August Blooms in My Garden

I know it is the end of September and I am very late with my "August Blooms" garden post, but I thought you'd like to see its one last hurrah anyway.  All these pictures were taken mid-August, then my husband and I went to Door County for a four day anniversary trip, and when we returned it did not look this way anymore;  as you will see at the end of the post.  A horrific storm moved in while we were away and knocked trees over, threw tree limbs all over the yard, and pretty much destroyed my flower garden.  What wasn't crushed by tree limbs was knocked over by fierce straight line winds.  But I fared better than a lot of people in the area who had trees come down on their house and/or cars.  

It was so ironic because I took these photos right before I left and thought the garden never looked more beautiful.  But I guess Mother Nature had something different in mind for my garden.  Well let's walk through the "Before" pictures, and then I'll show you the "After".

The Shed Garden

Black Eyed Susans, Hydrangeas, and Phlox are the stars of the August garden.  The sedum is looking good, but won't be in bloom for at least another month.

In the Shed Garden I have a very tall Rudebekia Laciniata growing in this garden.  This flower can grow nine feet tall and makes the perfect back of the border plant.  In front I have the common rudebekia with some purple coneflower.

This plant grows like a weed in my yard, but I don't care, I love it! It has such a long bloom time;  over a month!  Not many perennials can claim that. 

I love to sit on this bench during my garden breaks and look at this garden.

The butterflies love the Rudebekia too.  Here is a short video showing the plant covered in little butterflies.

The Front Yard Garden

I grabbed a lot of different coleus this year and mixed it in with my hosta.  I love the contrast of the colorful coleus leaves with the green hosta.  I will take cutting of the coleus before the first frost so I can try to overwinter some of the plants as these large coleus plants can be pricey.

I have to show you this photo because it drove my daughter nuts that I didn't pull the sunflower out.  I don't know why, but I just can't pick stray sunflower plants.  I feel if Mother Nature put it there, she has her reasons.

These tall red Salvias did excellent this year.  In fact, they did so well, I'm planning on buying a lot more next year!

The Septic Mound Garden

The Septic Mound Garden stole the show in August.  It was absolutely jaw dropping this year.  

I love this color of Phlox.  I wish I had more this color.

I have a lot of wild orange dallies on this garden and I just let them go crazy.  I don't care, it's my septic mound.  I just move whatever gets in their way, if the entire septic mound becomes day lilies, so be it. 

The day lilies are so beautiful when they are in bloom and I love the lush green foliage when they are not.

The contrast of the bright purple/pink phlox with the orange/yellow rudebekias is so striking.

Street view of the Septic Mound Garden.

Here is a very short video of me walking through the garden.  Sound up so you can hear the sounds of nature. 

The Western Hill Garden

In the spring this hillside is covered with daffodils, but then in summer the hosta takes over.  It was a lot more shaded when I planted all this hosta, but then hubby chopped a lot of limbs off this tree so now it gets more sun.  Surprisingly, the hosta still did well.  There was only one plant that seemed to dry up.

Looking down at the Septic Mound Garden from the top of the West Hill Garden.

Hanging Baskets

I need so many hanging baskets that I can't spend $50 on one basket so I have to make my own.  I save and reuse my own pots then I just add a few annuals.  I normally don't fertilize my baskets until after the 4th of July because the soil has fertilizer in it and it is usually enough until mid summer.  But this year, they really fizzled out early and I thought I lost them.  I decided to cut them way back and fertilize them, and wa-la they sprung back to life!  They were pretty embarrassingly hideous for a few weeks though.

After The Storm

And as promised, here is what that same beautiful Septic Garden looked like after the storm.   Oh, it was so depressing to come home from a fabulous weekend in Door County to this mess.  I said "That's it.  I'm done for the year",  and I haven't been out there much since.  But frankly, it is the harvest season so I am busy canning and freezing.  I have gotten out there for a few hours here and there just to cut things down, but it still isn't what it was when I left and won't be again this year.  Here is to a better 2026 flower garden!

I will be back with a Vegetable Garden post soon and hopefully if I ever get the garden tidy again, I'll do a fall garden post to end the year.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!