Lovely view of the corn field, NHBabs, with the fog not quite touching the corn tops. I wonder if the fog was somehow caused by the maturing corn (transpiration?) or maybe it's just moisture rising from the damp soil.

The corn plants all seem to be the same height as if they were sheared with hedge clippers.

Another lily in bloom here now, Lilium 'Arabesque'. The lily is next to my porch steps which serve as my main entrance so going out and in is a special treat.

Claire

Well La-Dee-Da! I posted a picture. Maybe we are back to normal (she said with caution). Above is Monarda "Raspberry Wine" and Fennel, looking out toward the vegetable gardens.

Below is Daylily "Dark Eyed Magic"

Blue balloonflower (Platycodon)

One of the first sunflowers to bloom, "Chianti"

Susan

Love that sunflower, Susan. I planted one from seed, but it's not blooming yet. Not too much that's new in bloom. I'm waiting for a few things still.

Hibiscus 'Kopper King' I think the name refers to the foliage.

Dahlia 'Binky'

This Hummingbird Moth really like Buddliea 'Miss Ruby'

Hosta Fragrant Queen

I know everyone has a plant or bloom that stops them in their tracks when they walk by. This one does that for me. Hemerocallis 'Ego'

Rudbeckia 'Goldstrum'

Steve

Wonder photos. I especially love homegrown's angle thru the Monarda. I keep saying I'm going to take photos but then the sun is too bright and I'm too dirty and tired. Re-doing the kidney shaped bed. I thought if I took some good photos, I could see where things need to be changed rather than just plunking new purchases anywhere there's space.

Love 'Ego' Steve .. one I'll have to look up and your Dahlia 'Binky'. I think I've asked you once before if you ever post long views of your gardens? That's something I'd like to see.

Claire, I'm jealous of your stately 'Arabesque'... my two lilies are just tired brown sticks.

Sped, was your lovely pink nasturtium grown from seed? I really like that watermelon pink.

This is the time of year when many of my plantings have given up the ghost from the heat in our sunny back yard. And like defrost, I find that gardening this particular August is a drag on my body. Instead of reaching for a camera, I'm reaching for a drink.

Molie

Pretty phlox, spedigrees!

The backlit sunflower is lovely, Susan, and that's a great shot of the hummingbird moth, Steve.

Ceratostigma plumbaginoides (I wish it had another shorter name besides leadwort) has started blooming. It's one of the few 'blue' flowers that really is blue, at least to my eyes.

Juniper 'Grey Owl' has gray-blue berries that don't really show up on a long shot.

closer view:

And the doublefile viburnum berries are turning black. The catbirds and cardinals appreciate the ripe berries.

Claire

Claire, I adore your Arabesque lilies. I purchased a single plant decades ago and it was lovely all summer long, but didn't survive the winter. Your photos make me think that I should give this beautiful lily another chance!

Molie, yes all my annuals were grown from seed, but my nasturtiums are about 10th generation seeds gathered each summer from the last generation. I think they originated from a packet of seeds bought at a hardware store long ago. I get all sorts of variations, my favorite being a mix of orange and yellow that resemble a watercolor picture where the paints have run together. There are a lot of pale yellows and pale pinks amongst the yellow, orange, and deep reds every year.

Steve, that photo of the hummingbird moth on the Buddliea is a masterpiece! Just beautiful!

Susan, the sight of your red sunflower makes me think I should buy more seeds. I had red sunflowers (a slightly more red and less crimson than yours) one year and then the saved seeds either did not reproduce or had morphed via cross pollination into the plain yellow sunflower variety. I did love them though, the one summer they lasted.

My landscape is looking rather dried out right now. I agree with you, Molie, that this time of year the novelty of gardening has been replaced by the desire to just chill out with a glass of wine and turn a blind eye to weeds that need trimming or pulling.

Ha! So true, Sped. We took our glasses to the patio down by the river last night and when I walked by the weeds, I heard them say, "We won again!"

Just a handful of shots from the nursery on this beautiful August morning.

Hi "Oliver"

Are you posting as a commercial entity?. If so, sorry but that is not allowed on Gardenweb. Please stop posting otherwise we'll have to notify the website moderators, if someone hasn't already done that.

Molie asked for some "long" views of my garden. So I took some photos today of larger sections of the garden. It just reminds me of how bad I am at design. Like most plant geeks I tend to buy the plant first and then decide later where I can fit it in. Yikes. Here goes.

