This took 24 hours to show up after I wrote it!

I was wondering?! I saw this late yesterday and wondered if it was here when I posted to the July thread. I've been having a lot of issues with Houzz. Half the time I don't get notifications on threads I'm following and it seems random. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. And the new messaging system is a huge step back from what they had before. It's really terrible.

Does it seem dead here lately? Not this forum - Garden Web in general? I'm trying to figure out if people are just out gardening or if there is something else.

Deanna, here is another photo of dill in the garden. It also leans and is very graceful.

A better shot of 'Beverly' this morning with Cleome. There is very little wind.

PM, have you ever grown Bronze Fennel? When I visited a friend's garden last week I was reminded how lovely it looks in a mixed garden setting. I grew it in my old garden but let it seed around too much. Maybe I'll try again and keep up with it better.

I just tried to post a few pictures from my phone and HOUZZ shut down and I lost the whole post. I'm going to switch back to my phone, post the pictures, then come back to the PC and add comments.

Hydrangea 'Let's Dance Diva' blooming this beautiful blue for the first time since being planted in 2019. Macrophyllas are not reliable bloomers here but this one came recommended by a northern gardening friend. Let's see what happens next year...

Everything is growing taller or shorter than expected in the patio garden this year. The Cleomes self seed. When I bought the Tithonias, the tag said 24-30". I should have know better. Hidden in the back is a Red Abyssinian banana, a Castor bean and Pennisetum Vertigo. Last night I took a few feet off one of the Tithonias. The Cleomes are next.

Lilium Red Beauty. Don't tell the red lily leaf beetles it's here. I didn't find one this year on either of the two clumps I grow next to the patio.

When we visited Bar harbor at the beginning of June, I found these really cool variegated Agastaches in one of the nurseries. It's called Agastache Crazy Fortune and is supposedly a sport of Blue Fortune which is reliably hardy here. Just in case, I'm going to dig one up and give it to my friend John O'Brien who owns a nursery nearby. He'll try to overwinter it in his cool basement. Fingers crossed.

Sue

Sue, I have grown Bronze Fennel and I love it. It can be SO pretty and it mingles with other plants so well. Last year I had a volunteer grow up in a crack between pavers and overwhelm my Julia Child rose. I got a really pretty photo of it last year....

....but, the rose didn’t get enough air circulation with that all over it and I ended up having to prune it back hard. I decided to try hard this year not to allow anything to grow too close to the roses and they really are doing better.

I did have a plant that I put in another location where it has not really done much this year. And it’s getting to be that time of year where I really have to deadhead it soon, because last time I was pulling them out everywhere.

I saw a combo of a bronze fennel intertwining with a Cardinal Candy Viburnum with berries all over it and it persuaded me to try Bronze Fennel again. But I’m keeping an eagle eye on it. [g] My worry is always what happens when your life gets too hectic and you can’t possibly keep an eye on it.

Posting photos on Houzz has become iffy for me too, requiring multiple tries.

Very pretty Hydrangea. I’ve been pretty disappointed with mopheads here too. I went on a buying spree one year and once in awhile some of them will have a good year. I prefer the pink and purples and of course, I’m too acidic and get blue. That’s why I’m changing over to the paniculatas. I will be interested to hear how your new Let’s Dance Diva does next year.

What variety is that cleome? Very nice. I have wanted to try Tithonia and I keep buying seed and never getting around to starting it. How do you like that plant? I like the banana behind the Cleome and is that a honeysuckle on the corner of the house? How are you supporting that?

I can’t see the Lily - maybe that photo didn’t work out?

It really is great when you have no lily leaf beetles!

Variegated Agastache…that is quite different. And they look like they are thriving.

Your garden is really filling in Sue and looks great!

So weird...I can't see the lily image either on my computer or on my phone but when I try to edit the comment, the picture is there. HOUZZ gremlins at work I guess. So I emailed it to myself and will post it here.

PM, the Cleome was originally variegated. Of course the foliage variegation did not seed true but the flower color is pretty close. I pull out handfuls of seedlings every year but love the flower so feel the extra work is worth it.

