Hello, Friendz! As I mentioned earlier this summer, my garden has had a rough go of it this season. The side garden was torn up and trampled by worker dudes, the veggie garden couldn’t be accessed for maintenance due to piles of dirt next to them, and I lost my Japanese maple. Yes, I am sad to announce that the maple is officially a goner. Happily, I did replace it with a new Empire I Japanese maple and I planted it in a different location. I have my fingers and toes crossed for this one – so far it’s thriving. All of the ups and downs are all part of the gardening adventure, so I try not to feel too bummed out.
I’m on the hunt for late summer flowering zone 4 perennials for shade and sun. I’m realizing (and you can tell by the pics) that I don’t have a lot flowering right now. I need to fix that and make a plan for next year. So all you green thumbs out there, let me know what I should be considering for next year’s late-summer-bloomers.
A few weeks the hus-bo was out of town for the weekend and I was left to my own devices, I decided to go hard on the veggie garden. I spent the entire day out in the sun, pulling weeds, edging the borders, and replanting peas and leaf lettuce that had become over grown. It all looks kind of pretty now, and spending a full day in the garden made me so happy. The pole beans are growing out of control, we have cucumbers and kale. The carrots are almost ready for harvesting and the potatoes (aka french fries) look like they must be growing well under the soil.
Zinnias have always been a go to annual plant for me. I always plant them from seed and I love to see them in my sun-loving garden. The Zinnias are not coming in this year like they have in the past. I think that my sun garden perennials are becoming so large that they are shading the seedlings and causing them not to grow as mightily as they have in years past. I’m thinking this will be the last year that I seed them in the sun garden and instead will start seeding them in the small gardens next to the garage where they will be sure to get lots of sun. They make the best cut flower and I would hate to give up on them.
My Dahlias are having the same problem the Zinnias are. This normally sunny location is starting to get too shaded by large full grown hostas and the shade of the new fence. I think next year I will try to plant the tubers on the side of the house near the veggie gardens where sun is plentiful.
The weeping crab apple tree on the corner of our yard is getting big! It was supposed to reach a maximum height and width of 10 feet, and in only 4 short years it has already achieved that. I hope that this is it for the outward growth of this tree, otherwise I don’t know what I’m gonna do!
I planted some new lily bulbs at the beginning of the spring, and they just bloomed. I love them! They sit right next to the copper bird bath and they are absolutely spectacular!
I just added some new Coneflowers (aka Echinacea) and Liatris around the new egress window well. This is an especially sunny spot, and I wanted to add some flowers that the bees and butterflies could enjoy.
Happy gardening people, and don’t forget to throw your summer bloomer suggestions my way!
Not sure of the right kinds of plants, but I was at our Lowe’s the other day and a lot of the perennials were half off. If I had a yard, I would stock up now.
My suggestions would be japanese anemone–pale pink blooms on long stems, with beautiful yellow stamens. After they are done blooming, the petals fall off and the inside will be left to eventually open up to what looks like a pulled cotton ball (bad description for a very pretty thing). And plant some black eyed susans next to them. The colour of the anemone stamens is the same as the black eyed susans’ petals. Both seem to do well in a range of conditions from shady to very sunny.
I love Dahlia’s and Zinnias and am growing both. My hydrangea did not bloom this year for some reason. We have had an exceptionally hot summer though so it has been a strange gardening year all around for us since our climate here in the Pacific Northwest is usually pretty mild. Best wishes with your perennials!
chelone are nice late-summer bloomers, and are both native and hardy to zone 4. Japanese anemones–yes! but are they late season or mid-? ours are blooming now in south-central WI, and we’ve had such a pleasant summer compared to recently I’m tempted to say the anemones bloom mid-season. The chelone haven’t flowered yet.
Toad lilies are another late bloomer that are pretty cool.
Sedums are awesome fall-blooming plants! They look amazing year-round and come in a billion colours. Cardinal flower is another great native plant that blooms in late July – August, and the Hummingbirds LOVE them.