The East side of my house/yard is very narrow. There's a six foot fence, but since the neighbor parks a large white trailer there, I'm in the process of planting for more privacy. Yes, I need to mow.

I've only been seriously gardening since I retired in 2010 ( almost everything you see was put in during that time), so I've planted one side of the front walk, but not the other. The plants are Hydrangea Limelight, Pennisetum Karly Rose, and dwarf Pennisetum 'Piglet'.

I really struggled with this area for several years. Finally I decided to plant this south facing slope to the street with grasses, Rudbeckia, Nepeta and leadwort. Please ignore the crabgrass.

This is the white garden and I'm pretty pleased with it. I lost an 18' Rose of Sharon last winter and a great deal of shade, so the Hostas are cooking, but that gave me the space to plant a Stewartia. Those tall white things are Lily Siberia (about 8' high).

The back deck and the deck garden. My brother built the pergola. There used to be a 27,000 gallon above ground pool here. What a monstrosity it was.

The back of the property is dominated by 80' oaks and an enormous granite rock. This is the view from the top of the Rock looking down.

This is my work area. The Hostas in pots are all breeding stock and I make crosses every morning.

Steve

Very nice garden, Steve, you're really taking advantage of your retirement time! The "enormous granite rock" intrigues me (I love enormous granite rocks). Have you done (or are you planning to do) any special plantings around the rock?

Claire

Steve, thanks for finally posting these long views. Your gardens look amazing ... and it's been so hot and dry. There is so much I like about what you've done, and I'm especially glad to see hosta plantings in their "homes" in your gardens.

For me, the two large hosta on the east side are strong focal points. The various shades of green and the textures work so well there ... it doesn't seem that "small" to me. I wish I had the room for larger hosta plants in our tiny yard.

I like your practical solutions on the south-side garden ... those plantings should stand up well to a lack of rain. You're probably getting some today.

I like the view from the large boulder down to the gardens, although I'm sure looking down from those decks gives a great perspective of the whole yard. You are lucky to have such a great outdoor area for gardening, eating, and viewing your place!

The white garden is striking... you should post again when the Stewartia is in bloom. And finally, what's the tall grass in the front?

Molie

Thanks, Claire and Molie. The tall grass in the front of the white garden pic is Miscanthus variegatus. Not expensive and quite common. I think I saw it at the Tower Hill plant sale and decided it would work well in that garden. The first winter I had it, I thought it had died. There was literally one blade of live grass coming out of a dead clump. Needless to say it has since thrived.

Here's a photo of the huge granite rock. It's dominated by 80' oaks and I've begun to plant in the crevices.

Steve

Excellent, Steve! The hostas look just right there, as if they always wanted to live in a rock garden (a really big rock garden).

Claire

Steve, Your gardens are gorgeous!

Yesterday I removed a patch of wild blackberries that were taking over a section of woods across the street. After I finished I noticed some Indian Pipes that were growing under the blackberries. I don't know how I managed not to step on them while I was stomping around pulling and dragging blackberry plants. Or maybe there had been hundreds there and I just missed stomping on these few.

This clump looks like I might have given it a glancing blow.

I don't see these often - it's been several years since I saw the last ones. Maybe I should clear woods more often (except that I'm more likely to find poison ivy than Indian Pipes).

Claire

Claire, thanks for the views of Indian Pipes... I had those at my first home, surrounded by woods. I actually loved the looks of their startling creamy whiteness peeking through the old brown leaves.

Steven, I'm glad you posted a photo of the area of huge rocks ... love how you created smaller pocket gardens under the tree (presents from the glaciers)! We both loves rocks and have actually purchased some for our gardens.... kind of embarrassing to say. In my younger years, I was rolling those things from one part of our yard to another. My first home was in a very ledge-filled, rocky area. I miss those rocks!

Indian Pipes are really cool plants. They are herbaceous perennials, not fungi. They get their food, not from the roots of trees, but from the mychorhizae that are associated with those roots. In other words the fungal mychorhizae get food from the trees and the Indian Pipes get it from them. They're parasites.

More pics from today.

Hosta seedling flowers with a little bit of green in the petals.

The roses are having another round. Can Can.