I buy Tithonia in six packs every spring. I think I got these at Walker Farm just north of Brattleboro, VT. Butterflies love them. Two years ago we must have had a large number of Monarchs hatch at the same time and they were all over the Tithonia. I just wish they would read their own plant tags and stop growing feet taller than I expect...lol.

The Honeysuckle is growing on what was supposed to be a temporary trellis but it's done so well, I can't bring myself to cut it back and install something more permanent. Sometimes it's best not to mess with success.

Sue

Sue, Houzz did that to me the other day with a photo I was trying to post.

Your lilies are so tall! I love the candlelabra lilies. I have one similar but this is the 2nd year I forgot to stake it and they re all leaning sideways which really takes away the great affect of the form, which I can see with your photo. Next year, oh well, the flowers are so pretty! What are you using for support? I also noticed that there are no holes in the leaves at all.

Cleome does reseed well here and I do remove quite a few and I’m able to just choose which I want to keep.

I think another reason I’ve dragged my feet about growing Tithonia, is because I have such limited space for full sun. I can’t add it to my front bed, there’s just no room and not sure how it will do in less sun. That’s so pretty and sounds like it really does attract butterflies. Looks like you've planned to attract a lot of wildlife to your garden.

I think we’ve all learned the hard way about messing with success. LoL I know I have. It’s not to be taken for granted. Good job with that Honeysuckle, it looks lush. I’m adding Major Wheeler and trying to figure out where to put it.

Dee, I LOVE that first pale pink cosmos with the edging on the petals and the double layer. It looks like someone took a pinking shears to it. lol I'm a big fan of cosmos and have some every season. It had been a long time since I bought new seeds so last season everything was reseeders and I barely enjoyed any of them. A lot of them didn't even bloom, they were all foliage all season. Some of them were not attractive. I was ready to just pull them all and start over. But the seed companies were out of seed by the time I was looking this year. So I let the reseeders be and I am just pulling anything that I really don't want before it drops seed. I'll hope that I can start a new batch of seed next year and I'll have to put that variety on my list.

I had 2 or 3 years when I really enjoyed my lilies and then I dug them up to divdie and increase them because they had gotten so crowded and I added a few new bulbs and I never had a good year since. lol They just don't look as good and then the rabbits ate them back so hard I never saw a bloom last year and one of the new bulbs didn't come back this spring. So, I'm very disappointed with the lillies despite having almost no red lily leaf beetles this year. So, sometimes you just can't win. [g]

And yes that Agastache in the background is humongous! It has to be all the rain we got this year. Who knew they enjoyed rain so much.

Hi all - long time no see! Here on Cape Cod, my crape myrtle is just beginning to open, and most of the hydrangeas are still going strong - Tardiva, Annabelle, Preziosa (H. serrsta) , also several City Line (macrophylla) not sure about posting multiple photos … I’ll give it a try.

Preziosa showing new and old flower color

City line - 3 different ones

PM2 like I said I don't usually have reseeders from my cosmos, which I never thought was odd - I was disappointed, but I have noticed that some annuals just don't seem to reseed (like zinnias, unfortunately!). That why I was surprised to see a few reseeded volunteers this year. Luckily for me they are blooming and are nice colors. But I LOVE cosmos so that is one thing I will ALWAYS sow at least one variety of each year - and more likely seven or eight lol.

:)

Dee

Diggingthedirt? Really? There is a screen name I haven’t seen in awhile, so nice to see you posting! Hope you are doing well.

Love your City Line Hydrangeas, my favorite colors for Hydrangea and the purple is covered in blooms! Really nice.

Does your Crepe Myrtle bloom every season and do you get a lot of winter die back?

Dee, if you have 7 or 8 different varieties of Cosmos, I would love to see photos of all of them. The only time I don't get reseeding is when I mulch heavily.

SW CT zone 7a - the vibrant blue hydrangea have turned dusty muave - first summer i have not watered them once!

The wild area off my deck - hibiscus was fuller yesterday, 2 milkweeds I have relocated twice and it still comes back. Sunflower in foreground is now staked to hold it off of a tomato which I did not plant this year (don't have good luck but this wants to be here!) and terrible year for basil in pot (with nasturtiums)

The butterfly garden I planted this spring from plugs is doing well and i will be expanding it. Blazing star and butterfly weed flowered nicely last month. We have seen the most monarchs since we’ve been here so its working! I hope everyone can find some space for natives or at least a milkweed variety.

