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August Blooms: GBBD

August Perseid Meteor shower over for another year, it’s now time to seek out the star performers of the garden. If you’d like to see lots and lots of garden stars and starlets from all over the world head over to the monthly blogger event that is Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. Your host Carol and many blogging friends will be waiting for you 🙂

Usually my photos for my GBBD post are taken on the day. However, we’ve had a fair bit of rain and wind this past while. A brief camera outing yesterday morning captured the images shown below.



Drumstick alliums are finally in flower and are attracting lots of insects including bees and many Hoverflies. Taking photos of these blooms are tricky as the stems catch the wind easily and the bees don’t stay still long 🙂



Japanese Anemones are a serious favourite in my garden and my plantings are slowly increasing. I am delighted about that. I think the variety above is September Charm.

I have another two pink varieties in flower too and the white ones are just beginning to open. Once again this is a great flower for insects – seen above with Hoverflies.



The seed heads of my yellow Meconopsis are looking great just now. I plan to collect them soon. This plant is surrounded by the Japanese Anemones at the moment.

Finally to a border view in my back garden which shows that we’ve not been having drought issues here. All greens and foliage are wonderfully lush.

Note the chunky stone pavement in the middle which I added this year to make it easier to reach the bird feeders hanging on the tree here. It works a treat and will be particularly handy in the winter months.



Flowering with the Drumstick Alliums above there is Red Campion and Borage in the background. Astilbe Sprite is in the foreground with Heuchera and Thalictrum delavayi ‘Hewitt’s Double’ (from memory) in the middle. I love those tiny purple flowers of the Thalictrum.

The pink/purple flower spikes on the right I don’t have an ID for. I do remember they were labelled as a Piet Oudolf collection and bought fairly locally. The bees and Hoverflies love it. I’d welcome an ID if anyone recognises it 😀

So… I’m guessing… you’re guessing… we had rain today as I used these photos. Nope, that’s not what prevented my camera from snapping and sharing more blooms.

Today, was a lovely warm day and I managed to catch up on a few garden jobs needing my attention – naturally I took this opportunity to mix up the plantings again too and I had so much fun that I forgot to take my photos 🙂

Other plants in flower in my garden at the moment include Rose Madam Carriere, Clematis Niobe, Picardy and another that I need to find a label to ID.

Nepata Walker’s Low was flowering too as was Erysimum ‘Bowles’ Mauve’, a Rhodendron (small yellow bells) and a perennial with tall spires of pink flowers that are loved by insects – I’d love to find the label for that one too.

Knautia Mars Midget is still holding on to flowers in my front garden where the Red Campion growing there is finally bowing out. I’ll collect Red Campion seed capsules if it’s dry tomorrow then cut the plants to the ground so any younger plants have a chance to flower.

So that’s it all wrapped up for another month. I’m a tad late (UK time) in posting this so it will be tomorrow now before I can get browsing the Blogs over at Carol’s. See you then – wishing everyone a Happy GBBD.

That’s the annual Perseid Meteor shower over for this August too. We had a lot of cloud so visibility was hampered. Last night was a clearer sky but disappointingly I never saw a single Meteor. On previous years I have been lucky enough to see them so I do know what we were missing. Ah well… hope you enjoyed some sightings where you are 🙂

This post was written by Shirley for the blog shirls gardenwatch.

13 thoughts on “August Blooms: GBBD

  1. Hi Shirley, we didn't see any meteors here either! Your garden is still blooming in spite of the weather. I didn't know Piet Oudolf has a collection. More temptation! Are you able to collect seeds from said plant? It looks rather choice. Maybe we could do some seed swapping? Janet

  2. Your garden always looks good to me. Our grass has mostly gone dormant right now. I can't wait for the fall rains to begin. I really like your huge stones for a path to the feeders. Don't tell me that they came from someplace in your garden or I am going to also have rock lust. Happy GBBD.

