.

Thanks to Danger Garden for this meme.

Foliage Follow Up July 2014

While the flowers are all orange there is still some gorgeous foliage to be found this month here on The Edge.

I bought two gorgeously dark Cimicifuga [Actea] simplex Brunette and planted them in a partly shady area - this one kept some dark pigment and developed these complexly colored leaves. The other one is mostly green (bleh). They're supposed to get big, which is good since they're in a shrub border with lots of Viburnums.

I'm not sure if this Panicum  is Heavy Metal or Cloud Nine. I bought both and can't really tell the difference in my garden. Still, it's nice and [very important] it's dog-resistant. Even when My Little Predator tried to dig it up to get at something hiding deep inside the plant.

Ah, Physiocarpus opulifolius Diablo [ninebark]. Go ahead, tempt me, you sexy thing!

What's mid-summer with Hostas? I'm a fan of the jumbo sized leaves on these two: Guacamole (on top) and DamnIForgotToRecordTheName (on bottom).

Sambucus [elderberry] Black Lace

And a surprise appearance by Baptisia australis. Not normally known for their foliage they do form a nice shrub sized clump during the summer. Unless it pours down rain. In which case they flop over like drama queens.

This is Gaura lindheimeri Guadi Red. I bought it to bring some more dark pink genes into the gene pool of the volunteer reproducing Gaura in my yard. It hasn't bloomed yet but I really like the colors in the foliage.

Ferns are always good for foliage photos. Lady in Red on top and Ostrich on bottom (note the dots on the underside of Ostrich's leaves? Those are the spore producing structures)

 And let's end this month with a close up of a very nice Canna leaf (possibly Tropicanna). 

Thanks to Pam at Digging for this meme

Laziness Pays Offf

I have several Gaura (I think the common name is Whirling Butterflies) that I enjoy all summer long.  They reseeded lightly in the garden, including quite a few in the Hell Strip.  The Hell Strip is a bit too narrow to support the Gaura and I decided to try and move them.  Since they reseeded many of these were close to other plants I wanted to keep so I knew I'd be challenged to get a big enough root ball but I tried.

Sure enough almost immediately after i transplanted them the top growth died off on all of them.

Damn.

I was lazy and left them alone.

I decided to leave them where they were so any seeds would drop into the area I wanted new plants.

Good thing I was lazy patient.  In the garden this week is new green shoots popping up from the roots. 

I just hope they survive the New England Winter.