• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Carol J. Michel

Award winner author of gardening humor books

  • About
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Shop
    • Gardening Humor
    • Children’s Books
    • New – The Halloween Hare
  • Social
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
  • The Gardenangelists Podcast
  • Gardening Humor
  • Children’s
  • All Books

May Dreams Gardens

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – August 2016

August 15, 2016 By Carol Michel 43 Comments

Welcome to Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day for August 2016.

Just last week, here in USDA Hardizone Zone 6a garden in central Indiana, I thought my bloom day post would be full of  my whining about how dry it was.

Was dry.

A lovely thunderstorm rolled through last Wednesday leaving behind over two inches of rain. I was pleased and thought how lovely and refreshed the garden looked. No more dry, brittle leaves. No more dusty flowers. No more plants drooping in the garden by noon.

Then this weekend, we got more rain, over three inches by mid-morning Sunday and it is still coming down.

I had the brief sane thought of waiting for the rain to pass on through before going out to take bloom day pics, but that thought passed quickly when I saw the forecast for the next several days.

So I found a rain coat deep inside a back closet, threw it on and headed out to see what’s blooming in the rain.

Turns out, there is quite a bit blooming, even in the rain.

I have a couple of white lilies blooming. There are some in several spots in Plopper’s Field, so I assume I bought bulbs for them.

This is what wet tall phlox, Phlox paniculata, looks like, growing along side false sunflowers, Heliopsis helianthoides.

This is more wet tall phlox, in purple.

The sunflowers, Helianthus annuus ‘Heirloom Titan’, grown from seeds I got from Renee’s Garden,  look a little a lot drippy. It’s morning in this picture, so they are facing east, no doubt wondering where the sun is. When the rain stops, I intend to get a ladder and a tape measure and find out how tall they really are. My best guess is ten feet. I should start a betting pool. What’s your guess?

This is definitely the summer of zinnias. I have them growing all along the back side of the veg garden.  I’ll be growing them again next year, which is no surprise. I grow them every year.

Oh my, this is a type of black-eyed susan… it is… give me a minute to think of it… I know… it’s Rudbeckia subtomentosa ‘Henry Eilers’! Not a great picture, but did I mention the rain?

Will you look at this hydrangea loaded with blooms?  Ignore that weedy area around it, many of those  “weeds” are violets,  focus on the blooms.  This one is Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’.

I think this hosta is pretty. It has a dark red stem and I purchased it from Soules Garden. There is a tag under there which I could look at to tell you just which one it is, but did I mention the rain?

Here’s another hosta, a white blooming passalong plant I just call ” Grandma’s August Lily” because it is just like the ones I remember growing along the northside of my grandma’s house. It is surounded by some surprise lilies, Lycoris squamigera.

And look, just to remind us that fall is coming, the toad lilies, Tricyrtis sp. are just beginning to bloom.

My apologies to those who live in areas suffering from drought or those who live where it is naturally dry. I didn’t intend to post so many pictures of wet flowers, but that’s what I’ve got here in the middle of August for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day.

What’s blooming in your garden now? We’d love to have you join in for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day and show us. It’s easy to participate. Just post on your blog about what’s blooming in your garden and then come back here and leave a comment to entice us to visit and a link in Mr. Linky so we know how to get to your garden post.

And always remember, “We can have flowers nearly every month of the year.” ~ Elizabeth Lawrence

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: garden bloggers bloom day

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lee@A Guide to Northeastern Gardening says

    August 15, 2016 at 5:12 am

    Happy Bloom Day Carol and thanks for hosting! Your gardens offer a lot of color for the month of August and I love all your zinnias! I am glad you finally got some rain. We have been going through a heat wave all this past week. The temperature today was 97 degrees with no rain in sight, just a dash of heat lightening, but it is supposed to break tomorrow. Have a great week!

    Reply
  2. ks says

    August 15, 2016 at 5:20 am

    Happy Bloomday from the left coast !

