August 2025 Bloom Day

Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on Buddleia

 

Now in mid-August, the heat of July is subsiding, the mornings are cooler. Today is Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden Blog. Welcome to my Virginia USDA zone 6B garden! 

Yesterday afternoon we had a huge storm that dropped almost an inch of very welcome rain--we'd had no rain since the first of the month. We'll start with the best photos-- a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth nectaring on my pink Buddleia.

 

Clearwing Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris thysbe)

 

It's not the first time he's visited, last week he (or a buddy) was thrumming about my Agastaches when I was watering Herb's bed, but I didn't have my phone with me, so I missed the opportunity to get photos.

Stepping back a bit, the pink Buddleia at the back of the Little Indians bed is surrounded by blooms of Queen Anne's lace. You may wonder why I call it the Little Indians bed--when I first moved here, there were ten little Arbor Vitae planted in a row which brought to mind the "Ten Little Indians" rhyme. I planted an eleventh one to take the curse off the even numbers, but the nickname of Ten Little Indians has stuck. 

 

Pink Buddleia with Queen Anne's lace.

Long view of the Little Indians bed.

Fennel tops the plantings in the Little Indians bed.

Over the years I've expanded the Ten Little Indians Bed to be a long deep bed, with lots of herbaceous plants, mostly natives, against a backdrop of evergreens--Korean boxwood, variegated boxwood, Amsonia Hubrichtii and Itea virginica in front of the now huge arborvitae. The bed is weedy, but it works for me: the riotous feel of it, rampant with a variety of blooms over the entire season despite all the deer browsing. 

Herb's bed is still a work in progress: started as a sunflower bed, I've expanded it over the years. By August, the peonies and spring flowers have gone, the Agapanthus is fading, and now the Agastaches and red Salvia are the main attractions--hummingbirds and butterflies love them! I couldn't identify the butterfly on the Agastache, perhaps a Silver Spotted Skipper?

 

Herb's bed with red Salvia in front.

 

Towards the back of Herb's bed, blue Ageratum and Agastaches.

A butterfly on Agastache 'Licorice Candy'

Butterfly on 'Pink Licorice'

 

Native sunflowers bloom profusely inside the protected veggie pagoda--I have plenty elsewhere in my yard, but the deer eat them so I rarely see the flowers!

 

Native sunflowers (Helianthus annuus)

 Moving along to the other side of the veggie pagoda, one lavender plant is still blooming there with some thyme. 

 

Lavender with Thyme.

 

In the long island bed, a few Rudbeckias bloom among the Bouteloua 'Blonde Ambition' and a small unidentified annual weed that grows in my yard--it has a pleasant minty smell that I like--and the deer won't eat it, so I leave it to grow and re-seed itself. My bush Clematis 'True Love' was eaten back so much it hasn't flowered at all.

 'Baby Joe' Joe-Pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum) blooms nearby, and the wild Petunias are indestructible despite much deer-browsing.

 

Rudbeckias with Bouteloua 'Blonde Ambition'

 

 

A wild mint?

Joe-Pye weed "Baby Joe'

Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis)

 

This odd unidentified Hydrangea is loved by the deer, to see some blooms I have to protect it within a mesh enclosure.

 

No ID Hydrangea

 

On the west side of the house, the Russian Sage (Salvia yangii) is blooming. Abelia "Panoramic Color Radiance' in the front bed is presenting some blooms--the deer have been eating them, or there'd be more.

  

Russian sage (Salvia yangii)

 

Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance'

In the front west garden my 'Natchez' Crepe Myrtle is developing into a respectable-sized tree. The peeling bark of its multi-trunked form is one of its best features. I've still to come up with some decent under-plantings for this spot. I've been trying to grow a variegated Fetterbush (Lyonia lucida) under it, but the deer won't allow it to grow well, and the soil is obviously too alkaline for this plant's liking.I'll probably dig it up this fall and grow it in a pot. I  need to find more suitable deer-resistant plants for this bed.

 

Crepe Myrtle 'Natchez'

 

My front porch and deck offer protection for the more often-devoured plants, but my hanging baskets are looking a bit bedraggled after July's heat. I wish my porch was a lot wider and bigger, so I could have some furniture there where one could hang out--but this being a developer's house, with the usual lack of sensitivity to architectural design, they left only room for my potted plants.

 

Sunpatiens, purple basil,black cotton and Celosia on the front porch.

Hanging basket on porch.

The deck is my outdoor living room during the summer, but the afternoon sun makes it too hot to hang out there during the summer until very late in the day, more like evening. This summer the deck got a complicated re-build, as the wood structure was starting to rot. It's not quite finished yet, but at least I can move back some of my plants there. Maybe an awning for it would be a good addition?

 

Cuphea 'Honey Bells'

 

Salvia 'Bodacious Hummingbird Falls'

 That's it for this month's flowers. Happy Bloom Day, gardening friends!

September Bloom Day

Blue Lobelias in east garden.

All-whilte Lobelia.

 

A very wet August brought us respite from the heat and drought--I recorded over 11 inches of rain during the month of August this year--and my garden seems to have revived to nearly normal. Every 15th of the month is Bloomday, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden blog, so welcome to my September garden: let's take a look at what's blooming.

The deer ate back the buds of most of my Blue Lobelias, but after the rains the plants recovered enough to offer a nice array of flowers. They really set off the area of my east garden where I've been trying to create a shady woodland. I had just pruned the Japanese maple tree which I grew from a 6" seedling twelve years ago when I took this photo. I even found one all-white Lobelia in there--a sport or mutant? Lovely in any case! 

 I have two other Japanese maples in my little woodland, as well as a Carolina Silverbell tree and a Pagoda dogwood. The bed is finally starting to look somewhat as I had envisioned, but will need a few more years' growth to achieve fullness.

 

The east garden miniature woodland

 

Also on the east side of the house, my  Viburnum 'Brandywine' is making a wonderful display as its berries turn from pink to blue.

 

Viburnum 'Brandywine' berries

Moving on towards the back yard, the "Autumn Joy' Sedum is looking nice next to the wild blue Ageratum--unfortunately deer are very fond of this Sedum so it must be kept protected or there would be nothing left. I call this the "Herb bed" because my husband Herb dug the first part of it. Our hummingbirds love the red Salvia as well as the Brazilian Salvia 'Black and Blue.'

 

                Sedum 'Autumn Joy' with blue Ageratum and Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster'

Red Salvia 'Windwalker Royal Red'

 

Behind this bed I have a witchhazel variety named 'Diane' flanked by two Viburnums I grew from seed collected at Brookside Gardens in Maryland--by the look of the leaves I think these may be Leatherleaf Viburnum. And one of these has developed some flower buds--unseasonably, it seems to me. I'm curious to see what the flowers and subsequent fruit will look like. It may reveal more about the particular species.

 More interesting is to note the chewed-up leaves. A number of clearwing hummingbird moths visited my garden this summer, and Viburnum is the host plant for the caterpillar of this moth, so I hope they are feeding on my Viburnums and will make my garden their home.

 

Leatherleaf Viburnum? budding.

 

I recently planted one of three Gaultherias I bought this past spring under the witchhazel tree after treating the soil with acidifier. Let's hope it survives and prospers. The alkalinity of the soil here can be a problem for many acid-loving plants.

 

Prairie sage and wild sunflowers.

A lovely color combination found in the back-most bed I call "The Badlands" was this blue sage (Salvia azurea) with some late-blooming native sunflowers. My display is still very skimpy, but hopefully will grow fuller with time if I can get the deer to stop eating it. Deer aren't supposed to eat salvias, but they will browse it if nothing else is available, and the sunflowers too.

 

Beautyberry (Callicarpa dochotoma 'Early Amethyst')

My two Beautyberry 'Early Amethyst' bushes are displaying their lovely berries and haven't been too badly chewed by the deer. And there are still some flowers on my butterfly bushes, they're finishing as other fall flowers come into bloom.

 

Butterfly bush 'Miss Molly'

I spent the past two days cleaning up a bed on the west side of the house--the crabgrass was almost up to my knees!--and while doing so, I transplanted a lovely wild purple aster that I'd found in the very back of the yard near my neighbor's fence. The aster was so tall I had to cut off the top so it wouldn't pull out of the ground, but hopefully it will recover and show even better next year. This one was a volunteer, I think it came from seeds collected in Warm Springs, VA, a few years back. Some times these volunteers can be wonderful additions to a native garden.

 

Purple aster with Caryopteris shrub in the west bed.

Also on the west garden, my Ceanothus 'Gloire de Versailles' has recovered from the browsing and is producing some blooms. This plant is a hybrid of the native New Jersey tea plant (Ceanothus americanus) with the California native lilac. Its flowers are fragrant.

 

Ceanothus 'Gloire de Versailles'

In the front yard on the west, my Abelia "Panoramic Color Radiance' did not get too badly eaten this year, and has some lovely blooms.

