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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Arthur in the Garden! 