August is bustin’ out all over
Forget about June. June sucked. And so, for the most part,
did July, in terms of the sun required to kick blooms into action. But now we
truly have some sultry weather and these flowers are loving it.
I’ve posted about rudbeckia "Herbstsonne" (top) here. Last year they were just about finished at this time.
This year they're still going strong and the bees are everywhere among them. The plants are way too tall for where they are, but I stopped caring about such things some time
ago (if I ever did).
Another bonus is that I still have tons of lilies yet to
bloom, including some speciosum rubrum (regular and alba) and these tigrinum
flore pleno. Increasingly, these species types are my favorite. Normally I don’t show too many
close-ups, but species lilies are so cool, you have to.
And Thursday night I saw a hydrangea I had to have. It’s a
blue lacecap with variegated foliage, some of it pure white. Wild. Hydrangeas
do very well here and there is very little I wouldn't pull up to put a hydrangea
in its place. A rainy, somewhat coolish
summer can still be great for continuous plantings and plenty of blooms.
Gorgeous lilies!!! H.
Your lilies are lovely.
It sounds as if the hydrangea you saw is Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Mariesii Variegata’. I have one, well, actually I have 3. In the variegation, there is a blue-green that exactly matches Halcion hostas, a lovely combo.
It’s been a strange year for weather no matter where you live. I am growing some martagons and Lilium henryii and love them, too.
I have that double tiger lily. Waited to plant it until I saw the color of the blooms. Under drought or stress mine have shiny quarter inch black seedpods on 50% of the leaf nodes. Some flower parts are missing. Close up the flower looks like a rumpled mess. Like the color though.
That beautiful lily is certainly worth a close-up! The hydrangea sounds lovely; I hope you plant one and post it here.
That actually sounds like a hydrangea that i need too.
I saw that Hydrangea on a gardening show the other day and wondered if it would bloom here. In Oklahoma, with some Hydrangeas, we get all foliage and no blooms. Love your flowers and wish the lilies. Some plants just beg for a closeup don’t they?~~Dee
I can’t stand it now not to have some lilies like those in my garden. I’ve ordered them.
My work is done!
Wonderful lilies. I am going to get more. My husband even likes them. And I’ve got more hydrangeas on my list – in lieu of lawn. I think that should work well.