My first hollyhocks and they are strange. I thought the black flowers were cool but they stopped flowering and shot up so tall, over a 6ft fence, have gone crooked then straightened again you can see one bloom at the very top.

And the other side of house.

Amd mamoth sunflowers which cannot support their head. I love a field of them but wont be planting in front of house again. This is the same butterfly garden as above. It’s a busy street and we have lost a few trees. My plan is flowering pollinators from early spring through fall and expanding it more into the useless lawn.

BRDR - I do enjoy when the blue hydrangeas turn that dusty color. Does it seem early to you for that? I like to clip them at this stage and dry them for arrangements.

Basil has grown well for me, but the earwigs have shredded it.

I haven't grown Hollyhocks in a long time. Do they follow the sun, like Sunflowers do? I wonder in your photo in which direction South is? Do they get full sun there? Looks like you might get a good crop of seed from them.

My only full sun garden is in front of my house and it took me awhile to arrive at a plan that I am happy with. I had fun along the way though, trying any plant I wanted. The neighbors have been very supportive. The year I got the most comments was when I grew sunflowers. I didn't enjoy them in that bed because they were so much taller than everything else and I wanted to leave the heads to ripen for the birds and they don't look all that great while they are doing that.

The hollyhocks initially leaned south and I tied them to the fence to hold straight. Then last week after a storm they were like this which is sort of to the north east. My neighbor does nothing with her yard so I will tell her to watch for some hollyhocks next year!

Most years the hydrangea burn out from heat and lack of water. A healthy but different color flower is new for me.

Neoghbors and dog walkers have been supportive of my wild look and butterly and ”feeding the bees” sign. Fortunately no one close sprays lawns

I've found that rain storms, especially heavy rain, do leave a lot of my plants looking worse for it. My Little Lime Hydrangea is even drooping and out of shape now. I was enjoying it before that. Maybe that's what happened to your Hollyhocks.

I have the same problem, most years Hydrangeas look awful late in summer from lack of water and heat. They are loving the rain this year.

It's nice when neighbors enjoy your garden. Unfortunately in my neighborhood, quite a few people signed up for mosquitoe spraying this year and the house across the street regularly sprays their lawn.

brdrl, what a lovely house. Is it old? (asks the person who longs for an old house but lives in a 50's cape....)

:)

Dee

Yes is circa 1830’s with an interesting history. it used to be across the street. It was moved in the 1950s to save it when others were torn down for a store. For us that means a new’ish foundation, attached garage and extended kitchen. Which we extended further 6 years ago. Another plus is we are not bound by historic renovation rules (but are mindful of its character). And negatively - we are on a busy street across from the back of a store which is why I obbsessively plant flowers!

Ooh, how interesting! I do so love old houses and find that many of them are on busy roads and/or are close to the road. Of course, in 1830, the house may have been one of the few on the road so the road purposely led right up to the house! I love the fact that my house is a good 70 feet from the road, and that I live in a fairly rural area (although on a busy road) but I would give up a lot to live in an old house. I particularly love Victorians, and where I live, the vast majority of them are now in inner city areas, or downtown areas, and many of the most beautiful ones are in areas where I'd be afraid to walk around at noon, sadly. We looked at several old farmhouses out in more rural areas (including one from 1654ish) but my husband couldn't get over his idea of them needing too much work. I think our 1951 cape needed (and still needs!) more work than some of the old farmhouses we looked at!

Sorry to get off topic! Thanks for the info!

:)

Dee

August at the shop this year is dominated by hydrangeas.

H. paniculata Pinky Winky is still creamy. i love the textural contrast with the foliage..

H paniculata Quickfire is turning rosy

H. serrata Twist and Shout is starting to fade

H. macrophylla has some fading blooms, but it is still pushing out new flowers. it has been ages since either of these last two bloomed.

Cranberry/Vaccinium macrocarpum is a lovely evergreen groundcover. The green berries show up well.

A few of the winterberries/Ilex verticillata are starting to get a small amount of color.

One of my favorite clematis, a hybrid of a couple of different natives from the SE US. If you look carefully, there is the rear end of a bee just showing in the top center flower.