  3. Hi Shirl,

    Sorry to hear it's been raining so you couldn't take recent photos. We've had some rain overnight and a heavy shower earlier… Sunny and dry now, although I can see threatening clouds in the distance. Just wish I hadn't watered the garden last night now… Oh well, at least the garden's had plenty of water to make up for the lack over the past few months.
    It's been so dry that my neighbour's grass is dead and mine is only hanging on by its teeth because I've watered it every few days or so… I haven't had to mow the back lawn for… well… months lol, the front does need doing though as it's mostly in shade.

    I know the mystery plant… As Piet really loves it, only I cannot quite think of its name… All that keeps coming to my mind is Burnett and stipa but I know it isn't either!!! Arghhhhh.

  4. We saw a few shooting stars; the day of San Lorenzo is famous for them here, but the moon was so bright, large and full that there was too much light to see all but the blightest meteors. Your blooms are looking lovely I love the Japanese Anemone, I have some but it is realy a bit too hot for them. Christina

  5. Hi again Janet, shame the weather wasn’t in our favour. Yes, with a strong foliage garden it suits the rainfall we can get 🙂

    Now, I’ve never thought about collecting seeds from this one. Mm… no seedlings ever appear around it so perhaps seed collection could be an option. Oh yes… a seed swap would be good 🙂

  6. Hi again Lisa, thank-you!

    Oh… shame about your grass. You have had pretty high temps for a while now haven’t you? I’m not surprised you are looking forward to rain 🙂

    Oops… partial rock lust it is then. Yes, I manhandled (with the help of a pick axe and a sack trolley) these deep angular stones from the area I have been clearing for my wildlife pond. They were the wrong shape and much too heavy for me to use in my wall build. I’m guessing they have been in this garden a long time. I love the way they fit in to this border now giving it a bit of a lift and interest. It will be great during the winter months 😀

  7. Hi again Liz, yeh… rain often appears here on the 15th! These pics were recent being taken the day before – they were my back up 🙂

    It’s good that you have finally had rain. Now there’s a thing… if we get a prolonged dry spell and I know rain is finally forecasted – I water! My theory is that a really good soak of rainwater on damp ground gives the plants the best out of it. The good soak before also ensures the water goes deep helping the plants to search its roots out to find it.

    Gosh… the dry grass in a sunny spot sounds like a nightmare to look at. Good job you have some in shade too.

    Ah… now I never thought about looking through my Piet books. I’ll do that tomorrow. I’ll run my guesses by you. Great to see you still have butterflies to photograph… I’m definitely not bored seeing them 😀

  8. Hi again Christina, Brilliant. Yes, the moon didn’t make the show easy to see did it? I stood with my back to it.

    Thanks, I have been admiring your GBBD post too. Something happened when I was trying to make a comment. I’ll try again. Your garden is looking great at the moment 😀

  9. Hello Larry, Thanks for stopping by my blog. Thanks for your kind comment too 🙂

    On a brief browse just now of your blog I can see you have a great garden there with many, many blooms and interesting features. I love all the winding grass paths you have. I am a fan of grass curves. Coincidentally, on a smaller scale I’m working with rocks at the edge of my driveway too at the moment 🙂

  10. I'm with you on the Anemones, love them…and it's so great when a plant that looks like it should be difficult is actually vigorous and spreads!

  11. Hello Scott, thanks for popping by 🙂

    It’s always nice to hear of someone else enjoying the same plant! Funnily enough, I know the Jap Anemone has a reputation for being vigorous but it has been my garden a good few years and the varieties I have don’t seem to be that way – yet 😉

    The main reason the Anemone is spreading around my garden is by my fair hand. I have found they don’t like being moved (a hazard for plants in my garden) so I carefully lift young plants from around the parent plant, pot them up and then replant them when they are happy. Most take a couple of years to flower but they get there 😀

  12. What a great reason for not having more photos! I was going to guess… that you realized that picture of the drumstick allium was complete perfection, so you stopped immediately after you took it. 🙂

    Happy (belated!) GBBD!

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