Beautiful blooms! My Morden Sunrise had a spectacular second flush of blooms, and even Topaz Jewel decided to show off a bit this year. Hawkeye Bell has more blooms than ever right now.

There are still several other things blooming here as well, but i hate fighting with Photobucket to upload them. : )

Hi Marcia, thank you! Oh, please show me your Topaz Jewel! I did not know about this rose until you brought it up just now, and it seems to be so pretty! Is it fragrant too? I would love to have one! Please, do fight with Photobucket so I can see it.... LOL! Thanks in advance :-)

Here it is, and since it's just one pic i can upload it from my pictures. It's just the bloom and it's not quite open. It's a lovely rose when it decides to bloom and slightly fragrant - you have to stick your nose right in!

Thanks, marcia! This is quite lovely indeed! How big does this shrub rose get please? Is it a good repeat bloomer?

Now, this may be on my list for next year! :-) Thanks!

It's about 2 feet high this year and not really very wide. I don't think it's in the perfect spot - it doesn't get a lot of sun until afternoon. JP Connell is not far from it and it hasn't bloomed in a couple of years either. I don't want to move them, though, so they'll have to tough it out!

Nice pics of your gardens!
Mid September and the gardens are still nice!

Caroline

This post was edited by xaroline on Mon, Sep 16, 13 at 6:53

It's hard to believe we're into mid September. Everything still looks really good in my garden...we've had a fairly dry summer, so no fungal disease problems. I did a bit of weeding over the weekend, cleaning up the edges of the flower beds where the grass is encroaching. I usually do this in Spring, so it will be interesting to see if this means less work for me next year.

I have the Pinky Winky hydrangea too, and I see that yours has the same tiny dots/marks on the petals (when the petals age to pink). I am wondering if that is the way it's supposed to be? It's always bothered me because it looks like imperfections rather than a desirable trait.

marcia, how would you compare JP Connell to Topaz Jewel, in terms of the bloom frequency and fragrance?

Donna, yes, those pink dots are pretty normal on these paniculata hydrangeas! I think that they are a bit less obvious though on the Strawberry Vanilla hydrangea. We shall see as my SV gets more mature.

BTW, for those of you in Calgary, I just saw some healthy and good-sized Strawberry Vanilla hydrangeas in 2 Gallon pots for only $10.49 each at the Home Depot in Tuscany!!! What a fantastic bargain!!! Shame that I don't have any more space for it.... but for those of you who do, go for it! It's a great deal.

Ostrich, JP hasn't bloomed in a couple of years. I'm trying to think how long i've had him - at least 7 years, i think. He bloomed all right the first couple of years, but has been moved a couple of times. I'd have to go back in my pictures to see the last time he bloomed. Comparing him to Topaz Jewel, i would say about the same for everything. They're roughly the same size, slightly fragrant and bloom sporadically.

There may be others who can compare better than i can - like i said, these two are not quite in ideal conditions, it seems, which is probably why they don't bloom so well.

Nice to see so much blooming in mid September!
I'm interested in the Little Lime hydrangea, Ostrich. I planted one last year and am delighted to see it blooming. It was a clearance impulse purchase for me. Now I need to know how hardy it is and how big I can expect it to get if it is in fact hardy. I guess it is a good sign that it survived its first winter after such an abused start. (It sat in its pot for weeks, then got plopped into the garden then got moved into a bed.)
And I'm so enjoying having something looking so good in the fall I would consider getting another one.

Hi north53! I am new to Little Lime myself too. I had a Limelight in my zone 5 garden before - oh my goodness, that was a GIANT that grew to like 6-7 feet tall and wide! This one should be much more compact, but time will tell!

I am impressed that it has survived your zone 1b winter! Mine was a tiny, clearance 1 gallon pot thing from last year. So it has also done quite well despite its small size and not so healthy status when I bought it last year. It has bloomed better than my Bombshell hydrangeas so far. I am pretty impressed by the lime coloured blooms! If it will stay around 2-3 feet tall and wide, I will be very happy :-)

TFS ostrich! Love seeing gardens from other places and how different plants grow differently. My Morden Sunrise has long stopped blooming. Altho it does bloom for a very long time I've never had it rebloom.

My purple coneflowers have not bloomed at all this year. They were very slow coming up and I thought they might not make an appearance. Probably due to our drought and my inability to water enough and it's likely too late now for blooms. At least they survived.

Very nice ostrich,..that apple isn't Norkent, not sure what but looks like a Harcourt.

Thanks, luckygal! It's been such a strange summer..... we shall see what happens next season!

konrad - thank you! The apple tree is a mystery then.... because I trust your knowledge! I thought it was more red than I had expected of a Norkent too, but it was labelled as a Norkent by the nursery.... hmm.... I hope they did not switch it! It's pretty sweet and not as crispy as I had hoped.... is Harcourt sweet?

