Ok, I’m late and well behind on many other tasks as well. We’ve been traveling and my garden is in need of weeding and general upkeep. For this Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day, I’m going to try to stay focussed on just the things which are a little out of the ordinary. The Japanese Anemone pictured above is well ahead of the normal bloom time for these September charmers. But that’s been the story of this year’s flowering in general.
All the usual flowering elements of this season are still filling the flower vases. The Rudbeckias, Shasta Daisies, and sunflowers are still doing their part to enliven the landscape. And the cutting garden is fully decked out with Cosmos, Zinnias, and Marigolds.
At the back door the Hydrangea ‘Limelight’ is coming into it’s best time of the year.
A little more unusual for this time of year is a vibrant blue gentian by the back fence.
This is a Darrell Probst (of Epimedium fame) introduction from a few years ago.
And next to the Rose Garden are a couple of unusual yellows, both called ‘Hello Yellow’, though quite different flowers. One is a yellow version of the common butterfly weed.
And the other is a yellow version of the blackberry lily. It seems to be much smaller and more refined — I thought at first it was a very late species iris.
Right next to it the St. John’s Wort has decided to reappear with it’s wonderful golden yellow flowers.
Another item worth noting is the annual celosia ‘Flamingo Feather’. It is much, much taller than last year’s planting but it may just be the difference of being in a spot where it actually gets watered.
The nectar on these flowers must be very attractive and accessible because a variety of very pretty wasps are frequently to be found on them.
The other critter that I found in the yard as I was looking at the GBBD status yesterday was a turkey that had flown in from the neighbor’s two houses down the road.
I don’t think the turkeys are particularly interested in eating my flowers but they are big enough to break off the stems of small plants so I encouraged him to fly back over our 7 foot fence. They are big, but with sufficient launching area they can fly…