We are less than a week away from the fall equinox. That means the growing season is heading down the home stretch, and soon the first frost will be upon us.
However, much of the West is still stuck under a high pressure system that refuses to go away. Oh, it gets temporarily pushed to the south by a passing low pressure systems, but ultimately it muscles its way back north. This is leading to above average temperatures and low precipitation in my neck of the woods.
Summer apparently isn’t leaving without a fight this year. Unfortunately (for me), these hotter-that-usual late summer days are playing havoc with parts the garden that I’ve recently renovated. I’ll get to that in a moment.
In the meantime, let’s see what’s happening in my yarden right now.
In the front yard, the Black-eyed Susan blooms are still going strong, but they’re showing signs that they starting to poop out. Here they are mingling with the fading blooms of Russian sage and the fresh flowers of purple asters. To the right of the flowers are the seed heads of Karl Foerster feather reed grasses. Reed grasses are warm season bloomers, which means their seed heads start to appear in late June and into July.
In the backyard border, we find this little beauty with bright blue flowers. It is called “Plumbago” (a name which sounds to me like a medical condition), and it blooms from late summer and well into fall. In addition to the flowers, plumbago foliage will turn a deep burgundy color in just a few weeks. The blue flowers contrasting with the red foliage is fantastic. I’ll post some pics of it when the leaves finally change. This plant is a hardy little bugger. It’s a low grower that likes full sun to part shade. I highly recommend it.
Just a few feet from the plumbago we find some more asters in bloom in front of a couple of Panicum (aka switchgrass) Northwind ornamental grasses. As you can see, the switch grasses are just starting to send out seed spikes. Unlike the reed grasses, switchgrass is a cool season bloomer, which is why they are just now setting seed. In a few weeks, the switchgrass should also have some outstanding fall foliage.
I wish I could tell you what the name of the aster is, but I think this was a plant I picked up from a big-box hardware store or local grocer, and thus is not a “named” plant. Just a purple aster. Not all plants the plants in my yard come from a garden center or online nursery. The only problem I have found with getting plants from a hardware or grocery store is they typically aren’t as well cared for as the plants at a nursery. However, give them a little extra TLC early on, they do just fine.
Late last month I posted a rant about why I was ready for summer to be over and autumn to begin (see here: https://www.mrvintageman.com/signs-that-autumn-is-coming/). In that post I mentioned how the blooms of my Autumn Joy and Autumn Fire sedums would soon be turning to a fiery red. They aren’t quite there yet, but as you can see in the photo above, they are getting closer. The bees and other pollinating insects are going nuts over these and the blooms of the Blue Mist Spirea that is near the right side of the photo.
Ok, now to the renovations and the problem I am having with the resurgent summer heat. The picture above part of the backyard border. I was never happy with the yarrows that spread here (the yarrows are the desiccated looking plants on either side of the purple sedum) partly because their blooms weren’t all that impressive. But also because after they are finished blooming they tend to look weedy, and they make this part of the border look like an untended parking lot.
So I ripped the yarrows, lambs ears and bind weed out. Big improvement.
I put in their place some lavenders (they are the grey-green plants at the far right of the photo), a Russian sage, an Agastache and some Rudbeckias (aka purple coneflower). Then I put down some fresh mulch and, viola, the abandoned parking lot effect is gone. Oh, I know, it isn’t much to look at now. But come next summer it will be. I hope.
I also put a few plants in the new border to help fill it out for next year. A few black-eyed Susan’s and some Jupiter Beards to replace the ones that died out after I planted them.
Now to the heat problem. I put these plants in the ground last week, when the temperatures were in the 70s. The ten day forecast called for a couple of days in the high 80s and then a drop back into the 70s. Well, the meteorologists got it wrong. We proceeded to have a solid week and a half of temps in the mid to high 80s, and as a result the plants are suffering. I’m forced to water them every other day to keep them cool and hydrated.
The current 10 day weather outlook is for the temps to stay in the low 80s and upper 70s. I’ve got my fingers crossed that they got it right this time.