It’s so nice to see the photos. PM, the dill at the beginning is one of my favorite posts so far. I didn’t know it could be so beautiful amongst perennials. One question: I have noticed when I plant small seedlings among established perennials they often don’t have enough time to grow tall before the perennials completely shade them out. Some perennial salvia I replaced this year didn’t make it for that reason. When do you plant, are they seedlings or established plants, do they grow fast, etc? Lots of questions!

This year for the first time while traveling I really noticed the beauty of these darker blue lace cap hydrangeas. I don’t knwo what variety they were, but the beautiful hydrangeas here remind me of how many wonderful varieties there are now.

It’s so nice to see the colors of the later perennials turning up in your photos. I’ve had no time to take pictures this summer, but the echinacea, milkweed, and Joe Pye Weed are having a good year. My JPW is over eight feet tall. I don’t know why it gets so tall every year. I like it, but next year if I can remember I need to cut it back to shorten the height. The Casablanca lilies finally matured to have enough to make the scent noticeable. I like all kinds of lilies more and more every year.

NHBabs, your top photo in the above post is stunning. What a great sky to highlight the hydrangea and spruce! Brdl, I look forward to future photos to see how your beautiful front yard evolves. The back yard already looks wonderful.

It has been a humid summer, but we have gotten an IDEAL amount of rain. We received significantly less than some of you in Mass, but it has ended the drought, kept the garden moist, and allowed some hasty plantings to thrive when I was gone and could not keep them watered. Plants have nicely recovered from last year.

I have gotten 10% of my garden plans completed this summer. >:-[

Thanks to all of you for keeping the threads going when some of us disappear!

It's been a while since I posted pictures of my garden here (have been enjoying all your pictures) but found some time today. I took these pictures more than a week ago.

My Garden · More Info

My Garden · More Info

My Garden · More Info

My Garden · More Info

My Garden · More Info

My Garden · More Info

Hi Deanna, I haven’t had a problem growing dill. I think I started them from seed originally in my vegetable bed, but because they got so tall and leaned over the pathways, I took the seed heads once they’d ripened and spread them over my front bed in the Fall. I never started them really, they just reseeded for me. I think I had enough that some of them managed to find room to grow. I also have enough free space around roses, and perennials for some of them to get a good start. I enjoy them as they are growing up and as they start to form flower heads and so they look good in the garden for a long time.

When it rains heavily some of them will bend over, especially if seeds have formed making them top heavy. I always have enough to maturity to drop a lot of seeds, which the seedlings are easy to pull out if they are somewhere you don’t want them.

I’m sure I’ll have some seeds that I’d be happy to send you. 😀

My Casablanca lilies were done over a week ago.

I agree about that top photo Babs….it really is gorgeous! And I meant to say and got distracted I guess, that it looks like an area that you’ve posted photos of before that is now looking quite a bit more mature than the last time I saw it. Really nice combination.

I can almost say I have had the ideal amount of rain - but I think I’ve had just a little too much. Foliar issues on some plants, mushrooms everywhere, tomatoes not doing well this year and that darn dog vomit growth on my mulched areas, way more than usual. BUT - I’d rather have all those issues than drought. [g] Very humid here too.

RTHawk - which plant is that in photo #2?

Cranesbill in photo #4?

Really pretty hydrangea in photo #5!

Actually, I meant to come back and say, that after I wrote the above comment, I was out looking at the bed with the dill in it and I'd say a good 80% of the plants are untouched by the heavy rain. They're not all bent or leaning, most of them are just standing up tall the same way they were before the rain.

My friend who used to live here till she moved to FL had a very natural garden. It was lovely. She had dill winding throughout, as she used to let it reseed. She let me cut flowers from her garden to use in my sale bouquets and I always loved the dill in bouquets! I've tried once or twice to grow it from seed but haven't really gotten it established. I think I wait too long to plant it out and then it's too hot for the seedlings. Plus, the level of neglect in my garden, especially in summer, is hard for any new plant to overcome haha. I'll try again next year. Like every "next year" in my mind, I'll take better care of it then lol!

Wonderful pics, everyone!

