Summer here in my yard is gardens, vegetables, flowers, flowers and more flowers! My veggie garden is not doing super this year, maybe not hot enough or too hot… but my flowers are doing quite well, so I thought I ought to share some of my very favorites with you.
BEGONIA
Begonias are so pretty, especially nowadays they have so many varieties, even the kind that doesn’t mind the sun or the heat.
Have you ever heard the fragrant begonia? Here you go the gorgeous and delightfully fragrant Odorata Begonia. There are two varieties, white and pink Odorata. Great for hanging basket too! I’ve had the tubers for a couple years now, they store nicely and come back the following year with even bigger blooms! I absolutely love them! And don’t throw away your broken begonias, you may get more plants if you put them into the water because they will root!
WhiteOdorata, I had those tubers for about 3 years! Some the blooms are more than 5 inches across, and they have a lovely citrus smell!
White Odorata
More White Odorata
I have had this pretty orange begonia for a few years now, still going strong!
This one is a true beauty! Love the high light on each petals’ edges, like in the painting!
She started slow this year, but still beautiful!
Look at her size, about 5 + inches across! Immense! Never remember the blooms were this huge, absolutely gorgeous!
Honestly I don’t remember I had this color begonia before…
The following two begonias don’t mind sun as much as the begonias we normally know:
This is a new addition this year from a dear friend! Bright orange, full double on a cascade manner, very large 4″ across! Very brilliant, love her!
Hope she will over winter for me like the other ones!
I rescued this begonia from my daughter’s pot from last year, a very pleasant surprise! This is a very compact plant, just love the color!
HYDRANGEAS
Hydrangeas are another summer’s favorite! There are so many varieties nowadays, the choice is endless. Here are a few of my favorites.
This pink hydrangea is very special, I keep her in the pot and hope the color will stay the same. She actually rebloomed in late August, and it’s beginning of Nov now her blooms still looking good as shows on the pictures below.This hydrangea started out as deep pink, not a reliable bloomer, but she bloomed this year, so pretty, they just don’t take the heat well! Comfy looking tree frog! ‘Pink double delight’ hydrangea, but because of our acidic soil they turn lavender, purple… A few stems still producing pinkish blooms… Beautiful colors display on this one plant! I bought this one pink as well… so precious! Limelight, so refreshing in spring! Like other hydrangeas very easily root in the water, so you can readily propagate your favorite! Double delight “Wedding Gown” is a true beauty! Not only are her blooms stunning in Spring, they have really astonishing fall colors as well!Tender green in Spring to white in the Summer, then to green and maroon in the Fall!
DAHLIAS
There are huge selections of dahlias, and they are pretty easy to grow as long as you keep the slugs at the bay in Spring when their tender growth first emerges. Their tubers multiply if they like where you planted them even after being feasted by underground pests. They were first brought to the Old World for consumption like potatoes, but people loved the beautiful flowers they produced so they decided to grow them for their enjoyment instead eating the tubers. Here are a few dahlias that I love dearly.
‘Kelvin Floodlight’ Dinner plate dahlia, up to 10 inches across, very impressive! ‘Islander’ dahlia is really pretty with those curly pepals! Dinner plates and very reliable bloomer!A interesting bud formation from “Islander dahlia” .‘Islander’Star shaped “Otto’s Thrill” dahlia. Back side of this ‘Otto’s Thrill’, so cute and interesting!‘Mary Evelyn’ the COLLARETTE dahlia from South Africa, really pretty! ‘Creme de cassis’, such a pretty color combination!
‘Creme de cassis’ the two tone dahlia! Very special.
A sibling of the beloved Crème de Cassis Dahlia, this variety’s flowers are distinctively unique. Each fully double, 4″ bloom is hued peach-pink to salmon on top and purplish red underneath and in the center, giving it a striking multicolor look.
‘Stranger’ dahlia, color changes as the blooms mature.
