odds 'n ends on a rainy day

"Rosy Returns" - repeat blooming daylily

Isn't this a beautiful daylily? I just planted it this spring, so not sure if it will always bloom late. I'm thinking I need to add more late bloomers, so hope it will. It's a smaller daylily bloom, but a lovely rich color.

Japanese fall blooming anemone

Japanese anemone again

I love Japanese anemone. They aren't real showy from a distance, but up close they are very pretty. I love the way they nod in the breeze. I have them in a couple gardens - in light shade and in almost full sun. They seem to be okay everywhere I try them.

dahlia

A couple more of my smaller dahlias. The colors have been so rich this summer - I love them! The dinnerplates are definitely more showy, but I'm hoping I can overwinter the tubers and have them all again next year. I do have to remember to stake them as I plant them though. This year the ones in partial shade are pretty much laying on the ground.

dahlia

Turtlehead

Turtlehead is another fall bloomer that I love. The plants get very large and the blooms aren't super showy until you get right up to the plant. But they are so cute! And it keeps blooming for quite a long time. When I first bought turtlehead, it was for a shady space. But mine does much, much better in full sun as long as the ground is moist.

Brown-eyed Susans

And what late-summer/fall post would be complete without brown-eyed susans? I used to think these were too "gold" for my gardens. But now I rely on them to add bright spots throughout my late summer gardens. I can't think of any flowers I don't like, but I do have a soft spot for the prairie-type flowers.

We have had a cool, rainy weekend here. No complaints - we desperately needed the rain. But I do hope it plans to warm up again, so we get more tomatoes. I roasted and froze several batches, but not nearly enough to last the winter!

a lot of stuff blooming!

Finally getting caught up with all the photos I've been taking the last week or so! In the coming days, I want to show you overviews of all my gardens - most of them are looking really pretty right now - but wanted to kind of catch up with individual blooms first. So, here we go!

I have iron window boxes hanging on the fence between the house/patio and the driveway. Two are in sun and planted alike. This is one of them: now that the petunias are draping over the front and back, they're looking the way I envisioned them back in May.

This is rudbeckia "Herbstonne" - it has a wonderful bright yellow flower, and the plant is over 6 feet tall. Yarrow - I used to have a lot of this, but then it kind of disappeared for a few years, and is now coming back. I love when plants do that! (well, not the disappearing part so much!)

The Rocket - ligularia. This photo has kind of a busy background - sorry! I like these tall yellow blooms. The plant itself is extremely thirsty and kind of a pain, but I still like it.

I love the color of this daylily - the blooms are very small - maybe 2-2.5 inches across.

This is my only double daylily - so far! I like the yellow a lot.

This is one of my favorite daylilies. Beautiful color.

a bunch of daylilies

daylilies

in the gloaming

Isn't this a fun photo? I was sitting on the porch steps watching Mark work and the dogs play, and decided I should probably get some photos while the wind was calm and I still had some light. The landscape lights by the porch came on while I was shooting, and I thought the way the lights lit the Jackmani clematis on the lattice under the porch was very cool.This is one of the yellow lilies by the porch that just opened. I love when the lilies start - I have a good collection of colors, and they are all big clumps, so lots of color around the gardens right now.

This is Madison - a short but sprawly rosebush. (Is "sprawly" a word?) It will bloom pretty heavily from now until it freezes. The blooms are quite small, but the color and number of blooms really make this a standout. A neighbor has Madison right next to the road, and it survives winter salt and sanding - a great city rose!

A repeat blooming daylily - it opens a light lemon color and ages to a light gold. I'm interested to see how long it actually will keep blooming. I like the bloom time of Stella de Oro - but I don't like the gold color as much as I like yellow in my gardens - so I'm hoping this will be good.

Old fashioned single hollyhocks. I love these flowers.

A very pale pink lily.

Alexander MacKenzie. I bought this rose 3 years ago and planted it in a bad spot - not enough sun. So last fall, I cut it way back and moved it. The blooms are pretty small this year, but it looks healthy, so I think it will make it. Maybe by next year it will be ready to really take off.

This is my Annabelle hydrangea. I've had it for at least 10 years. The first 2 or 3 years I moved it many, many times. Once I finally left it alone, it just took off. The plant is huge and blooms like crazy. Every spring I think I'll cut off a chunk or two and start a new one in another garden, but that has yet to actually happen. I cut the dried blooms in the fall and decorate outdoor containers, wreaths, the Christmas tree, etc - and I leave some blooms on the plant for winter interest. In the spring, I cut it back to the ground, and it just shoots right back up - taller each year.

I think this is some kind of coneflower or rudbeckia. It's a volunteer in the lakeshore garden. I have 2 lakeshore gardens - one has the potential to be wet all the time in high-water years. That one has siberian iris, monarda (bee balm), turtlehead, etc. The other side is usually very dry - who knows why! Anyway, this is on the dry side. The leaves are skinny and hairy or fuzzy. If anyone knows what its proper name is, let me know!

The purple coneflower are starting to bloom. I used to have 2 gardens that were full of this great plant - but I've taken out a lot of it now. It self-seeds like crazy, so when I decide it's time to fill the gardens again, it will be an easy task!

I just did some whiskey barrel plantings for the driveway - more on that project later! For one of them I bought a Knock-out rose for under 10 bucks at Home Depot. When I bury Gertrude Jekyll next fall, I'll stick this guy in the same hole, and then find a permanent spot for it in one of the gardens next spring. I am very impressed - in only a week, it's growing and blooming like crazy. Could be a keeper.

This is an annual I picked up to use in another barrel - with some purple fountain grass and double red petunias. In a few weeks, this could be a cool group, I think. Anyway, I threw the label without really looking at it - but totally cool leaves - green with purple - and it's kind of irridescent. I like it.

Happy Summer to everyone - hope you totally enjoyed this longest day of the year!