The Doldrums of August

This is the month when I am least satisfied with the garden.The early summer outpouring of flowers is over, and the late summer bloomers are still waiting in the wings. It's a time when I pay a lot of attention to other gardens for suggestions on how to improve my own.

It's not all bad, though. Dominating the back garden is good old reliable Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm', a cascade of brilliant yellow and black.

And Geranium 'Rozanne' never gives up, churning out more little bright purple flowers every day.  (My photographs always come out too pink; the flowers at the top left and right are truer to the right colour.)

Lobelia siphilitica is doing well too with lots of sky-blue spikes. It's a rather floppy plant, but since it blooms now, and in such a lovely colour, I'm willing to give it space. It has self-seeded a little so I will have more if I want to build up a good clump of it. I suspect a lot more people would grow it if it had a change of name.

In the second photo, rosehips on a trailing stem of  'Lykkefund' have entered the frame. These will begin to turn orange and then red as the season winds down.

Ever-reliable Penstemon 'Garnet' is starting to bloom and will get better over the next few months if I keep up the deadheading.

An unexpected pleasure is a few gorgeous flowers on Clematis 'Miss Bateman'.

 It bloomed in May, as always, but I then cut it back hard as we were installing a screen behind it. Its response has been to grow vigorously and now to put out more flowers. This old variety has been around since 1869, and is one of my all-time favourites of its genus.

In the front garden, tree hydrangea (H. aspera ssp. sargentiana) continues to shift through a series of watery hues,

...while Daphne 'Eternal Fragrance' lives up to its name beside the front path. Not much to look at really, but the scent is powerful, especially in the evening, and the plant is neat, evergreen and flowers for about nine months.

Beside it is Sanguisorba 'Finale', which would be just as discreet except for its height. (I didn't expect it to grow so tall and will re-locate it when it is dormant.) At about 7 ft, it towers over me, and its little dark red thimbles of flower are hard to see. The bees certainly find them, though - it's abuzz all day with honey, bumble and mason bees as well as an assortment of wasps and other flying insects.

Also in front, Heuchera 'Marmalade' is compensating for a lack of flowers in my shadiest bed with its bold contrast of pink, lime-green and gold.

In a different shady bed, there are toad lily flowers, not very visible from a distance but spectacular if you get up close. This is Tricyrtis hirta 'Blue Wonder'. I've never had much luck with the species, but this particular cultivar seems more robust and has larger, more vibrant flowers.

Behind it is the purple foliage of Actaea 'Hillside Black Beauty', a subtle, but welcome addition to the predominant green. Its shepherd's-crook flowers look rather like seedheads right now. Within a week or two they will open into long white bottlebrushes.

Where true seedheads are appearing, however, they're providing some extra interest

Allium sphaerocephalum,

 ,... and  Clematis 'Durandii' are two such contributors.









 But neither can compete with Paeonia obovata, which is doing a good impression of a small alien landing in the garden.

 I tend not to notice our collection of Sempervivums out near the back lane, alongside our car space, perhaps because they are always there, always the same. But those are attributes I should appreciate more, especially because these are all named varieties from an Ontario nursery that sadly no longer does mail order.

I haven't kept track of which is which, although I still have the list of about 10 names.

Finally, even if the ornamental occupants of the garden are taking a break, there's always the pleasure of vegetables ripening to compensate.
It's been a good year for tomatoes,

Black Cherry

San Marzano

... as well as green beans,

Blue Lake

...not mention lettuce, arugula, broccoli and onions.