It must be August, because the Euphorbia ‘Diamond Frost’ is billowing. This tender perennial becomes activated by the heat of August. I pull it out by the handfuls when it gets too rambunctious but always leave a few roots. Any plant that likes this weather deserves a place at the table. And I like what it’s doing with this potted agave. Remember when this euphorbia was the “it” plant several years ago? It had a brief moment in the spotlight as a go-to annual for containers. Here it’s colonized the soil where the bricks meet the garden.
Otherwise, it’s the grasslands of August and not much change since July Bloom Day. Same cast of characters. Most of what’s in flower are oddball blooms only a bug would love, no real classic garden plants, so I’ll spare you the closeups. (And I got home too late.)
I’ve been cutting back, thinning the gomphrena, cutting Anthemis ‘Susanna Mitchell’ to the base, so more more buttery daisies this summer. I’ve even cut back the brown eryngium flowers and Rudbeckia maxima seedheads. Everything looks fresh again.
I wanted to get some air circulation going in the jungle and deep water shrubs and stuff to get the garden through August and September and ready for winter-blooming aloes. At least I hope there’ll be a good show from some youngish aloes this year. And there’ll be room to add the irises, which shipped today.
I think I’m cured of trialing big blue agastaches like ‘Blue Blazes.’ Coarse leaves, not bad from a distance, but not so welcome in a small garden. Easy, stemmy, swaying bog sage, seen in the background, suits this garden fine and provides a film of blue all summer.
One of the most startling blues in the garden comes from this Eragrostis elliottii ‘Tallahassee Sunset’ I just planted mid-summer. Can you tell I’m seriously smitten with grasses lately? Plants’ leaves may age and yellow throughout summer, but grasses always manage to look impeccable.
Buddleia ‘Cranrazz’ enjoying life in a deep container (trash can)
All grevilleas are in bloom, this ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Robyn Gordon.’ An ‘Austraflora Fanfare’ bloomed lightly earlier this summer but is still a youngster. Seen in the background, little aloe hybrids are sending out flares of orange flowers throughout the garden.
That’s the abbreviated Bloom Day report for August. More thorough chronicles can be found at Carol’s site May Dreams Gardens.
Photos 2 and 3: swoon! Such a feast of texture and color and layers (2 especially)!
The short (tight? narrow?) focus of your beautiful photos gets to me every time. They are gorgeous. Maybe a little glamour focus in my garden photos would deceive me into liking some of the green garden chaos I tend to have in August.
The minty tone of the first photo is superb.
What is in the foreground of photo number two? Yucca aloifolia ‘Blue Boy’? I’d swear it was the spring foliage of some of my Lilium, but obviously not.
@Alan, I’m really enjoying the textures this summer. And the grasses! While it’s not the show you get watching bamboo from your deck, there’s lots of mesmerizing swaying.
@Tim, that is Yucca ‘Blue Boy,’ very lily-like in its leaf whorls. Down that narrow channel behind the yucca is where I’m thinking some bearded iris might go, right around an unseen octopus agave. I think the conditions might work out for both.
I pulled out my ‘Diamond Frost’ but the photo of it with the variegated agave has me rethinking that decision. The blue Lovegrass is wonderful – I like it better than the Festuca glauca I’ve been using here and there. San Marcos Growers says it has low water needs – is that true?
Garden looks good. Don’t see any toasted stuff. Mine is sadly crispy. Good luck with ‘Cousin Itt’. I’ve killed four of them. Tell me the secret when you learn it.
I’m with Alan – the second photo is glorious! But Holy Smokes – that Eragrostis is completely and utterly drool worthy. It just sailed to the top of my wish list – wow!