Orange Zinnia

Dahlia 'Cornell'

Dahlia 'Moonstruck'

Steve

Steve, I am delighted to see the long views of your gardens. I particularly like the bed that's on the slope down to the street which has lots of texture, color and blooms, but all of them look wonderful. It's nice to see the source of your close-ups in context.

Sorry for starting this thread and then dropping the ball. We have been without an internet connection for most of the month and won't be back up and running for another couple of weeks. Right now I am using someone else's.

Steve, that 'Ego' sure is a show stopper, and so are your gardens! WOW! Thanks for posting those longer views.

I like the hosta seedling flower with the hint of green in the petals, Steve, that's a lovely color combination.

Not quite in my garden but not in the house either - some of the houseplants that are outside for the summer are blooming.

Clivia 'Golden Dragon' which never blooms in the winter. It always waits until it goes out on the deck and blooms in July or August.

And one of the house sansevierias is blooming by the porch steps.

Claire

Yesterday we had an all day drizzle. Great for the plants and it also left water droplets on them. Picture taking opportunity.

Easy Elegance Rose 'Sweet Fragrance'

Foliage on Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy'

Rose 'Can Can'

An end shot of a Pennisetum seed head.

This is Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Red Head'

A friend of mine saw these growing last summer at Tower Hill and liked them. She grew them from seed this year and gave me a few plants. It's a strange plant. Leonotis leonuris, Lion's Ear.

Steve

That was a wonderful all day rain here too. Beautiful pics, Steve - the Lion's Ear looks more like caterpillars than flowers (especially nice caterpillars).

Signs of late summer:

The white-flowered hostas are beginning to bloom (derivatives of Hosta plantaginea I think).

Hosta 'Royal Standard' by the porch

Hosta 'Royal Standard' again by the porch stepsHosta 'Stained Glass' (first flower on the new plant)Hydrangea 'Blue Billow' is now pink by the Hosta 'Blue Angel'.and the White Wood Asters are beginning to bloom, here by the hydrangea.

and by a hosta 'Guardian Angel'. Soon they'll be almost everywhere.

The sedums are beginning to get interesting as they turn pink. The bees aren't on them yet (florets aren't open).

I'm waiting for asters and goldenrod and Sweet Autumn Clematis to start.

Claire

oops, forgot the late daylily, Hemerocallis 'Challenger'.

Claire

I just wanted to remark how I enjoyed the wide view photos of your landscape, Steve. You have a lovely home and a veritable garden paradise!

Claire, this must be a prime year for Indian pipes. I was replacing an old fence that runs alongside our wooded area, and I found a whole city full of them. I had to tread carefully amidst the rocks and leaf litter to avoid stepping on them.

Every year when I see photos of sedums, or the actual flowers in gardens, I'm tempted to add some here. Some year I will!

This is just one of the late summer views of my untended gardens. (I need to do some serious weeding, but have spent most of my energies on the fencing project.)

Also here is a photo of my summer squash on the left, cucumber on the right, and cross-pollinated mutants in the middle. Planting the squash 100 feet apart from the cukes didn't stop them from merging, but they did taste like cucumbers so I turned them into pickles despite their odd appearance!

spedigrees: I didn't know that squash and cucumbers will hybridize! (shows that I'm not a vegetable gardener). It's interesting that they taste like cucumbers, not squash. I wonder what would happen if you saved the seeds and grew them..... whether you would eventually get back some squash and some cucumber lookalikes.

Claire

That's strange. I had always read that cross-pollination of cucurbits only matters if saving seeds but doesn't change the existing fruit. I grow them next to each other (cukes, zucs, pumpkins and summer squash) and have never had that happen!

That makes sense, suzabanana. Maybe spedigrees was using saved seeds that had already been cross-pollinated?

Claire

That's entirely possible. That will also happen with pepper varieties (i.e. if you grow jalapenos and bell peppers and save the seeds, you might get spicy bell pepper the following year) and I think brassicas (cauliflower-broccoli anyone?) but I'm not too sure. I don't do much seed-saving beyond tomatoes.

Off topic here, suzabanana, but how do you save tomato seeds and how successful are you are regrowing the same varieties? We've been eating some great heirloom tomatoes (from an organic grower) that I'd love to have next year.

