Welcome to Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day for August 2024.
Here in my USDA Hardiness Zone 6a garden in central Indiana, August is not the most flower-ful month of the year, but there are still plenty of blooms.
With a focus on only perennials, come along with me to check out a few of them.
The top image shows Verbena bonariensis ‘Vanity’ blooming with Heuchera villosa ‘Autumn Bride’ over to the right. Both will do a bit of self-sowing which is allowed in my garden.
Next up is Japanese jacinth, Barnardia japonica, with a bonus bee
The leaves come up in spring, die back, and then the flower spikes and a few leaves return in August. I wrote about them in my weekly newsletter last week so I won’t repeat their history here.
Nearby are the hardy begonias, Begonia grandis.
The pink flowers won’t knock your socks off, as they say, but maybe the very idea of a begonia hardy enough to survive a Zone 6a winter will?
Staying in that area, we can admire the toad lilies, Tricyrtis sp., or maybe just be appalled that they started blooming so early?
I usually get a few inquiries about where I got that fairy house in the background. It was a retirement gift and I think they purchased it from an Etsy seller. It’s quite nice to have, is made of concrete, and yes, I do take it in for the winter, after clearing out the spiders that think it makes for a lovely summer home.
All around my garden, Allium ‘Millenium’ has been blooming for a while but is starting to fade. But that’s summer for you… it’s also been going on for a while but is also starting to show signs of winding down.
I do not know the name of that rose but it blooms a bit all summer and often has a bloom on it in October.
One last picture and then we’ll wrap up this bloom day post with some other observations around the garden.
I usually look around for a flower that is signaling the next seasonal change in the garden and I’ve found just that in this tall sedum, Hylotelephium telephium. What a botanical name! The flowers are budding up and will soon—too soon—show their colors. But in the background, you can still see coneflowers top left and tall phlox top right so summer is still going on.
Now, what did I not show you?
I didn’t show you any black-eyed Susans, like these that decided they’d make themselves at home under a paw-paw tree.
They are either a testament to my laziness in not pulling them out or a testament to their ability to make themselves quite at home all over a garden. They’ll do that if you let them, and I apparently let them.
Thanks for virtually visiting my garden in August. Maybe next time I’ll share some pictures of annual flowers, of which there are plenty, mostly in the vegetable garden and in containers on the patio.
I’d love to virtually visit your garden for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. It’s easy to invite me and others to see what you have blooming on or around the 15th of the month. Just post on your blog or wherever you put pretty pictures on the internet, then put a link to that place in the Mr. Linky widget and leave a comment to tell us what we expect on our visit.
And always remember the inspiration for this monthly meme… “We can have flowers nearly every month of the year.” ~ Elizabeth Lawrence
My Black-eyed Susans, of the same variety, have done the exact same thing! Found a shady spot to wedge themselves in and let loose with their vivid yellow. They seem to go wherever they choose. Heuchera villosa ‘Autumn Bride’ is one of my new favorite perennials and I would die happy if it would seed itself about here a bit too! Love hearing that it does that for you, Carol. Happy GBBD!!!
Happy bloom Day Carol! I enjoyed the tour of your garden and am especially drawn to the Allium ‘Millenium and rose combo, which is striking with the two blooming together. I now have this variety of allium growing in my garden thanks to you! After seeing it bloom in your garden year after year, I had to have it! It is interesting about the Begonia surviving a zone 6 winter too. I have always thought of them as annuals, so that is a plus!
Happy Bloom Day, Carol! I love the hardy begonias, but this year the deer have eaten most of mine, so it’s nice to see them in your blog. I have to investigate that Barnardia, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.
Happy Bloom Day, Carol. Verbena Bonariensis and Black-eyed Susans, Zinnias, and Cosmos are glorious.
I love that new-to-me Barnardia japonica, although I suspect it wouldn’t appreciate my climate. However, Amaryllis belladonna has a similar growth/bloom pattern so I can make do with those. Thanks for hosting, Carol!
Apparently, now that where I live has been promoted to zone 6a from 5b, I wonder (after reading this post) if those hardy begonias and Barnardia japonica will work for me. Supposedly the latter is hardy to zone 4 but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it here in the Southern Tier of New York. Interesting that your toad lily is blooming – yes, it seems early. But we have a hardy mum that has blooms opening (I didn’t include in my post) – the season just seems to be rushing by. I, too, let self sowing happen but sometimes I let it go too far, like with with my shade yard full of brunnera.
Hi Carol, even though I’m a day late, I’m earlier than usual with this posting. Just starting to think about fall planting…
Happy belated bloom day! I figured better late than never this month although the garden is so dry and crispy it’s making me a bit sad these days (and so, so tired of watering). But that Japanese jacinth is so cool. It reminds me a bit of camassias.