:)

Dee

I've never planted a dill 'plant' Never started in 6 packs. Just direct sown. And I sow them just by spreading them in the Fall, where I want them. Once I did that, they have resown on their own ever since. Maybe it's just a question of putting them in an area you know they will have opportunity to start up on their own?

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA pic # 2 is prairie sunflower (they're near the ground because the stalks have flopped over) - they're the same ones on the right side of pic # 1. And yes #4 is cranesbill.

Late summer gardens are so colorful!

Excellent info, PM. Thanks! Going to try direct sowing. We have some dill in planters so I need to see how far along they are in their seed-making process. Might be past ripening by now. I do have some areas wheer they will have room to get some sun and grow.

Dee, I’m like you. Spring, summer, and fall are basically a frantic race to squeeze garden time out of the schedule. this summer was my worst. But, this fall is actually looking much much better. I might actually be able to do some fall maintenance! I clearly need plants that thrive on neglect, too!

Deanna I always say I'm going to do better next year, and while I try, I don't always succeed lol! But I have great intentions and my garden in my mind is wonderful, whenever I get to actually get it finished! I actually had a good start this spring but then spring didn't cooperate, and was cold and rainy and nothing wanted to grow. But it's a fun process and the great thing about being a gardener is "there's always next year"!!

:)

Dee

If gardening were a one season project, where you had to begin and finish in one season, I would have the worst garden! Like a cook that starts and ends a recipe for dinner, it takes a lot of development to get to the point of being a good cook or a good baker, but they can have a small window eventually to succeed or not. There's no 'next meal'. lol They are either a success on the whole, meal by meal, or they're not.

Gardening is pretty unique as an activity. although I'm sure that can be said of many activities. Much harder than it looks or it seems. And you can do many things right in any season, but things are out of your control, to a degree too because of the weather or the bugs or the critters, so you have to develop ways to take the possibilities for problems into account every season and develop ways of dealing with them. At the same time, it is easier than it seems too. Plants just grow. lol Yet you get to do your part to help them along.

I think gardening is very challenging. And to end up with a result that you are happy with takes multiple seasons and a lot of time and energy. And now it takes money as well. If we could start and finish in one season, we'd probably get bored with it fast. And the idea that there is always 'next season' is often about hoping you have more of what you didn't have this year. More time, more energy, better weather, less damage from critters and bugs. It can be like starting over, a second chance, but mostly, it's a continuation. It actually seems difficult to define gardening, now that I try it. [g]

What a GREAT post, PM! So true. Yours is one of my favorite posts!

I have often appreciated the fact that with gardening we are creating art that is not only easy to change, but constantly changes on its own. That can't happen with painting, sculpting, photography, is discouraged in publishing, etc. It's a gift to want to create something beautiful, knowing that if it doesn't turn out well, all it takes is mostly sweat equity to correct it. (Next season, just like you said.) We are blessed to be able to uproot a color and/or a texture and move it around on our canvas.

One fact I like is how slowly it happens, as well. I have years to learn things, which makes a huge difference with me. The time spent just mulling over possibilities while plants grow is something I need to have.

Well said, PM. Gardeners are true optimists because we truly believe that next year will be so much better!

Some August photos. The storm (mostly rain here) collapsed many of the taller plants in my garden. In drought conditions tall plants tend to remain upright which seduces you into thinking all is fine. I tried to go out to stake and cut back a few of the victims but it started pouring. Guess I'll take another stab at it tomorrow night.

Tithonia before the storm. Hoping these will do well in a vase :).

I dead headed Phlox Blue Paridise and it is reblooming. Companion plants are Rudbekia Henry Eilers, Caryopteris divaricata Snow Fairy and a Hydrangea Annabelle that I removed years ago but must have a root section growing from under ledge.

Cryptomeria Yoshino, Aralia Sun King, Kalimeris integrifolia, Cornus sericea Silver and Gold and a forest of reseeded Cleomes.

Patio container featuring a Colocasia, Plectranthus Troy's Gold and a Begonia.

Sue, Nice to see a mature tithonia, since I've never grown it after buying seed 4x. [g] Looks very good!

That Blue Phlox is so pretty, now I wish I had deadheaded my phlox. Will I at least get seed that I can use since I left the flower heads to ripen?

My favorite photo is #3. Very pretty combination.