    Reply
  3. Anonymous says

    August 15, 2016 at 7:10 am

    Oh – the rain sounds wonderful! Mind you, everyone over here have complained non-stop over our "non-summer" – meaning the weather gods opted for a nice, temperate summer, as opposed to cranking it to the broiler setting on the oven. I think I'm in the minority, but I have enjoyed it tremendously! And, who needs sun when you have sunflowers anyway? Happy GBBD!

    Reply
  4. rusty duck says

    August 15, 2016 at 8:42 am

    Ahh, but the colours are so much stronger under cloudy skies. Hope it stops soon though… Happy Bloom Day Carol.

    Reply
  5. VP says

    August 15, 2016 at 8:50 am

    We've emerged blinking into the sunshine this week as at last we're having a reprieve from quite a lot of rain earlier this month.

    The dahlias are going strong as we move into the late summer garden 🙂

    Reply
  6. outlawgardener says

    August 15, 2016 at 9:09 am

    So, I'm hearing you say that it rained and your flowers are wet? Summer is flying by way to fast. All seasons have their charms and I do love autumn but want to hold on to summer as long as I can! Guessing that your sunflowers are 11 feet six inches. Thanks for hosting the party and inviting us all to join you!

    Reply
  7. Pauline says

    August 15, 2016 at 10:54 am

    Lovely rain, no garden can do without it. We need rain here, but it is coming, due on Wednesday!

    Reply
  8. Lea says

    August 15, 2016 at 11:00 am

    Beautiful blooms!
    We have been fortunate to have rain in July and August this year (Mississippi).
    Thanks for hosting GBBD!

    Reply
  9. Alana says

    August 15, 2016 at 11:26 am

    We were supposed to get 3 to 5 inches of rain this weekend in upstate New York – fortunately the weather underperformed. Like you, we are in a drought, but that would have been too much rain. And you reminded me, I forgot to take pictures of my false sunflower – oh well. I am happy your garden is finally getting some rain to soak up.

    Reply
  10. LINDA from Each Little World says

    August 15, 2016 at 12:08 pm

    Nothing like rain in August to bring the garden back to life for us Midwesterners. We had some late last week but not such a drenching as it sounds like you had.

    Reply
  11. Denise says

    August 15, 2016 at 12:14 pm

    We finally got some rain too. I'd say about 1.5 inches on Friday. With the almost inch of rain the week before flowers are lifting up their leaves. More rain on the way, too.

    Reply
  12. Covegirl says

    August 15, 2016 at 1:33 pm

    Lovely flowers! It definitely is unusual for us to have this much rain in August.

    Reply
  13. Tina says

    August 15, 2016 at 2:16 pm

    Like you, we were dry and now we're not. You have an abundance of blooms in your garden. The lilies, especially are fetching!! Thanks for hosting once again.

    Reply
  14. Lisa at Greenbow says

    August 15, 2016 at 2:30 pm

    You have lots of pretty blooms for such a long dry spell we had. I think the rain trumps the blooms this month. I was so happy to see it.

    Reply
  15. Jenny H. says

    August 15, 2016 at 3:15 pm

    Thanks so much for hosting the party again this month! Like you, here in Baltimore we've had long stretches of drought followed by intense thunderstorms that dump a couple inches rain in a short time. The garden is lucky to soak up a little of it before it runs off into the storm sewers.

    Your gardens look great, and I'm sure they enjoyed the wet relief!

    Reply
  16. Jean Campbell says

    August 15, 2016 at 4:08 pm

    Everybody talks about the weather. We never know what we'll get from year to year. August here is wetter than usual. Your garden has thrived with all the moisture, lovely. I'll post my blossoms later. Thank you for the opportunity.

    Reply
  17. danger garden says

    August 15, 2016 at 4:25 pm

    No rain in sight here and plenty of warm temps. Ah well, that's what summer is all about.

    Your multi-colored Zinnia are gorgeous! I'm growing just the green this year. Next year I will follow your lead!

    Reply
  18. Kris Peterson says

    August 15, 2016 at 4:59 pm

    I'm pleased to see rain somewhere. There's none here, although that's the norm in summer. Hopefully, we'll get more in winter this year. The forecasters were wrong about El Nino's bounty for SoCal so they might as well be wrong about the paltry rain expected with La Nina.

