Once again, it’s the middle of a month and time to report in on the flowers blooming in our gardens.
Welcome to Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day!
Here in my USDA Hardiness Zone 6a garden in central Indiana, I’ve decided that August this year is a bit behind August of last year.
I base this observation mostly on the Japanese jacinths, Barnardia japonica, that were blooming last year at this time. This year they are all still just buds thinking about blooming.
So I’ve decided that the marigolds, with a few of zinnias behind them, will take center stage in this month’s post about what’s blooming in my garden.
These marigolds are doing quite well and are providing a nice backdrop for the zinnias. The variety is ‘Sparky Mixed Colors,’ listed as an heirloom variety on the seed packet. If I recall, these packets were eleven cents each at Menards! Quite a nice showing for my investment, I’d say.
Another highlight in the garden in mid-August is Allium ‘Millenium’ which the pollinators love.
You can buy just one container of this particular allium to have enough for your entire garden. I have several good stands of it along a couple of flower borders. I’ve also given bulbs of these to my sisters and even gave some back to the person who gave them to me originally. A nice full circle event.
In another area of the garden, the cup flowers, Silphium perfoliatum, fall into the category of “flowers that have been blooming for a while but still look decent in August.”
I have to remember to deadhead these because they are big plants, nearly six feet tall, with deep roots, and I do not need more than the one little stand of them that I have. No self-sowing of these is allowed!
The ‘Limelight’ hydrangea has also been putting on quite a nice display.
It’s also blocking the gate. Duck to enter! My neighbor, who enjoys seeing those big white flowers peeking over the fence into his backyard was surprised when I told him it is a hydrangea. He thought hydrangeas were smaller shrubs.
Nope! Not all of them!
Another “all around the garden flower,” is the resurrection lily, Lycoris squamigera. They went from “I can’t believe they are blooming already” to “I can’t believe they are fading already” just like that. Snap,
Dee and I discussed on our latest podcast episode of The Gardenangelists how expensive the bulbs for resurrection lilies are, but how easy they are to dig and divide and share “in the green, in the spring.”
Moving right along…
Let’s wrap up my contribution to this long-running garden bloggers’ meme with the little pink blooms of hardy begonia, Begonia grandis.
In that same bed are toad lilies, which last year at this time were blooming, but aren’t blooming this year.
See, we are behind a bit!
But we’ll catch up and too soon be scrambling to find something in bloom. But that will be weeks from now. In the meantime, I have blooms now and blooms to look forward to. What more could a gardener want?
Maybe some vegetables?
Yep, I’ve got those too!
Or maybe some little volunteer violas growing in a pot with some elephant ears?
Yes, that’s what every gardener wants!
Thanks for stopping by to visit my little garden on this Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. If you’d like to share what’s blooming in your garden, we’ll all come by for a virtual visit. It’s easy to participate! Just post about what’s flowering in your garden now wherever you find yourself online—your blog, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Substack, or someplace else—then come back here and leave a link in the Mr. Linky widget to tell us how to get to your post, and a comment to tell us what you have for us to see.
All are welcome!
And finally, that tip of the trowel to the southern garden writer Elizabeth Lawrence that we give every Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day…
“We can have flowers nearly every month of the year.” – Elizabeth Lawrence
Carol, your Alliums are amazing, and so is the Hydrangea! I planted some Alliums last year, but only have a few blooms, I wonder how long it will take to make a decent display? My Lycoris, planted last year, has yet to break through the ground–maybe something ate it?
Definitely wish I had the Begonia grandis here too! Oh to be just a bit warmer. What a harvest of veg too! Hope you are having a wonderful end of summer, Carol. 🙂
That Allium display is outstanding! I can only wish i could grow Hydrangeas. No Lycoris in bloom here (where I usually get a paltry summer display) but the Amaryllis belladonna are everywhere. Thanks, as always, for hosting, Carol.
I think we are a little behind where I live, also. I love your marigolds-I don’t have any this year, and miss them. I love your hydrangeas, too. We have a hedge in the front of our house which I really want gone, and, just maybe….
Love your limelight! I’d like to plant one in my garden, but am afraid it’d just be more deer food. The allium millenium ais also tempting and at least the critters would leave it be.
I had a resurrection lily pop up out of nowhere this year. I’d still love to know how it got there.
Good Column. We have lot of overlap in choices for this time of year, though you have many more of the Millenium Allium that we have in the backyard.
The alliums are fantastic, such a great big grouping! It’s always interesting to look at photos from a year or two back to note the differences. Enjoy your beautiful vegetables.