Bloom Day, August '14

Cynanchum ascyrifolium, "Cruel Plant"

We got to enjoy a day or so at the Cottage this week.  Amid the weeds are many things I planted, in bloom.  

Cruel Plant & Rudbeckia hirta

Coreopsis virticiliata - Thread Leaved Coreopsis

Silphium perfoliatum - Cup Plant

Heliopsis ____

Daylily season continues... I don't have mine labelled, though I do have lists somewhere that tell me the names. 

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Eryngium ____ & Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight'

Echinops ritro - Globe Thistle

Hydrangea "Invincibelle Spirit"

Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle'

Asclepias incarnata - Swamp Milkweed

Allium  _____

A late, random bloom on Chaenomeles japonica - Flowering Quince

Lilium 'Stargazer'?

Helenium sp. - Sneezeweed, or Helen's Flower

Yeah, that last picture is of a rather obscure plant - at least, to me.  This little thing is blooming in its second year from seed! It is less than two feet high.  A member of the Euphorbia family, it is likely the only woody Euphorb to live outdoors here in Nova Scotia.  Same family as Cushion Spurge, and the Poinsettia, not to mention quite a few succulents that resemble cacti.

Rudbeckia lacinata 'hortensia' - Goldenglow

This is the end of my Cottage shots for this month's Garden Blogger's Bloom Day.  Check out many more blogs at May Dreams Gardens.  :)

Rose 'Crocus'

Catching Up at the Cottage

My attention to gardening at the Cottage has only been slightly more than my attention to blogging this summer... at a low ebb, in other words!  Time to catch up a bit.  Let's just call this a photo essay today...  

     Astilbe and friends, Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum), Wild Quinine (Parthenium integrifolium).

I am really liking Dyer's Greenwood (Genista tinctoria).

And, it is rose season...

This interesting new acquisition is, uh... well, I must hunt for the name.  ...Ah, here it is: seems to be called Cruel Plant! (Cynanchum ascyrifolium)  And the last shot is a little Allium I also got at a plant sale in the spring (A. nutans?).

Enjoy the bright bits of summer!

October Bloomers

October brings some new blooms to the garden, while other plants keep their own show going on and on and on.  This Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate'  is just in it's glory now.  Nearby, the Aralia cordata 'Sun King' is blooming greenily, and the Chives still send up an occasional blooming stem.

The annual Nicandra physalodes keeps on blooming and going to seed.  Some of the local birds have even been feeding on the seeds, I think.

Campsis radicans, sporting some large green pods, looks like it will stay in flower until frost.  There.  I typed that word.  Here's hoping the first hard frost will be weeks away!

The male Holly, above, is blooming a bit.  But another spectacular bloomer for a great long time has been this Gaura that came from a church plant sale, with a common name I don't remember now.  I really had no idea what it would be when I bought it last year.  Now I wish I had more.

The gardening season continues!

NSAC Gardens

On the grounds of the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, in Bible Hill, one can enjoy plenty of interesting horticulture.

And a few sculptural elements.  But to me, the natural sculpture of the plants themselves is the most enjoyable.  Such as this Allium... nectaroscordum siculum?  Or did this get renamed and is no longer an Allium?  Well, doesn't matter to me.  It was nice to see it.

Can't resist Irises.  And then, at an entrance to the Alumni Gardens, this planting looks like it came right out of a hot, sunny landscape.  These are all plants that will not be spending the winter there, that's for certain!

Love that Kangaroo Paw!  

But other, more usual plants caught my eye too.  Like this Mahonia which is surviving here, year by year, fairly well.  My attempt at one of these a few years ago failed.   

I love that Euphorbia griffithii 'fireglow'.  And the last of the Azaleas and Rhododendrons were still blooming.  This season, as many across Eastern North America can attest, has been an early one this spring.  So many of the Rhodos are over and done already.  Nice to enjoy the finale.  

Though... just last year I learned that there are some later-blooming Rhodos available.  Must get one... once a bed is ready for it at the Cottage.