Enjoy the serendipitous variability nature has to offer, with no two flowers alike of this dinner plate-sized dahlia, ‘Taiheiyo’! Quite interesting!
This burgundy ‘Nuit D’ete’ is a cactus dahlia, really different!
A few of my favorite annuals:
Impatient, adds so much color to a shady spot like under a leafy tree, just love them!MegaCopa™ Bacopa, larger flowers and withstand heat better. Hope she survives through the winter. I really love bacopas, but they are kind of touchy! I got a few volunteer plants in Spring, but none of them made it although they all appeared to be happy and healthy… Apparently in mild climates Bacopa are considered to be perennial. Scopia® Bacopa Sutera cordata Scopia® Series, Golden Leaves White. I really like this one, smaller white flowers with golden greenish leaves, great contrast. Always fun and exciting to wait and see how a plant from a seed will look like. In this case is a Bacopa in June of 22, 2021, and will my long wait be worth it….
It sure will! She turns out to be a beautiful bacopa! Very pretty and UNUSUAL color and has bigger than normal size flowers! Don’t think I have come across this kind before! What a pleasant surprise!!! I definitely need to make some starts and keep this line going!
MagaCopa could be one of her parents because the flowers’ size!
This is ONE very vigorous sweet potato vine, it wraps around this huge pot I put it in. Gypsophila – Gypsy Pink, so dainty! Was done after a month or so, but rebloomed after I trimmed off the brown stuff. And the seeds are geminating too. They are still blooming well into Nov, what a nice bonus!Verbena Superbena® Sparkling Rosé. This Superbena is really super! Had her last year, and she survived the winter. The best thing about this Superbena is that she is Super easy to propagate, just put the cuttings in the water and they will root! How fun is that?Pink verbena, not nearly as hardy as Superbena® above, pretty though.
It is Nov now, and some of my Summer favorites are still doing well because we are protecting them and trying to keep them overwinter, we will find out how successful we will be!
All my geraniums you see here are either overwintered or from cuttings of my last years’ plants. Geraniums are pricy if you buy them, especially the zonal variety. So give them a try by taking some cuttings and put them in the water, then wait and watch the roots to grow. I transplant them into the pots after they have a sizable amount of roots developed. This is a great way to multiply your favorite geraniums.
More wonderful gifts from this past Summer…
So cool to see the butterfly up close!Rufous one of the 4 hummingbirds in our area, smaller than others and they don’t spend winter here.
Diascia is my new addition this year! Such pretty color, just love her! “They are long-flowering tender perennials in shades of white, pink and salmon. They have a slightly relaxed growth habit so are ideal for hanging baskets. Cut back after flowering to encourage more blooms.” I did start a plant from cutting and still alive today, although the parent plant didn’t make it!This fuchsia is really hardy, I have it for two years now. Got bigger this year!Mushmellow fuchsia, hummers like it.Used to be pink, but now lavender, equally gorgeous! White Astilbe, quite pretty with green ferns!Deutzias are members of the hydrangea family, and like hydrangeas, they produce small flowers that grow abundantly in clusters. They bloom for about a month starts late May. The flowers start really small, then become regular size as the goes on.
Gladiolus and Oriental lilies, also my favorites, especially Oriental lilies, they are gorgeous and super fragrant, I absolutely love them! Too bad deer and rodents love them too, yukes!
* I know it is almost winter now, maybe those summer beauties will brighten up some of those chilly/gloomy Fall and Winter days, and let us know that Spring and Summer are on their way!
Great Pictures. One with the frog is my favorite.
Wow, so pretty!! And nice for fall especially. What do you mean you “rescued” the begonia from your daughter? Haha
Rude!
Very pretty flowers, Jiao! So nice to see them now that we don’t have them in our yards. Thank you for sharing!
Of course, glad you like them, thanks Ruth.
Oh so gorgeous! I love your flowers! ♥️
Wow! A beautiful showing of your flower gardens. Impressive !