Late Summer Color

This space used to house a storage tank filled with diesal fuel for the tractors. Several years ago I planted a small garden around it. In 2005 we bought some roses on sale in the fall and needed a place to put them, so we made this garden a little bigger. The following spring the garden began to look pretty...except for the rusty tank....so my dear husband decided to move it. Since then this little "Pink Garden" has grown to be one of our favorites.

There's nothing like posting a picture on the blog to make one notice that an edge needs trimming! I took care of that yesterday :)

The garden began with a clump of pink Obedient Plant (physostegia virginiana), a passalong from a friend. That's it beyond the Phlox and Spirea, still green because it's a late summer/fall bloomer. We'll see the flowers begin to bloom very soon. Growing about 4 ft. tall, the foliage makes a nice backdrop for other plants during the summer. Bees and butterflies flock to the flowers when it finally bursts into bloom, providing that final burst of color before the cold sets in. It can be an invasive plant, but in this spot it behaves very well.

Here's a photo of it, taken last fall.

I'm really enjoying these snapdragons. They've bloomed all summer, and by a lucky coincidence are a good match for the pink rose, Sea Pearl, growing behind them.

Isn't she glorious?

I planted purple snapdragons in the back, and they just happen to match the rose, Wild Blue Yonder, planted to the left of them. Neither was planned, but I was very pleased with the way it worked out.

Wild Blue Yonder and a little sprig of the Spirea bush.

The pretty Park Princess Dahlia repeats the pink of the snapdragons as well.

In the spring I was thrilled to find that some Pink Morn Petunias had sewed themselves in a container. They're perfect for this garden!

My gardening friend Marie gave me this lovely Ladies Mantle (alchemilla mollis) as quite a small plant and it's grown very quickly.

Oh, there's little Miss Olivia exploring the garden!

Since I seem to have a pink and purple

theme running through this post, I'll include a few other flowers which will fit right in here.

This is Clarkia, sown from seed last year and reseeded...a happy surprise in the spring. I love volunteers :)

The Hydrangeas (hydrangea macrophylla 'Oak Hill'), which did so well last summer, have been disappointing this year. This plant has had a few good sized flower heads low on the plant...

......but the one on the other side of the garden has so far produced only one tiny cluster at the base of the plant. Newly planted last summer, they both bloomed beautifully for weeks on end.

Calibrachoa (Million Bells) provides all season color with no deadheading. I love it for window boxes and containers!

Diascia is another favorite. It reacts well to cutting back a little when the flower stalks become leggy.

Hmmm........does this fit in with the theme?

Sometimes it's nice to take a little break :)

The cats chase each other through this patch of Cosmos, and sleep in the middle of it on a hot day, but it still manages to look pretty in spite of them using it as their own personal jungle. Surprisingly, they do very little damage in the gardens, so I try not to fret when I see them breaking a stem here and there of the prolific Cosmos. However, when I caught two of them wrestling in a clump of Phlox in another garden yesterday they received a severe reprimanding!
Enough is enough!

(and of course they listened. ha!)

"I didn't do it, Mom. I was right here all the time...waiting for you to feed me, ahem!", says Phoebe (Olivia's mom)

I love to see the morning sun shining on the Cosmos and that pretty Ivy Geranium, named 'Butterfly', outside the back door.

And then there's the afternoon sun gleaming through the Phlox (paniculata) in the front gardens. They're more prone to mildew in a dry year, and since we've had a rainy summer, the leaves are looking good.

We've had clouds and rain today, after several sunny, dry days. I've actually had to water the containers, window boxes and a few plantings here and there, so a little rain is welcome.

I wish all my American blog friends a happy Labor Day weekend.

It's back to school next week. Oh no.....I don't want to think about the end of summer. Our summer vacation is wonderful, but it's hard to go back to work.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!