End of Month View - August 2015

After removing some dry brown flowerheads and getting good rains, my garden looks totally summer-like.
 Since everything bloomed earlier than usual this year, I was afraid that August would stay flowerless, lol.
But salvia, phlox, roses, verbena and some others came to the rescue.

Salvia 'Black and Blue' is one of my favorites.
Its rich long lasting blue flowers are irresistible!

I am running out the space to plant tomatoes.
This one is growing in the container among perennials:

White phlox finished blooming a week before and gave way to these watermelon-red ones.

As it often happens with me, I didn't provide  enough supports for some plants.
Here they are, after the rain:

I am so glad we have tall shrubs and trees along the garden's perimeter.
Everything looks good with such a nice background.

I usually keep Euphorbia heads uncut till spring, but this year I cut them early.
Somehow, their brown color reminded me of fall, and I wasn't ready to part with summer yet.

This year's blueberry harvest is outstanding.
We've been bringing full bowls of berries during the entire month,
and they are still coming! Not very big, but still tasty.

Lacecap Hydrangea 'Angel's Blush' above and Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) 'Snowflake' below.

This summer, The Frog decided to take a break from playing chess and devoted all of her time to philosophic observations.
She thinks we, people, spend too much time worrying and fussing.
'It's nice just to sit and enjoy the sun under the tree...'

Ok, Frog, we also find time for relaxing and even napping:

I'm glad I planted some pole beans in the kitchen garden close to the house.
The beans that grew in the Terrace garden fell prey to countless bunnies.
They managed not only to eat leaves, but also to chew on the stems. 

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This is the mistake I made knowing in advance that it was a mistake:
cucumbers are growing too close to tomatoes.
It's known that they are not companion plants.
Cucumbers were here first, and they had so many little cukes.
Then, a tiny tomato plant appeared, obviously from last year's seed,
and I hesitated to pull it up.
Well, after the tomato plant reached a good size and started to produce tomatoes,
cucumbers slowed down considerably.

The Abyssinian Banana which overwintered in the garage, is pretty good size!

The yellow-blooming plants are Topinambur (Jerusalem Artichoke).

This is the first season that I have it. I tasted young tubers and liked their taste.

I am going to dig all the plants up very soon so their roots wouldn't go too deep and spread.

They need another spot where they can grow without threatening to overtake my garden.

I should admit Topinambur flowers look attractive,
even though yellow is not my favorite color in the garden.

I love this green vignette:

Rhododendron Rex, Barberis, Azalia, Hosta and native Salal in the background.

 New Begonia, on the left, attracted me with its color and a promise to live through our winters.
I bought it during the NWFG Show in February 2015 from Christianson's Nursery.

 The Turtle is ready for the rain with its Saxifraga umbrella

My Tetrapanax is not even close to the height reached by its parent plant last year.
I cut that plant all the way down. There are multiple new plants growing from its roots.

The Front Garden has Roses, Fuchsia and Acanthus blooming.

Hebe 'Quick Silver' is charming, isn't it?

Hydrangea 'Oregon Pride':

Hydrangea 'Endless Summer'

I don't see any signs of fall here. Do you?

Birds loved this bird bath during our hot and unusually dry summer.

One more time, a look at the Kitchen Garden with pole beans, kale, cucumbers, different mints, topinambur, parsley, etc.

It still looks summerish in the garden, but I should have something
telling me about fall, so here it is:

I join Helen's  End of Month View
and also  Beth's Garden Lessons (with my tomato/cucumber lesson)

***Copyright 2015 TatyanaS