Blooming the Second Mile

We have just turned the calendar over to September, and summer soldiers on.  At the cottage, it's great to have some repeat bloomers.  And some plants that come into flower are a surprise.  I did expect the Crocus Rose to keep on producing its wonderfully scented blooms, and it has.  Ivory, turning yellower, and then a bit pink-speckled by the time the petals fall, these blossoms are great.  

I may need to plant one here in the town where I now live, 150 kms away from the Cottage.  Another rose that is just starting another flush of flowers is The Fairy.  Here it is this first week of September (in the foreground)...

This 'little' rose is getting bigger than I had planned.  I should have known better. Here it is back on July 19th.  

 Another white blossom that is 'going the second mile' is very white indeed: Wild Quinine, Parthenium integrifolium.  This single plant was blooming back in July...  

 ...and has not stopped. I cut off the first flower stalk this week - old and brown - and later stems keep presenting those pure white blossoms.

This is a perennial I grew from seed.  Sprouted in the spring of 2012, I had only two that arose last spring, and but one of them survived.  Here it is back in May of 2013...

It grew up and actually bloomed last year.  This season, it keeps sending up new flowering stalks.  Hopefully I can propagate this.  
     One other plant started from seed surprised me by blooming this month.  A shrub called Shrubby Bushclover, Lespedeza bicolor.  Things like this keep catching my attention, when seeds are offered or other bloggers present them.  I have never seen this... until I grew my own. 
     A couple of the tiny plants I started from seed last spring are blooming now.  

These are not very big.  They should, as the years go by, mound up and become great shrubs, blooming with this vibrant colour in September each year.  I must choose their permanent locations carefully.  
     Here is what they looked like in June of last year.  How could I be anything but very happy with the progress of the Shrubby Bushclover? 

Not sure why I labelled it Lespedeza c.  I'm pretty sure it is L. bicolor. :)

Here it is this week, already blooming.  I don't usually think of shrubs starting to bloom in their second year from seed, but three of my seedlings are mature enough to do this:

May these final weeks of summer bring you a great show of flowers and foliage, and a few surprises.

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'

Daylily Daze in Annapolis Royal

It's high season for Day Lilies here in Nova Scotia, Canada, so a visit to the nearby Historic Gardens in Annapolis Royal, was in order.  

Of course, other things add to the spectacle.  Such as this Hydrangea.  I think it was 'Blue Billows.'  I am a big fan of blue hydrangeas.  And, as the photos draw closer, check out the minuscule mass of blue confetti on the ground below this bush...

This garden has been in the works for, uh, about thirty years.  In the summer of '93 I lived in Anna Ro, and got myself a season pass to the gardens.  This month we moved nearby, and I got a season pass as a gift for Father's Day.  I will enjoy my regular visits thoroughly.

I hope you blog-readers each get to enjoy some public gardens near you all season long.