    Your garden looks lovely even in the pouring rain. I bet it smells fresh too!

    Reply
  19. Chris James says

    August 15, 2016 at 5:11 pm

    The zinnias have been abundant and those are beautiful. The rain has been wonderful for the past week and everything is growing so well. I'm already looking forward to the fall flowers and foliage.

    Reply
  20. The Constant Gardener says

    August 15, 2016 at 6:19 pm

    Happy GBBD Carol! I adore your lilies – we have too many lily beetles here to grow them unfortunately but I do love to see them in other people's gardens. And I didn't manage to get my sunflowers into the ground quick enough (again!) this year – next year perhaps! Here's my GBBD post – hope you enjoy it! https://sallynex.com/blog/

    Reply
  21. Dorothy Borders says

    August 15, 2016 at 7:08 pm

    I enjoyed my visit to your August garden, Carol. Thank you for hosting us once again. Happy Bloom Day to all!

    Reply
  22. Rainy Day Gardener says

    August 15, 2016 at 7:13 pm

    Hi Carol,
    As Loree said, no rain in sight for the Pacific NW. We appear to be headed toward a record breaking heatwave this coming weekend. other than that…it's been a very 'vintage' Oregon summer with more traditional temps unlike the incredibly hot summer of 2015. Congrats on some rainfall, everything feels so refreshed and smells so sweet after a summer rain. Happy GBBD!

    Reply
  23. Jean Campbell says

    August 15, 2016 at 7:34 pm

    Loved your August Lily –Mama called them that, too– and Lycoris Squamigera together.

    Reply
  24. Kathy says

    August 15, 2016 at 8:03 pm

    I've been enjoying rain as well, although not as much as you've gotten. We hopefully have left the heat and humidity behind us. Here's to a glorious fall!

    Reply
  25. WashingtonGardener says

    August 15, 2016 at 8:39 pm

    Happy Bloom Day! Just realized that NEXT month's bloom day we will be in Atlanta – IF I get my act together, I will pre-post one for that, but not likely to happen and so will just see you on the GWA garden tours and we can compare garden bloom notes in person there 🙂

    Reply
  26. Gone Tropical says

    August 15, 2016 at 9:24 pm

    Happy bloom day from Central Florida! I love all the flowers on all the blogs! Thanks Carol for hosting 🙂

    Reply
  27. Beth @ PlantPostings says

    August 15, 2016 at 9:39 pm

    Happy August Bloom Day! Thanks for hosting, Carol.

    Reply
  28. RobinL says

    August 15, 2016 at 10:08 pm

    All of us midwestern garden bloggers seem to have the same theme. First we whine about the heat and the drought. Then we rejoice over the rain! Here in Columbus Ohio we also received several inches of rain this week, and it has been glorious indeed!

    Reply
  29. Evan Bean says

    August 16, 2016 at 12:44 am

    No need to apologize for the wet flower photos. I admit I am missing the 2 or 3 unusual thunderstorms that passed through and watered my garden last year in July and August, but overall I like my summer-dry climate. Hope you don't float away in all that rain!

    Reply
  30. Wife, Mother, Gardener says

    August 16, 2016 at 3:25 am

    We have had the rain here north of Pittsburgh too, Carol. I am thinking that if it keeps up I should start planting out some more ground cover – a very unusual idea for August!

    Happy GBBD
    Julie

    Reply
  31. Nic says

    August 16, 2016 at 3:45 am

    We have had the same drought issues here in Massachusetts, though in the last couple of days we finally got two decent bouts of rain. Also very jealous of the Lycoris squamigera. I wish they were more widely available!

    Reply
  32. Swimray says

    August 16, 2016 at 5:27 am

    Dry here too in Virginia, but not to the point of a drought. Love your Rudbeckia.
    -Ray

    Reply
  33. Linnae says

    August 16, 2016 at 5:51 am

    We had a rainstorm here last week, too! Very unusual for this time of year. Everything looked so much better afterwards!

