What's Blooming Sept. First?

Took a brief walk outside in the backyard after dinner.  Had to water some new transplants with all the heat we are having.  Decided then to grab the new camera and show off what's still in bloom as September begins.

Not blooms but lovely green leaves of these plantain lilies or hosta.  Last year all that was showing at this time were the leafless stems thanks to the deer.  Not this year thanks to fishing line measures.

You can tell by the droop that its hot and at the end of a growing season.

Here are some new blooms.  Obedient plant?  I never can remember the correct name.  My mother-in-law gave these to me and I'm thankful they bloom in September.

This day lily is on its very last bloom this evening.  I don't know if it was an aberration but it has bloomed all summer.  Can't remember that happening before.

Black-eyed susans still in bloom.  Goldfinches love these.

I cut my clematis down in June after it became diseased.  It has resurrected and now starting to bloom again.  No sign of the disease.

And the knockout roses are a knockout.

A fleeting flower on the moon plant.

Here is one of my transplants - an aster.  I hope it survives the winter.

I didn't walk around to the front and Mom's Garden. Too hot!  I know the lavender is blooming again.  The Autumn Joy sedum is blooming but that bed has no fishing line protection and depends upon my spraying Liquid Fence.  Unfortunately the deer have begun to nibble on those sedums though I hope the application of L.F. yesterday will deter them.

Moon Flower

When I started my project to keep the deer out of the backyard and protect the gardens from their damaging eating habits, part of that plan was an arbor with gate to block their entry from the west.  [See more about the D.P.P. here.]

The arbor I purchased was crying out for a vine and I selected a Moon Flower.  It gets its name because it blooms at night.  It has grown quite well in this spot but I haven't really seen it bloom until yesterday evening.  Before then I would see the spent blossoms or the buds but not the big white flowers.

I spotted this one as we sat and ate dinner on the screen porch.  As I face the perennial garden I could see the white of the blossom.  

The blossoms are as big as the hibiscus.

This morning there were two blossoms with many more buds set to open.  It is lovely but unfortunately will not last the winter.  Who knows what I'll plant there next year.

The second blossom's petals must be too heavy to fully open out.

 Or maybe that petal is caught behind?

Here's a new bud showing the promise of more to come.

By the way the D.P.P. has worked wonderfully this year.  Fishing line has done the trick to keep the deer out even when we were on vacation and those critters always seem to know when we're gone.  I still have hosta in the Glen Garden that in past Augusts would be just stems by now.

WW - More Lilies Open

New Faces

 The gardens change with the summer heat.  Flowers are spent and leave the stage making room for new faces.

Here are some of them in the Perennial Garden now.

The Pond Garden is wild!  It's hard to keep it tamed so I'm not trying as hard.  The iris have seeded themselves so thickly around the perimeter and now I'm finding Joe Pye weed volunteers in new places.  The water lily that I thought would never grow seems to love it location.  

The frogs are getting big.  Can you see it in this photo below?

The cat tails are returning.

As I write this the pond is getting fresh water as we endure another strong downpour.

Early Morning on a Hot Day

Tuesday was forecast to be a scorcher with strong thunderstorms later in the day.  I knew I needed to mow the backyard so before 8 am I was out there.  First though I took a walk around with camera in hand.  So many new flowers are in bloom.  The Perennial Garden is filled with the fragrance of the white Easter lilies.  Never have I had so many blooms.

Can you smell them?

Here's another lily in bloom.

And the astilbe.

This gorgeous phlox came from an internet friend.  Don't you love the striping on the petals?

The trellis is filling up with a moon flower vine.  There are buds on there so I will watch for it to bloom.

This day lily outside Dan's study has massive blooms.

Another daylily making an appearance.

The Deer Protection Plan * is keeping the deer out with one exception this morning.  Dan called to me early this morning that a deer and fawn were outside the gate. Unfortunately the fishing line from the right of that gate to the stone wall was high and the fawn was going under it.  I told Dan to shoo them away but when he went out his study door the doe went to the right away from the backyard and the fawn ran to the left into the yard.

*More background on the D. P. Plan here.

You can't see the fishing line that's below the fence line. 

The fawn ran to almost the swing and then ducked through the fence and I guess missed the fishing line.  I did look to see if it broke the fishing line but the underbrush has grown up beyond the fence and obscures the line.

You can see that the hosta are fully grown and lovely with no deer damaged leaves.  I want to keep it that way especially as the hosta put up flower buds which the deer savor.

I will go out this morning and put up more line at the point the fawn entered, lower this time, and also to the left of this end of the Glen Garden which is another possible easy entry point.  I'll also be heavily spraying with liquid fence at those points.

The predicted storms came through with lots of heavy rain, thunder and lightning.  Luckily we missed the hail and strong winds.  The humidity is lower so I've turned off the AC for now and opened the house to the birdsongs and breezes.