Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – August 2008

I love the grass garden shot 🙂 it so light, fairy and amusing… great impression. Thanks for sharing,
Ewa

Thank you for visiting, Ewa. It’s a good thing I took the pictures yesterday, because after the thunderstorms we had last evening, the grasses are looking rather battered and droopy at the moment.
-Nan

Hi Nan, you have blown my hair straight up with these combinations! I have never seen anything like them, genius, brilliant, there are not sufficient words to describe the beauty. You are the supremo, number one…..I have to comment on the Ondra nicotiana, it looks just like Tinkerbell that reseeds in my path each year. It doesn’t grow in the beds, just in the path. I love it’s sweet little green flowers, they used to have pink insides but now come up green. I will call them Nan. ;->

Silly Frances. Funny you should mention ‘Tinkerbelle’, because I almost posted a picture of that too. It’s been reseeding here for a few years and has consistently been a brownish pink for me. The “Ondra’s Green Mix” came about in my old garden, from seedlings that came up the year after I grew ‘Lime Green’ (with relatively large, pale green blooms) and Nicotiana langsdorfii (with smaller, intense yellow-green blooms) in the same bed. The offspring had the good color of the species but the larger flowers of the hybrid, so when I donated them to the HPS/MAG Seed Exchange, I called the “Green Mix”. When someone else donated them the following year, they called them “Nancy Ondra’s Green Mix”. But really, I suspect similar plants can pop up pretty much anywhere nicotianas have been self-sowing for a while.
-Nan

All nice of course but the ‘Fan Burgundy’ lobelia caught my attention. I’ve had Cardinal Flower on my mind lately and yesterday I went hunting for the wild ones. (no post yet – I have to get all the fungus out of my camera first)

I like the ‘Violetta’ artichoke too. I love the ‘violetility’ and the similarity of the blooms to thistles. I don’t know it it’s the form or color but bees, bugs and butterflies are really attracted to them.

I agree: The color of that lobelia is wonderfully rich. I bought the plants specifically for the leaves, which were speckled with white at the time. The variegation has disappeared, but with flowers like that, I don’t miss it.

Good luck with your camera!
-Nan

Nan,

I think Frances used up all the good words to describe your garden! It is brilliant knockout combinations and fabulous color! The Chocolate Morning Glory and the limelight Four O’clock are both wonderful. Tell me more about Throatwort, which looks perfect paired with Crocosmia! Its purple reminds me of Ironweed.
Thank you for a wonderful tour!

Gail

A mini ironweed, indeed! This is the first time I’ve tried the throatwort. I had some idea that it had clustered flower heads and supposedly made a good cut flower, so I picked up a four-pack of seedlings when I spotted them at a greenhouse this spring. Now it’s near the top of my must-have list for next year too. ‘Lake Louise’ has black stems and long-lasting deep purple flowers. The site they’re in is shadier than they’d like, so they’re not very full, and they’re only 12 to 18 inches tall, but they’re still pretty, and it looks like they’ll be blooming for quite a while yet. I hope I can collect seed from them.
-Nan

Everything in your garden is SO vibrant and beautiful! I love the sunflower in the first photo. 🙂

Hi Nancy! This is my most favorite time in the garden. Until around late July, I maintain the illusion of control, and things generally perform as I expect them to. But around early August, the plantings start doing what *they* want to, and I love the surprises they give me.
-Nan

Love that sunflower–very creative idea!

Thanks for visiting, Meryl. I can’t remember where I first saw that idea, but I’ve been having great fun with it since the sunflowers have started this summer!
-Nan

WOW! I love all of your combinations, but I think that the throatwort (a plant which I have never seen before) and crocosmia combination is my favorite.

I do like the statice and gaura combination, too, though… I think I might like it less, though, if you couldn’t see those wide statice leaves for contrast. What is it that you’re not sure about with these two plants together? (Asking because I’m trying to learn more and train my eye a bit…)

You’re right about the broad leaves of the statice helping that combination. The first photo I took was a closeup without the leaves, and it was just messy-looking. I think maybe I’d like that combo better if it had something else with a bold or grassy texture to balance the fineness of the gaura foliage and statice flowers. I could see putting a clump of ‘Fireworks’ purple fountain grass behind this pairing. The grass has both deep red and white (and a bit of pink) in its leaves, iso t would help to link the two strong colors while adding a welcome contrast of texture.
-Nan

I think your late summer/fall garden is my favorite, Nan, though it looks gorgeous in all seasons, even winter. Your combinations of color and foliage are stunning. I especially like those orange and purple/burgundy combos. Ka-pow!

Thanks, Pam. August is pretty good, and I still have September and October to look forward to. I’m glad you enjoyed the combos; I think you and I have very similar taste in colors!
-Nan

I lost track of how many times I said “Ooooh!” reading this. I must have sounded like I was watching a fireworks display. While I like your grassy garden, I was absolutely smitten with the dark Alternanthera, Coneflower, Sambucus ‘Aurea’ combo. I’d love to compare the color of Lobelia ‘Fan Burgundy’ with Lobelia ‘Sparkle DeVine’ and Lobelia ‘Ruby Slippers.’ Can you tell I like those dark Lobelias? Angelonias are my new favorite annuals. They are such troopers & yet look so delicate. I’ll take a pass on the Solanum, though. That looks too dangerous for my garden.

Oh, cool – I really like that echinacea/alternanthera/sambucus combo too. The echinacea really ought to be in my side garden, color-wise, but with these partners, I don’t mind having it in the hot-color area. I admired your own lobelia shot, and I agree it would be interesting to try the various dark ones for comparison. The ‘Fan Burgundy’ ought to come true from seed; I’m not sure the others would. And yes, angelonias rock! They are a new top favorite for me too.
-Nan

What wonderful combo’s. I need to bookmark this post and come back to it as I try to figure out how to make August a better month in my own garden.
Thanks for joining in for bloom day, in a very big way.

Thanks, Carol. Bloom Day is the highlight of my month!
-Nan

I, too, am bookmarking this page for future reference in building knockout combinations. What zone are you? It looks like you have many of the plants that thrive in my zone 7, but others are new to me.
I’m with Pam in appreciation of the orange/purple/burgundy combos: one of our local plant gurus calls it “Blood & Guts”.
Thanks for the inspiring post.

Blood and Guts? Hmmm, I’ll have to think about that one. By any name, it’s certainly a dramatic color combination! I’m in mid-Zone 6, by the way.
-Nan

Nan, I can always count on seeing something new and different in your garden, and some fabulous combinations! I too am a big fan of the coleus, zinnia, spirea, sweet potato combo. Wow!
The crocosmia and throatwort are wonderful, and two plants I haven’t tried…and would like to.
That torenia is terrific!
You have some fabulous blooms. Don’t you wish we could extend summer and enjoy them longer? I sure do!

Hi Kerri! It’s a good thing I got the shots that included sweet potato vines when I did, because the voles around here have suddenly decided that all sweet potatoes and morning glories are irresistible, and the plants are getting destroyed systematically. Sniff. At least there are other flowers to enjoy still, which I’m prepared to enjoy as long as possible. (It sure would help if we’d get some rain….)
-Nan

I had a smile as big as your sunflower just looking at all of these lovely blooms Nan. Wow.

Thanks, Lisa! I’m glad you enjoyed the sunflower and its buddies.
-Nan