Typically at this time of year, my garden’s flowers look a little washed out from the sun and heat. Roses are waning and many of my favorite flowers from the spring – delphinium, foxglove, viburnum – are long gone. When I noticed this several years ago, I began adding flowers that could withstand the intensity of Napa late summers. This week I noticed that my additions are doing so great that I may just have to add a few more.
Japanese anemones are a real favorite of mine and don’t start coming into their own until just about now. I have the white ones and couldn’t imagine not having their graceful flowers in my border. It’s a bonus that they are tall (nearly 4 feet) so I can place them in the middle to back of my border – and they spread over time.
‘White Swan’ echinacea is another favorite that came into bloom at the beginning of August. It’s just starting to turn brown (which I also kind of enjoy), ending it’s month-long show. I particularly love this variety with its large white flowers. I have to find more of these.
I added Cosmos (‘Sonata’, I believe) to my border in several places and was so happy to see its white showy flowers providing real color in my border. (I consider white a color!). I remember buying the remainder of the flat they had at Van Winden’s nursery and I clearly didn’t get enough of it. I need a larger swath and will have to add to what I already have, provided I can find more this late in the summer.
‘Moonbeam’ Coreopsis provides some much-needed yellow ground cover that is thriving in this heat. I love the way it spreads along the ground in and amongst my roses and nepeta. This perennial comes back faithfully each year.
And I just love my buttery yellow phygelius aequalis ‘Yellow Trumpet’ which blooms mid-summer through the fall. This is a hearty and pretty flower that works well in my border in amongst all of my plants. It fills in those dirt areas that always bug me. This plant is also known as Cape Fuchsia, which is a native South African plant.
Between these few flowers, along with my nepeta and salvia, I feel like I have a bridge in my garden through these super warm months into the fall. And I’ve come to enjoy my late summer garden almost as much as my spring garden.
