How did it come to be late August already? It seems just the other day, summer was at its beginning, the gardens were green, and optimism abounded! I’ll see if I can get you caught up with my gardens in just six entries today!
I. First, the Horrible Awful–roughly three weeks ago, a woodchuck made an incursion into the vegetable garden! I literally sat down in the middle of it and cried for a few moments when I saw this:
I thought my tomatoes were going to be safe, but the damn rodents are plucking the green tomatoes off the vines and eating them! They’ve also destroyed the cucumbers, which my husband had particularly been looking forward to.
Last summer, we had no such encroachment and the garden was beautiful and productive! I had such high hopes for this year! So next April, or perhaps even this October, we will have a project, digging deep down along the border of the garden to bury some wire fencing as extra protection.
OK, on to more positive things!
II. The three tithonias in the back corner of the vegetable garden are beautiful and attracting many bees and butterflies! They are over six feet tall and loaded with flowers and buds. The first flowers opened before the end of July this year; often I don’t see one until early August.
The Joe Pye Weed that grows just behind it, outside of the garden fence, is doing equally well and attracting its fair share of pollinators. Eutrochium dubium ‘Little Joe’ is not so little, towering well above my head! It started opening in early August.
III. I’ve had some very good luck with some of my containers this summer. The coleus, begonias, impatiens, and Swedish ivy have thrived by my front door! This area gets sun only until about 10:30 in the morning. I water these every three days or so. The coleus is quick to tell me it’s time to hydrate!
Here are a few pretty details from these containers:
IV. It’s purple season in the Terrace Garden, with the Russian sage, obedient plant, and butterfly bushes all blooming at once!
The pollinators flock to these plants!
V. I am very happy with my lantanas this year! This is the first time I’ve grown any in the ground, as opposed to in containers, and look how well it’s doing! It’s in a sunny, hot spot and has been quite dry most of the summer.
I love the progression of colors in the lantana blooms as they age:
I’m growing Lantana ‘Samantha’ in a pot on my sunny, hot back deck. I bought her not for the solid yellow flowers, but for the variegation in her leaves.
yellow from start to finish. Please take a moment and appreciate those leaves!
VI. Finally, I have been privileged to visit several other gardens this summer. There was a garden tour in my county in early July, and three of my gardening friends (now known as the Plant Posse!) traveled from an hour away to go on it with me. We came away with some good ideas and inspiration.
We all visited a day lily farm the following week, and later in July, we went to a day lily festival somewhere else!
In early August, one of the Plant Posse joined me for a flower show in Scranton’s Nay Aug Park. There were several pretty pretties there!
We were very excited about our mid-August visit to fellow blogger Pamela Hubbard’s English cottage style gardens! She was most hospitable and just a fount of knowledge!
You can read Pamela’s blog here: Pam’s English Cottage Garden I promise you won’t be sorry to click on it!
Most recently, my husband and I visited Old Westbury Gardens on Long Island, New York, just a few days ago. Oh my goodness, the beauty! I really should do a separate post dedicated to just that! Here are six of my favorites:
Yes, I definitely need to do a separate post on this garden! Choosing just six to show you now was, to say the least, difficult!
Thanks for reading and getting caught up with my summer! I hope you’ve all had your share of joys, successes, and adventures this summer, too. Thank you also to The Propagator for hosting this weekly opportunity to share what’s happening in our gardens!
Cosmos and Cleome 
Enjoyed your pictures, except for the ones with groundhog damage. We’ve had groundhog problems for years at our house. Now, rabbits have joined the fun. Ah well! At least we have our community garden (which has a deer problem. Sigh.) I’ve had great success with lantana in containers until this year. This year, hardly any blooms. Too dry? Did I water too much? I don’t know, but that’s what next year is for -better luck next year, I hope. Alana ramblinwitham
Fantastic photos as usual, and that summer sounds pretty darn good except for that roadbump of a groundhog incident… actually a groundhog as a roadbump sounds preferable… hmmm, keep that in mind when you pull into the driveway.
Love those everythings. I don’t think I could pick a single one of your ‘six’ as my favorite, but I’m already wishing I had tithonia, roses, hibiscus, joe pye weed, zinnias, and maybe a nice aged brick wall garden to putter around in. Hope you got a nice rain last night (we barely got wet)
Wow, look at all those snapdragons, and cosmos, and zinnias, and dahlias, and … everything else. Great “Six on Saturday.” I haven’t had much groundhog damage, but the rabbits … that’s another story. Hang in there! Beautiful photos and gardens!