Garden Blogger's Bloom Day for August

August has always been my least favorite month of the year. I have to say though that August in the Pacific Northwest is nowhere near as bad as it was in Alabama. We just got over a long hot spell (about a week of 90+ temps) but it is now back in the low 70s. Yesterday was overcast and cool, the weather I really love, and I spent most of the day working on the monster English Laurel hedge along our border. 

I hope the hot weather is gone but we are having more insulation put in our ceiling this week in an effort to cool our house a bit better. We do have AC but our house is not shaded yet and the poor unit runs non-stop on those hot days.

The flowers for August, despite the heat and drought (we have also had 55 days with no rain whatsoever) look great and I am amazed at what all is in bloom. Michael has been really great about weeding and keeping the containers fertilized. The Pan statue (right) took a while to get going good but it now looks great with petunias, sweet potato vine and King Tut grass. The white flower on the ground is Nicotiana which looks great one day and awful the next. It always looks really dreadful after the sprinkler gets it but it always bounces back.

More blooms from the garden -

Geranium 'Rozanne' - I have planted clumps of this perennial outside the fence along the street and it is really doing well.

Also along the hell-strip area is Verbena 'Homestead Purple' and Dwarf Fountain Grass 'Hameln'
(Pennisetum alopecuroide)

California Fuchsia

(Zauschneria septentrionalis 'Select Mattole'). This is a new plant for me. It seems to thrive in hot, dry weather. It is planted in the terraced area. The hummingbirds love it.

Rudbeckia 'Goldstrum'

Crape Myrtle 'Dynamite' (Lagerstroemia). They are a bit of a novelty here and are catching on. They seem to perform okay here (I think some varieties are better than others).

Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia 'Ruby Slippers')

Dahlia and Baby's Breath (Gypsophila 'Bristol Fairy')

Coreopsis 'Red Satin'

Dahlia 'Lollipop'

Cape Fuchsia (Phygelius × rectus 'Winton Fanfare')

Heliptrope

Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboretum)

David Austin Rose 'Lady of Shallot'

Latest rose acquisition - 'Climbing Iceburg'

Fuchsia 'Garden News'

Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) - growing this successfully for the first time!

An annual vine called Lophospermum 'Lofos Red Wine'

Hollyhocks

Strawflower 'Mohave Orange'

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day is hosted by May Dreams Gardens. Check out what is blooming in other blogger's gardens around the world.  



Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy