Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Dry and Green


I know I'm starting with a colourful Caryopteris bloom, but I was impressed yesterday with how dry and green the gardens are at the Cottage just now.  The peony and fall aster bed below needs a lot more something that booms at this time of year.  
Other plants were very stressed.  I hauled a lot of water from the two rain barrels to keep a few alive.  This evening we have been getting a good dose of rain... just in time... again!
Lysimachia ciliata "Firecracker"
Helenium autumnale

Vaccinium corymbosum

Somehow, some perennial seedling and other things I planted just a few weeks ago have been thriving!  They are in a spot that gets some shade each day, and I have watered them whenever I was near.  
Eryngium sp, Parthenium integrifolium, Silphium perfoliatum, and others

There are a few blooms around the place still.  Some of these plants are tough.  The Impatiens are in the shadiest spot, blooming away despite the dry spell and the aphids.  And the Rudbeckia simply likes the sun.
Impatiens glandulifera
Rudbeckia lacinata
 And this little Oxalis is happy as can be, amid plants that are wilting and crisping up.  I love the novelty of this foliage; everywhere else in the gardens the usual green-leaved variety is a "weed" I pull out.  And the contrast of the yellow blooms, and then the green pods, on this purple variety seems attractive to me.  It can go to seed as much as it wants.
Oxalis hybrid
But let the reviving rains fall!

1 comment:

  1. jeff, I am glad to hear that rain is falling on your garden...Wait until you see how much the Cup Plant grows after a rain! It gets really big! Really big~over 8 foot tall! If I may be so bold to say, your aster beds need a few grasses~Two come to mind, Switchgrass and chasmanthium, both color up gorgeously and look wonderful with fall asters. gail

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