    Your surprise lilies made me smile. When we used to live in Kansas City, it seemed that they were everywhere, but I haven't seen any out here (Washington state.) Anyway, brought back some happy memories. Maybe I need to find some to plant.

    Happy bloom day!

    Reply
  34. John says

    August 16, 2016 at 3:39 pm

    Hi Carol, we too have found the weather swinging between no rain and too much rain. And in-between, the weeds grow abundantly. Hydrangea 'Limelight' is a real winner, season after season.

    Reply
  35. Anonymous says

    August 16, 2016 at 6:28 pm

    No such rain here and we could certainly do with some although the garden is just about coping. Thanks for hosting and showing us your own blooms 🙂

    Reply
  36. Anonymous says

    August 16, 2016 at 10:52 pm

    Carol, I provided the whine about the dry conditions. We did get 1" late last week, which helped to give my plants some immediate relief; but we really need a few days of good, soaking rain. Your rain seems to fall under the heading of "When it rains, it pours." We can both be thankful we're not in Louisiana. I hope you get sunshine soon and can enjoy your happily hydrated flowers. -Jean

    Reply
  37. Evenstar says

    August 17, 2016 at 1:02 am

    The rain sounds lovely! I'm surprised at how much we have blooming in the PNW though even without much rain in the summers (we get all our rain the other 9 months).

    Reply
  38. Woodland Gnome says

    August 17, 2016 at 2:45 am

    Carol, your garden is looking lovely despite the dry heat we've had. I spend many hours watering these days to keep us going until the weather improves. Thank you for hosting this great event each month! WG

    Reply
  39. Rose says

    August 17, 2016 at 3:56 am

    You are a brave soul, Carol, to go out in the rain to take all these great photos. I decided to take the easy route and just use what I had taken the previous few days:) But I'm not complaining–we had over three inches by this morning, and my garden is loving it! Love all your zinnias, and I am vowing that next year I won't forget to plant sunflowers until it is too late!

    Reply
  40. Unknown says

    August 17, 2016 at 8:12 am

    All these flowers shown in photos are looking absolutely amazing. It was just great having a glance at your summer garden photos. Keep sharing garden updates! Anyway, I am going to throw a party and recently I have been seeking reviews about online Bloom Flowers shop reviews. Is there anyone who has used their services?

    Reply
  41. Vicki Green says

    August 19, 2016 at 4:48 am

    Your lovely flowers seem to have enjoyed the rain. Thank you for hosting the monthly Garden Bloom Day!

    Reply
  42. Lydia says

    August 19, 2016 at 7:34 am

    Thank you for holding the garden gate open for me. It has been tooooo long without a visit.

    Reply
  43. Mark Nolan says

    August 20, 2016 at 4:27 pm

    Hi Carol! Happy Bloom Day!

    It seems as though your flowers are happy and enjoying the rain 🙂
    My favourite flowers that are blooming right now in August are sunflowers. I am a professional gardener so I pretty much live and breathe gardening. I Enjoy reading all your comments too!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Updates from Carol Michel

* indicates required
Email Preferences

Categories

  • Blog (3,053)
  • Internal (2)

Blog Tags

annuals Blogging books bulbs dr. hortfreud embrace fairies fall family flowers fruits garden bloggers bloom day garden bloggers book club garden design gardeners gardening gardening geek gardens hoes holidays hortense hoelove houseplants humor indoor gardening insects lawn letters to gardening friends perennials rabbits reviews Secrets seeds shrubs spring tools trees vegetable garden vegetable gardening vegetables weather weeding weeds when a gardener wildflower wednesday winter

The Gardenangelists Podcast with Dee Nash

Gardenangelists Podcast

Footer

Gardenangelists Podcast with Dee Nash

Gardenangelists Podcast

Connect

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • maydreams icon

Quick Links

  • Home
  • Contact
  • Books
  • May Dreams Gardens
  • Podcast

Updates from Carol Michel

* indicates required
Email Preferences

Newsletter Archive

Copyright © 2023 · CarolJMichel.com · Sitemap · Privacy Policy

Book purchase links are affiliate links and Carol earns a small commission if you make a purchase.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT