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!

August Monsoon

Back yard during a thunderstorm.

 

After the prolonged drought of the past few months, August seems to be turning the tide with three powerful thunderstorms within one week, each dropping over an inch of rain. It's almost like the summer monsoons in the Southwest at this time of the year. Out there, the heat builds up during the day to give rise to huge thunderheads that drop incredible amounts of rain on the parched land.

The winds were so strong at the height of one of these storms, that our new cast aluminum bench (a corner of which shows on the lower right hand corner) got blown clear across from one side the deck to the other! The bench was originally by the railing all the way over to the left. Many of my houseplants summering on the deck were thrown off my new plant stands, some were even knocked clean out of their pots! Fortunately, the damage isn't permanent, they'll recover in a day or two.

 

Salvia 'Black and Blue'

Everything in my garden was looking pretty sad before the rains, but now everything is starting to revive. The Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue' just started to bloom. My Australian red lime has set some fruit, two nice-sized ones from the past winter and a few more this summer; I presume a change in color will indicate when the limes are ready to be harvested.

Australian red lime.

The deer decimated so many plants that I don't have much in the way of seasonal flowers such as the usual black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia)--this year's display is quite poor compared to last year's. 

 

Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm')

Impatiens in the front bed.

I planted these red and white Impatiens in the front bed after the Narcissus leaves began to dry and wither, but either deer or rabbits ate the Impatiens, so there 's not as much coverage as I'd hoped for. With the recent rains, these may yet grow fuller before the end of the season.

Herb's bed and the Little Indians

 

Every year I strip the early buds from the Chrysanthemums, but they still end up blooming much too early. This year I didn't touch the buds at all, and as you can see, the mums, the yellow ones in particular, are starting to bloom right now. The zinnias are still going strong too--I'll definitely be planting more next year, now that I know deer won't bother them.

 

'Benary's Giant' zinnias.

Great blue Lobelias (Lobelia syphillitica)

 My great blue Lobelias have started to put on their annual show--this location seems to be to their liking and they multiply more each year. The 'Pink Posie' Pentstemons under the 'Amber Ghost' Japanese maple are also blooming well this year. The Caryopteris 'Longwood Blue,' on the other hand, seem to have suffered greatly from the drought, and don't have many flowers, at least thus far.

 

'Pink Posie' Pentstemons.

Caryopteris 'Longwood Blue' in bed behind 'Pink Posie" Pentstemons.

 

I can only hope that the rains will continue and the fall blooming season won't be as disappointing as the summer has been.