Wednesday, August 8, 2012

The Long View


I'm always a little depressed about the back garden this time of year.  It's dry.  It's hot.  It's buggy.  The plants are stressed.  I'm stressed.  I've got some of the late-summer stalwarts like rudbeckia, phlox and helenium blooming, but the garden is mostly masses of texture and shape.

I have to keep reminding myself that that's OK.  

The giant Ravenna grass provides the August drama in this mixed border of lilac, roses, iris and erica.  That monster grass blooms at 12' or so.

The purple ninebark still looks great anchoring the bed by the garage.  The previous owner painted the garage that weird blue color.  She wasn't a gardener but it sure provides a nice counterpoint to the plants.

Hosta 'Sagae' looks super by the bog, as do all of those little tufts in the nearby raised bed...drainage-lovers like lavender, helianthemum, and dianthus.

Alliums solo when not much else is going on in this area of mostly spring-blooming plants.


2 comments:

  1. How do you have allium t his late? I hate t his time of year. The yard looks as depressed as i fell some days.

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  2. Hello Brian,

    Please do not complain. For me, your garden looks beautiful. I like very much its design particularly the flower-bed by the garage and the fence in the first photo. I see you have hostas. I like them very much but they do not well in my garden.
    After a rainy june and july, here in the region of Paris, august is dry. The soil of our garden is of clay : very hard and cracked in summer and sticky when it is wet. A very difficult soil to play with. I do not like our garden in august as well.
    Hélène

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