 

Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance'

The dogwood tree in front of the house is starting to show its fall foliage. And the deer left me a few hardy begonias under the cherry tree to flower and re-seed themselves, only because  of timely spraying with repellent.

 

Dogwood tree and front walk.

Hardy begonias.

Some of my potted plants are looking good too--the white Heliotrope on the front walk is lovely, as are the porch hanging baskets.

 

White Heliotrope.

Fuchsia in hanging basket.

Porch hanging basket.

The tuberous Begonia in the hanging basket on the back deck is still blooming but starting to fade, while the Salvia 'Black and Blue' is holding its own. The humming birds love this plant and we've had quite a few of them visiting our deck. Most of them don't seem to be bothered by our close proximity and feed while we're there, but a few are very shy.

Tuberous Begonia on the back deck.

Salvia 'Black and Blue'

I hope you've enjoyed this stroll through my garden on a lovely September day. Can't wait to see what the Autumn Equinox will bring!

Late Summer Rains and Sightings

Viburnum 'Brandywine' with rough green snake.

 

Close-up of berries.

 

This past week we've had a couple of big storms bring a lot of wind and rain--yesterday's thunderstorm dropped 1.67" of rain on my still somewhat parched garden. These late summer rains have brought out some fascinating sights that I wanted to share.

Let's start with the Viburnum 'Brandywine' berries--this is my favorite stage as they are turning pink, with a few blues here and there. Eventually they will all ripen to dark blue and then black. I took the first photo and didn't notice that there was a little green snake crawling on the branch--it wasn't until I downloaded the photos and looked at them on my computer screen that I realized that what I'd taken for a blade of grass was actually a green snake!

As I understand it, these rough green snakes (Opheodrys aestivus) eat caterpillars and other small insects, and he might have been feasting on clearwing hummingbird moth caterpillars. Viburnum is one of the host plants for this moth, and I've seen quite a few of the moths here this summer nectaring on the Asian butterfly bush. I've seen the caterpillars on previous years, but not recently. I wonder if that could be the reason why? 

 

Clearwing hummingbird moth on Butterfly bush (photo taken by David Maza).

 

The abundant rain has stimulated my 'Natchez' crape-myrtle to produce more blooms than ever before, and my Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance' has been sufficiently spared by the deer to offer a few blooms too.

 

Crape Myrtle 'Natchez'

Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance' is blooming.

 

The wild Petunias planted a couple of years ago keep getting eaten by the deer, but recently one of the three plants managed to offer enough flowers to appreciate its beauty. This year I grew some Mignonette (Reseda odorata) from seed. Its flowers aren't exactly showy but the scent is supposed to be wonderful. I've only detected a slight perfume, but the bees love it, so I hope it will re-seed itself for next year.

 

Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis)

Mignonette (Reseda odorata)

Another pleasant surprise to see was that one of the two Viburnums that I grew from seed collected at Brookside Gardens had some flower buds--my Viburnums appear to be of the Leatherleaf variety or perhaps a hybrid of them--Brookside has quite a variety of Viburnums growing in that area. I'm curious to see what the flowers will be like. Let's hope the deer won't devour them--they seem to be blooming unseasonably, but some Viburnums do bloom at this time of the year.

Viburnum flower buds.

The deer left me a few buds of the bush Clematis 'True Love' to enjoy--the color is lovely!

Clematis 'True Love'

My double flowering quince has produced a few out of season blooms, and other summer flowers are re-blooming after being cut back:  Verbascum 'Southerm Charm' and a red-hot poker.

Double-flowering quince

Verbascum 'Southern Charm' rebloom.

Red-hot Pokers reblooming.

With autumn just around the corner, the Japanese Anemone 'Honorine Jobert' is developing flower buds. It lives under a protective cloche which I removed to take the photograph, but any buds that protrude from the cloche get eaten.

 

Anemone 'Honorine Jobert'

The deer overlooked a few of the blue Lobelias this year--in better years I've had a gorgeous display of these native flowers which have spread over this east bed. Maybe next year?

Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) in the east bed.

At last, my Salvia 'Black and Blue' is blooming! This hummingbird favorite is usually grown in a pot along the front walk, and I'd never known deer to nip it before, but this year they started to munch on it at the height of the drought, so I moved it to the deck to keep it out of their reach. The pruning set it back a bit, so it only started to bloom this past week, several weeks later than usual.

 

Brazilian Salvia 'Black and Blue'

 

I just love the color!