Fairly sweet, they should be picked a little early otherwise they
get soft on the tree, not a keeper, I'm about 90% sure it's Harcourt, some people like it, not my favored, taste is odd for me.

These are still crunchy,.. Harcourt don't get crisp, they're not juicy apples...juice is awful, I'll be grafting over to something else.

Hi Konrad,

Thanks again. I just tried another couple of my apples and one thing is quite clear to me - the flavour is quite similar to a pear. The texture is not as crispy as I would like, but I have to say that the flavour is pretty good to me.

Does Harcourt have that pear-like flavour to it?

Anyway, the nursery sold it to me as a Norkent!!! So what can I do about it? Or pretty much nothing???

Well then it's a keeper, I find Harcourt can taste different from tree to tree, ..you might call it slightly pear flavor but I never thought of it. You can tell the nursery, perhaps they give you some discount on future purchase,..what nursery?

Hi konrad,

It's Spruce It Up Nursery. I am really surprised that they mislabeled the tree!!! However, how could I possibly convince them that it's the WRONG apple!?

Come to think of it, I probably should have got a Honey Crisp apple.... mind you, all of the Honey Crisp apple trees that I saw were rather small. But this was a good size, and it's grown quite well this year! So I am happy that it's been healthy.

Never heard of them...
have you still got a apple you can show them?
If not, just tell them that you think it might be the wrong apple, perhaps bring a couple next year.

The sprout farm nursery here got 3 wrong of about 10 trees I purchased about 15 years ago,...have told them, the excuse was,.. it happens when you have unreliable help.

This one still outside doing fine.

27 years old..

Another

In the wheelbarrow...

Hanging basket..

WOW, Konrad, that geranium is gorgeous. I've been debating about bringing in one of my ivy leafed ones. Now I think I will!

YES YES YES! That red geranium is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!

What do you mean, konrad? 27 years old!?!?!? You have had that thing for the last 27 years????!!!

Thank you all!
Yes..we took seeds back from Switzerland in 1985, the winter it stay's inside just beyond that patio door, it's planted in a cut in half plastic barrel, has handle on ends, most of the credit goes to my wife

Hey Konrad.

I was in Switzerland in 1985 and didn't bring back anything that beautiful.

Kudos to your wife :)

Thanks nuts...perhaps next time!

Impatiens don't take any frost, this one still alive, another not fare away died.

Konrad,

Did you start that impatiens from seed? The ones I bought as starts from Costco succumbed to Downy Mildew. I have read that the spores live in the soil for several years, so won't be growing impatiens again for a long time.

We buy plants from our local greenhouse, they grow all their own.

It's pretty widespread Konrad. Plants here in town were also affected. I've read that impatiens probably won't even be available in the nurseries at the rate this disease is spreading.

good to know,....thanks for this reminder!

A few from my gardens - many annuals, and a lot of things on their last legs.
Aster 'Starlight' - I think the seeds were from Gil.

"Black" hollyhocks:

Calendula:

Gaillardia:

Gazania:

Heliopsis:

This is a really pretty hardy oxalis that I bring in over the winter. I always keep it in a container - there's a yellow one that's terrorizing all the flower beds this year.

Mums:

Sedum 'Frosty Morn':

Thanks, marcia! Your blooms are gorgeous indeed. I especially like that oxalis - very lovely leaves and flowers! I have not grown that before - when you say it's hardy, how hardy is it? zone 3 hardy???

I don't think it would survive outside, though i should qualify that by saying that i put it outside once in March because it was full of aphids and it survived that episode. I was shocked to see it coming back! I've never put it in the ground, just used it as a container plant and then brought it inside for the winter. It grows from tiny tubers - if you want, i can send you some.

Jackmanii clematis still giving a bit of colour. While the show has greatly faded on this Jackmanii, it was really impressive up to maybe mid-September and still provides a bit of colour even now that it's October 11:
{{gwi:774946}}

And this Jackmanii Superba beside the front door put out its first bloom on July 6 and has been blooming non-stop ever since. Still some scattered blooms on it now, such as this:
{{gwi:774948}}

My Ville de Lyons just decided to bloom today. I need to figure out how to get it to bloom in the summer, not the middle of October! LOL

That's funny Marcia. My Ville de Lyon bloomed really late this year too. So it is still in full flower.
And for the first time ever, my cimicifuga has flowers. Usually the buds freeze before they can open.

Mine too, actually - forgot to get a picture of it. I was surprised to see it as well. I don't think it has ever flowered for me either.

As for the Ville de Lyons, it has several buds and they'll hopefully have time to open, but it's supposed to be pretty cool from now on, so maybe not.