Monthly Archives: August 2015

It has been so hot and humid! When the nighttime temperature finally dropped to 69f the other night I almost broke out the blankets to keep warm!

The garden is signaling the impending change of seasons, too!

The annual poinsettias are blooming.

The large pots of fibrous begonias on the front porch have gone crazy and this is without any routine watering!

And Turtlehead (cleone)

And the Rose of Sharon:

  

Rose-of-Sharons are wonderful large shrubs or small tree in the hibiscus family which bloom late summer until frost. The flowers are shades of white, purple, or burgundy and with or with-out a red throat. The single flowered varieties reseed to the point of becoming weedy! The flowers are only about three inches wide but if you don’t trim the plants they grow in a vase-shape to about 10 or 15 feet here in the Piedmont region on North Carolina.

The large beds of lirope blooming are another signal of the change of seasons.

 The large beds of this grass-like plant in the lily family run along the fence and around the patio. I am lucky that the original owners planted these. They begin blooming in late August and are followed by black berries. The birds eat the berries but the seeds pass through their digestive tract unharmed and germinate throughout the garden.
Another reason I look forward to the cooler temperatures? I hate coming home to this every evening:

And the corresponding water bill!!

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August is a rough time in the Southeast. Temperatures are in high 90sF and its so humid you begin sweating as soon as you walk outside. This time is often called the dog days of August!

The garden loves this weather especially if you water daily!

Every bed is thick and lush.

Gus enjoys hunting through the overgrown beds but they look messy to a non-gardener.

In September I sometimes will mow the beds around the patio to clean things up a bit.

The four-o-clocks will continue to bloom until frost. The blooms open in the evening and remain open all night for moths and other night pollinators.

The Autumn clematis are beginning to bloom. The starry fragrant flower will bloom into September then the seed heads will last until winter.


Ask me in a month if I am ready for Fall. By then we all are tired of the heat and humidity and are ready for cool temperatures!