The Garden in Summer

Spring flows so easily into summer here that it's hard to know when the season changes.  Plants like dusty miller will winter over and look good as soon as the weather warms.  they lend a cooling bluish-white contrast to the garden all summer long.

     Plants like impatiens are old stand-bys.  Although they are annuals that need to be replaced each year, they do self-seed occasionally and provide a bright surprise in unlikely places.

Irises are hard to classify - are they spring flowers or summer?  They do bloom some time after the spring bulbs like paperwhites and daffodils and different varieties are later than others.  Irises seem to multiply rapidly in our soil and the corms need to be lifted and divided about every three or four years.

Lantana are a great flower for the Southern garden, tolerating heat and not-so-rich soil and returning for many years.  They can spread out overthe summer so choose their location wisely!

The Lady Banks rose is another old garden friend.  Almost thornless, it can send canes thirty or forty feet into a neighboring tree if given the chance.  trained over an arbor, Lady Banks creates a cozy sort of leafy cavern, brightened with its lovely little blooms in late spring and maintaining its leaves year-round.

As a garden plant, lilies just can't be beat.  they put on a spectacular show, come in many varieties and colors and return for a number of years.  this red beauty is an Asiatic lily that looks like it was made of satin.  Its snow white cousin "Casa Blanca" has been known to grow taller than I.  Oriental lilies are great as well, as are the new hybrid Orienpets.

               With all the excitement over the fancy lilies, it is easy to overlook the old stalwart daylilies.  In Newberry many of us are blessed with a version of the old "ditch lily" that has a triple-petaled blossom.

                                                                                       

 

This bed is a lush group of flowers called obedient plant.  For many years after we moved here, I regularly pulled up the green plants all summer, thinking them to be weeds.  Eventually I learned the truth, and let them survive until late August, when they begin to bloom.

Obedient Plant        

Obedient Plant gets its name from its peculiar characteristic of remaining in whatever curved or bent form the gardener happens to place it.  Just a few cut blossoms make a wonderful arrangement in the house and they last a long time.  What a great plant it is, and hardy, too!

The Hyacinth Bean vines are lush.  Even a late start with the seeds in spring won't deter them, so they still bloom profusely and form their amazing magenta pods.

The blossom at the right is Heavenly Blue, a morning-glory.  We plant them, but they are often joined by a bunch of volunteer morning-glories in more common purple and pink colors.  The whole lot of them can take over a couple of the raised beds, snag a low-hanging dogwood branch, and steadily creep skyward.  What a show every morning!

The Phlox are summer bloomers, too.  Because they are the old-timey garden variety. they sometimes succumb to powdery mildew, but the dry weather helps with that problem.  Newer hybrids are less suceptible.

Another steady bloomer is the Purple Coneflower, the bees favorite.   and non't forget the seeds it makes that are bird-treats later in the year.

Continue to The Garden In Autumn

Lawn & Garden   What to Anticipate  Tips  N W F Habitat  Our Backyard Birds

Back to Home Page

š›

Rooms and Rates  Tour the House   About Newberry  Information and Policies  Directions  Recipes  Lawn and Garden  Artwork