Whoa! This year is beginning to fly through. I rather liked it when everything was slowed down. August can be a funny month – akin to April in the number of daylight hours although classed as summer it can often be disappointingly cool and rainy. I hope not.
(1) This is a reminder to all you plant loving people out there not to be too hasty in throwing that dead looking plant onto the compost heap. This Tiarella consisted of brown and shrivelled up stems in the spring and I decided to dig it up and plant something else in its place. However when I saw that the roots weren’t entirely dead I decided to pot it up instead. From brown and shrivelled to this little beauty. Question now is whether to risk planting it back in the garden or find a nicer container for it.
(2) A new addition to this bed this year is Lythrum salicaria ‘Blush’ a moisture-loving herbaceous perennial that produces strong, tall spires of soft pale pink flowers in summer. It’s inclined to be a bit leggy, so cut back regularly to encourage a bushy habit. It is very attractive to butterflies and bees hence why it has a place in the Bee & Butterfly bed!
(3) Physostegia virginia ‘Summer Snow’ – the Obedient plant – is an upright herbaceous perennial boasting dense spikes of white tubular flowers from mid-late summer to autumn. Blooming from the bottom to the top on each spike, the showy blossoms are attentively visited by butterflies and I saw this in the Heligan gardens last year covered in bees so just had to buy some. My white ones are planted in the containers with last week’s Cosmos, but they aren’t very noticeable as the Cosmos are taller! I also have an intense pink one ‘Rosea’ in the herb bed, but that’s still to flower. Why obedient? The flowers move during the day with the sun.
(4) Phlox paniculata ‘Twinkle Purple’ – another new addition to the Bee and Butterfly bed last autumn. I had a gap where something had died so couldn’t resist.
(5) Olearia x haastii shrub – the profuse white daisy-like flowers, hence the common name Daisy Bush, are gently fragranced and their dark green evergreen foliage is tinged with blue. Olearia x haastii (New Zealand and Australia) copes well with salt-laden air and exposed situations. It will get a light prune after flowering to try and keep it in shape.
(6) Justicia Carnea Jacobina – or the Brazillian Plume Flower / Flamingo Plant is an evergreen shrub with a rounded habit (like a hydrangea) and inflorescence of tubular vibrant pink flowers in the summer. I kept mine indoors this year as last year it suffered from the direct sun and windy conditions. I also cut it back and used the cuttings to try and grow new plants. It seems to have worked as they are all flowering whereas the mother plant, although much bigger hasn’t had a single flower! Maybe I’ll cut it back again this autumn and try and get more new plants.
Has anyone else noticed anything peculiar in their garden? I already have the tall pink Japanese Anemones flowering which I am sure don’t usually do until August and into September – I can’t see these lasting until September. And my Cowslip has two new flower spikes!
As always, if you want a peek over other people’s garden walls then please pop over to our host, the lovely Jon, AKA ‘The Propagator’ where you find links to many more wonderful garden enthusiasts from all over the world.
See here for the participant’s guide.
Cornwall in Colours 
Everything seems further on than normal in Glasgow too, probably because we had summer about May. Up here, I always feel autumn starts in August anyway, so it’s all downhill now. Sorry, that doesn’t sound very cheery! I don’t actually mind, I like autumn and wilt in excess heat.
I dislike intense heat too. When we have a sunny day here around 20 degrees it often feels quite hot enough. Clear air helps I guess.
Well, Jude, it’s blardy miserable winter weather here today, and I am the taxi for my visiting Aunty who is at the moment seeing my parents. So, your flowers are a lovely distraction 🙂 By the time mid-August arrives I look forward to Autumn which is my favourite time of the year. I do possess green thumbs and love seeing your photos!
Hurrah for the tiarella! I have a few pots of things that came out if the borders I was moving which may or may not be alive. Thanks for the useful tip about the lythrum – it’s not really damp enough where I have it but if trimming it back helps it stay healthy I will definitely give that a try
Lots of lovely ‘new’ plants for me in your blog this week! The Tiarella is really pretty and I’m glad it survived! The Lythrum is lovely too and has rather sweet little flowers, as does the Olearia. The phlox and obedient plant are both on my ‘must have’ list for the coming growing season, and hopefully I can order them from the growers this month. The Justicia look bright and cheerful. Lovely post!
Thank you H&M 😁
My Japanese anemones are starting to open too. I think they’re early. How lucky you rescued the tiarella. Do you think it would have come back if you’d left it where it was?
I think it would have died. Another one I left in the ground died.
It had a lucky escape then and you’d better repot it!
Fully agree with you about ‘dead’ plants, my two ‘dead’ clematis are both in flower now! Your Tiarella is lovely – and so healthy looking too. It’s a pretty one and maybe deserves to shine on in a pot of its own.
Lythrum salicaria ‘Blush’ is very pretty – I’ve had to google it as it’s new to me. I love all the new plants and ideas that I get each week from Sixers on Saturdays. It’s an education. The same is true of Physostegia virginia ‘Summer Snow’ – I that and I know I can find a place for it.
As for August and the summer weather, I’ve given up thinking that summer will happen – that was late April and May for us, so now I’m thinking autumn – reds, yellows, oranges, cosy clothes and dry (hopefully!) crisp days are on the horizon. 🍁
Yes, April and May were beautiful here too, just a shame we couldn’t go to the gardens or beaches. Now it’s just too busy to venture out very far.
Wow well done on the Tiarella it looks fantastic. There has been a few people commenting that their Japanese Anemones has been flowering early.
At this rate there will be nothing in flower in September!
Only the hardiest heucheras and tiarellas survive overwinter in my garden, especially in clay soil. The others all live in large pots, hanging baskets, etc. They seem to love the drainage in the winter, so maybe the tiarella will thrive in a pot for you.
Nice that you were able to salvage that dear little plant and give it a second life. Today I dug up all my dahlia bulbs. They have been in the same position for a few years so they had multiplied into huge clumps. I’ll replant some in October and give the rest away. I’m hoping to buy a couple of different ones as these are all the same. Candy striped, red and white.
Dahlias are lovely, but I learned my lesson last year. I’ll stick with plants that don’t get eaten. 😊
Last summer a hare munched on my first flower of the year. Very annoying. We don’t have any s and s, so that’s a bonus.
Earwigs were the main culprits, they are in my roses now 😭
Uuurgh. So annoying.
Very much so. I tried the oil trap last year but it was so disgusting.
There are so many Sixes that I don’t seem able to “like” anymore, including yours but I do really like it. The Olearia looks beautifully positioned and the Justicia is a new one to me. I also have Cyclamen and Japanese Anemones in flower along with several Primroses. Another strange season
How odd! WP makes so many changes though that they don’t test on all devices, I wonder if that’s the problem. I often go to comment and find I am not logged in, when I obviously am as I never log out! Sometimes a refresh of the website works.