Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - September 2007

September always seems like a better month in my garden than August, one unfortunate planting combination notwithstanding. My grasses start to show off their inflorescences, cutback perennials begin to rebloom, and even annuals seem to get a second wind.

Some plants, like the flamboyant canna 'Wyoming' and tiny, gemlike silene maritima 'Compacta' shown here, continue about their business of blooming without a break. Fall bloomers are just beginning their part of the garden show. Interesting seedheads, from the inky black pods of baptisia australis to the golden hips on my 'Dortmund' rose, are making their presence known as well.

By far my favorite part of the yard right now is the area surrounding the Japanese rock garden. Near the property line, next year's fruit-bearing branches arch out from the base of the newly pruned thornless blackberry. Once the fence goes in, they will have some support for their canes.

In the front, a tapestry of 'Bertram Anderson' sedum, 'Newe Ya'ar' salvia officinalis, allium senescens var. glaucum, 'Voodoo' sedum spurium and 'Caradonna' salvia keep catching my eye. I love the dark stems and tidy leaves on 'Caradonna' so much that once I determined she is as long a bloomer as 'May Night,' I gave away the latter to another gardener to make room for more 'Caradonna'! That these plants grow in poor soil with little mulch and no extra watering makes me even happier with them.

In a small strip between the rock garden and the sidewalk the extends the length of the garage, blue-green clumps of chives and garlic chives sprout from a bed of the greyish-red 'Voodoo' sedum. Their coloring bridges the color shift between the front and back plantings of the Japanese rock garden very well.

In the back, 'Purple Emporer' sedum, 'Frosted Curls' sedge, the blue-flowered plumbago ceratostigma plumbaginoides, bergenia, and various oreganos (including a cream-edged variety that I just planted) surround the dark 'Diablo' ninebark and dwarf sweet cherry.

Behind these, a red-stained arbor is being built for the 'Concord' grape started from cuttings my grandmother gave me. The chartreuse 'Sum and Substance' hosta, 'Hewitt's Double' meadow rue, various ferns, and even a zauschneria garrettii 'Orange Carpet' (on the dry, sunny edge) are planted beneath the arbor space. The smokey-colored atriplex hortensis var. rubra self-seeds itself in this area as well, which will provide some good dynamic change in this bed throughout the years.

Also in bloom and/or bud, in addition to the plants detailed above, are the following:

Perennials/Biennials:

tricyrtis 'Lightning Strike'
tricyrtis 'Samurai'
ajuga reptens 'Silver Queen'
cimicifuga 'Hillside Black Beauty' (bud)
hosta 'Dawn'
ligularia dentata 'Othello'
sorghastrum nutens 'Sioux Blue'
hakonechloa macra 'Aureola'
echinacea 'Merlot'
'Ozark' alpine strawberries
'Black Watchman' hollyhock
artemisia 'Powis Castle'
sedum cauticola 'Lidakense'
sedum 'Vera Jameson'
sedum sieboldii
salvia lyrata 'Purple Knockout'
echinacea 'White Swan'
achillea 'Paprika'
bronze fennel
zauschneria latifolia v. etteri
golden oregano
Japanese anemone 'Party Dress'
Japanese anemone 'Robustissima'
lamium 'Purple Dragon'
nepeta 'Walker's Low'
unnamed toad lily
perovskia atriplicifola
'Matrona' sedum
variegated liriope
asclepias tuberosa


Annuals/Vegetables:

begonia 'Cocktail Whiskey'
nicotiana sylvestris
red snapdragons
upright fuchsia 'Koralle'
portulaca 'Margarita Banana'
portulaca 'Yubi red'
orange cosmos
'Ichiban' eggplant
various pepper plants
various coleus in need of deadheading
'Sonic Cherry' new guinea impatiens
my gorgeous yellow lantana
'Hopi Red Dye' amaranth
gladiolus 'Lime Green'
2 other glads with missing tags
cinnamon basil*
pineapple sage
verbena bonariensis

*Anyone else growing cinnamon basil have a tough time keeping this one from flowering? I've been impressed with its tenacity!