My Little Garden 7th August 2021
When the page of the kitchen calendar turns to August it marks the beginning of the end of summer. Every year I make a photo calendar, usually with some shots of the far flung places we’ve been lucky enough to explore, but as travel and holidays overseas were a non starter in 2020, I resorted to garden photos for this year’s creation. The choice for August was echinacea, a big favourite with the bees and butterflies as well as me.
Some of my echinacea are now in their third year, thanks to some very wise advice that recommended planting in spring to allow them to get well established before their first winter. I’ve also stuck to reliable varieties like Echinacea purpurea ‘Rubinstern’ which featured in last week’s Six on Saturday choices and in this week’s header photo.
I’ve sneaked the echinacea in as a bonus flower but for the first week in August, I’m picking some more late summer favourites.
- Gaura in a pot
Gaura is not fully hardy but it does very well for me in pot, along with others that I call my ‘wafty collection’. This variety is ‘Rosyjane’ and is named after Rosemary Hardy of Hardy’s Plants. I really like the pink tinge to the petals and it’s an easy plant to take cuttings from.
2. More of the ‘Wafty collection’
Along with two varieties of gaura for late summer, I like to grow grasses in pots and although this shot is dominated by the fading agapanthus you can see the Nassella tenuissima at the back with the gaura just coming into flower. The grass wafts around all through winter in a spot where I can see it from the house.
3. Bee friendly
My first ever dahlia is looking gorgeous and a big hit with the bees. In terms of planting design though, Dahlia ‘Verrones Obsidian’ is in the wrong place for maximum impact….. something to be corrected for next year.
4. Verbena
Another late summer favourite for the little wildlife critters.
5. Anemone
I’m not sure which variety this is, but the shade of pink works well with Rosa ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ which is planted nearby.
6. Asters
This is Aster macrophyllus ‘Twilight’ and a favourite with the slimy ones. I persevere with it because the seed heads look fabulous throughout autumn
So that’s my little selection of August favourites. I’m off to see a garden today (probably in the rain) that’s open for NGS. There will be photos regardless, but if you want to find out what’s happening elsewhere around the gardening world, take a look at the blog of The Propagator (aka the boss of Six on Saturday).
https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/
And as always there are many more excellent photos on twitter under the hashtag #SixonSaturday
Thank you for reading and have a great weekend.
