The Cutting Garden
It’s been an amazing start to the month of August. The temperatures and rainfall have been more like what we expect for the fall, but the days are still the extended light of summertime. It’s made for lush garden growth with both flowers and vegetables producing abundantly. The birds, bees, and butterflies have all been appreciating the flower seeds and pollen.
Swallowtail on Cosmos
The front circle bed also shows the abundant August flowering with a lot of black-eyed susans (the Maryland state flower) and purple echinaceas. There are also gaura, rudbeckia. lavender, cardinal flowers (red lobelia) and alliums in the mix.
Front bed
Elsewhere in the yard the great blue lobelia has returned again.
Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)
It’s supposed to be a short-lived perennial but shows no sign of disappearing. Nearby is a Roscoea that is becoming an August regular.
Roscoea purpurea ‘Spice Island’
I was surprised to see a few flowers returning to one of the Epimediums. Don’t recall seeing that before.
Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Pretty in Pink’
Another flower returning to bloom is the Canna lily ‘Orange Punch’ but it’s not surprising to see frequent flowering of the Canna lily.
Canna ‘Orange Punch’
A fall favorite are the toad lilies and the first of these is now in bloom.
Tricyrtis ‘Autumn Glow’
In the middle of the yard we have several Anemone ‘Wild Swan’. These are noted for the purple blush on the back of the flower, but for me they are not the best of the Anemone clan.
Anemone ‘Wild Swan’
Anemone ‘Wild Swan’ from the back
In one the Alpine beds there is a little Anemone multifida that has wonderful red flower color.
Anemone multifida ‘Rubra’
Next to it are a great many Gentiana paradoxa.
Gentiana paradoxa
This a marvelous plant with a very extended flowering time.
Turning our collective eyes to the greenhouse, the Cyrtanthus elatus has put out a lovely cluster of flowers.
Cyrtanthus elatus
Think of this as a more elegant Amaryllis, pretty enough that I brought it inside.
The greenhouse also has the very pretty formosa lily which could be moved outside but I have not done that yet.
Formosa lily (Lilium formosanum)
Another Lily-like plant is Calostemma luteum (actually in the Amaryllis family) from Australia.
Yellow Garland-Lily (Calostemma lutea)
An especially pretty South American plant is Habranthus marinezi
Habranthus martinezi
A more common Habranthus is the Rio Grande Rain Lily and it’s also in bloom right now.
Habranthus tubispathus v. texensis
I also found the the greek cyclamen not only in flower but trying to break the bonds of its container.
Cyclamen graecum trying to escape their prison
Cyclamen graecum
Let me leave the Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day post with new flower for me from the greenhouse. This is a very cute little dwarf Nerine.
Nerine masoniorum
This is a very distinctive little South African native with multiple flowers showing dark stamens against a light pink background. Very nice. So what are you growing in your garden for bloom day?
Summer Crabapple Delight
Dolgo Crabapples
We have grown crabapples for many years in the front yard without ever making good use of the fruit. Of course the abundant white flowers in the springtime are delightful and the pretty summertime fruit have always been appreciated but we never harvested them for eating. Until now that is. Our youngest son was inspired by the sprightly taste of the fruit. He picked a bunch of them and made a couple of galettes, one with the crabapples and one with blueberries, apricots, and peaches. Both were quite good, but the crabapple one was really special. Think of the best rhubarb pie you’ve ever tasted.
Galettes in prep
Two Galettes
This was so good, that he went out this week and picked another batch of the crabapples.
Dolgo Crabapples
The remarkable thing about these little crabapples is that a very high percentage are without blemish or insect damage and this is without any spraying at all. This is quite a contrast with our normal apple trees.
This is a very active time outdoors right now. I thought I would also share another of the interesting spiders that we have run across.
Phidippus johnsoni jumping spider.
I always find the jumping spiders have considerable personality.
And another interesting tidbit is the arrival of the rain lilies.
Pink Rain Lily (Habranthus robustus)
We have grown these very hardy rain lilies for many years and they seem early this year but we had some strong rains and up they came. I had also moved one of the Zephyranthes from the greenhouse last year and seems to be doing fine, though it is supposed to be a zone 8 plant.
Zephyranthes rosea
I would also note in passing that this is a good time to be gathering seeds for the various seed exchanges. Some are quite easy to find like the Zephyranthes.
Zephyranthes seeds
Lastly I’ll close this post with one of the prettiest lilies I’ve come across (unnamed at the moment).
Unnamed Pink Lily