I'm not taking many photos at all, and they're all repeats of what I showed in years past, but wanted to share theses. One of my favorite pairings in still echinacea with jewelweed. I'm learning to manage the jewelweed better. Boy, it is the bunny of the plant world, for sure. Two plants the pollinators love!

A shout-out to Visions Light Pink Geranium. These bushes grow MUCH larger than online sites claim, and they just keep on blooming. Had to include a photo to show how nice they look, even in late August.

An unusual pairing this year. Plopped some poppies in the garden at the closest availalbe spot. Just had to get them out of the jug in early summer and in the ground ANYWHERE, and do it fast. Turns out they look really nice with the pink 'First Love' Veronica. This veronica has been a bit of a mystery. It is supposed to be short, 18". It was the first year, then for two years it SHOT UP to 3' tall! I divided it early last summer and this year all divisions are barely making it. Makes no sense, but this year they are maybe 12" tall at most!

Deanna, the weather is either wet, windy or super humid, so I’m not even spending much time outside to take photos. [g]

I enjoy your Coneflowers since I don’t have any now and I imagine the hummingbirds like that combo with jewelweed.

Surprising to see bloom on Cranesbill this time of year. Mine have been finished for awhile.

I tried Veronica a couple of times and they didn’t really perform here for some reason. I love that name, ‘First Love’. Portulaca is a performer. I should grow it more often. Another one I buy the seed for and don’t use. [g]

PM, I've never grown Tithonia from seed. I buy it in six packs. It always grows infinitely taller than than expected. According to the plant tag, the variety I bought this year was only supposed to be 24-30" tall. Of course they all collapsed in the rain this weekend and I spent last night trying to resurrect them. If I decide to plant any next year they will go further back in the border and get supported somehow.

Phlox Blue Paradise reseeds true for me, almost annoyingly so. I plan to start digging some soon to share with friends.

From last night, Daylily Peconic Autumn, a fabulous late season bloomer.

Sue

PM, that's one reason the Visions Light Pink has been so impressive. I'm amazed at how long the blooms last each year. I grew some from seed, but given how expensive the seeds were I have a feeling that it doesn't produce its own true seed. One of the seeds from my first batch became a white bigroot geranium, which was a nice surprise. Last year's seeds are all true VLP.

Sue, that is most certainly a late daylily, definitely worth investigating. If it's blooming this late for you in CT, it would be even later for me and a nice addition to the garden. It's really beautiful! That yellow eye would blend with many later summer blooms.

Sue, I never find Tithonia in 6 packs. I would think this year is unusual in having rain so late in the summer and that normally, tithonia and other tall plants don’t have to tolerate downpours. Still, I will be considering support for a few things next year too.

You seem to enjoy variegated plants and I find I do as well. I don’t have a lot of variegated plants in the outdoor garden, but the other day I was looking at the houseplants in my LR and almost all of them were variegated. [g] I really need a few solid green to balance things out. What is the variegated plant to the left of your Pink Daylily?

Deanna, Cranesbills are so easy to have. I read an article a long time ago about a collector of Cranesbill who had such a variety of them of all different heights and sizes and I wish I could find it. I keep looking to add more but I haven’t found all that many that are different from what I have. I’d like a larger flower and a taller one with long bloom. Seed has become so expensive, that I try to save seed as much as possible.

I never find tithonia in 6-packs either. Or really in any plant form or size at the nursery. I always (try to) grow mine from seed. I don't always have luck with it, but even when I've gotten it elsewhere, it's from a friend or acquaintance who has grown it from seed. Guess they have better luck lol, but I've just never seen it for sale at a garden center. I would buy it in an instant if I did! Love it!

Also loving your daylily. I do need to extend my daylily season in my garden.

:)

Dee

My apologies for being largely absent here. My internet has been nonexistent for the most part, both via wired and cell connections. ugh!

Today I am waiting for work to be done on my car, so I can post with the dealer’s great connection. even though it is now September, all these were taken in August.

Little bluestem and purple love grass in bloom behind the house.

Calico aster in one of the fields.

Wasps or hornets enjoying the Cletha Ruby Spice that I planted along the edge of a degraded wetland.

The western fires have been giving us some colorful sunsets.