Milie

It's very easy! Tomatoes are mostly self-pollinated, so you'll most likely grow what you've saved. I've never had one turn out different. I don't buy tomato seeds (or seedlings really) anymore, I just save seeds of fruit I enjoy :)

I've been using this method for years:

With a spoon or your well-washed
fingers scoop out the seeds and their gelatinous "goo" into
a clean cup or container. Add a couple of tablespoons of water to the
seeds. Cover the container with a piece of plastic-wrap and then poke
the plastic-wrap with a paring knife or pen point to put a small hole
in it...this is to allow for air-transpiration. (A little fresh air
needs to get in and out of the cup to help foster fermentation.)

Place
the container of seeds in a warm location; a sunny windowsill or the
top of the refrigerator are both excellent sites to place the
container of seeds. Now Mother Nature will take over and begin to
ferment the seed and water mixture. This takes about two or three
days. Each night remove the plastic-wrap, stir the seed and water
mixture, and then replace the plastic-wrap, if you use a new sheet of
plastic-wrap then don't forget to put a small hole in it for
air-transpiration. The top of the liquid will look "scummy"
when the fermentation process has separated the "goo" from
the seeds. It also helps destroy many of the possible tomato diseases
that can be harbored by seeds.

Take
the container of fermented seeds to the sink and with a spoon
carefully remove the scummy surface. Then pour the container's
contents into a fine kitchen sieve and rinse the seeds with water
several times...stir them while they're in the sieve to assure that
all surfaces are thoroughly rinsed. Give a few sharp taps to the
sieve to help remove as much loose water as possible from the seeds.

Line
an open plate with a piece of waxed paper or a large automatic-drip
coffee filter. Place the rinsed seeds onto the wax paper or coffee
filter and spread them about so they are in a single layer. Place the
plate in a safe location where the seeds can dry for a few days. Stir
the seeds a few times during the drying process to assure that all
their surfaces are evenly dry. Spread them out again into a single
layer after each time you've stirred them. Tomato seeds are thick and
can take up to a week to dry thoroughly. If you're having a rainy
week that drying time may lengthen by a few days. Store in an envelope or ziploc bag.

Thanks so much, suzabanana, for that detailed explanation of how you harvest tomato seeds! I take it that these can be easily stored over the winter until next planting season.... probably in an envelope is best?

Molie

Yes. They can be stored for a couple years. I use a small ziploc bag but an envelope is also fine. Just keep away from heat and moisture. I write with a sharpie the name of the tomato and date, but even better would be a photo print out of the tomato!

Actually no, the cucumber and summer squash seeds were not saved (by me) seeds, but came from an organic seed place, as I had not grown either in some years.

It is interesting that many people have asked me what would happen if I planted the hybridized seeds. I have no idea what the answer would be!

Actually hybridized mixes do occur the same year. The flowers need pollinating between their own flowers in order to develop fruits, and if pollen from another compatible species gets mixed in, the fruit will develop accordingly. My neighbor one year had a family of pumpkin/winter squash fruits that were the result of winter squash in his garden mixing with a hill of pumpkins accidentally sprung from Halloween pumpkins discarded the previous fall in a nearby weedy patch. They probably weren't edible but they made interesting curiosities on his porch railing that autumn!

By the end of summer, my red, orange, and yellow nasturtium blossoms have always given way to many multi-toned specimens, as if nature took a watercolor paintbrush to them and painted streaks of orange on yellow and red on orange. When I plant the saved seeds the following year, the blooms revert to separate red, orange, and yellow blooms. These are seeds I've saved for some 8 or 10 generations now.

It is remarkable how many sources on the web deny that cucumbers will cross pollinate with zucchinis or summer squash. All I can say is come look at my cucumbers with their yellow coloring and crooknecks, and tell me where, if not from their neighboring heirloom summer squash, these genes arose!

The mysteries of plant biology!

Thanks, Dee. Very interesting.

Absolutely fascinating discussion of hybridizing curcubit veg and saving tomato seeds! Thanks to the last (8 or so?) posters for all this valuable info!

I hate to break the string of vegetable growing tidbits, but today I found a Ladyslipper across the street and I wanted to share on this last day of August.

I've been clearing wild grape, briars, and poison ivy from a woody area on our property where some old trees had fallen.
In a spot that wasn't too badly overgrown I found this plant which
apparently was happy enough to flower (now gone by and seed pod
forming) even though it was covered with assorted vines. The Name That Plant forum identified it as a Cypripedium acaule, AKA Pink Ladyslipper.

I'm now trying to figure out how to keep it happy (I won't move it). I'm just hoping that the vine removal didn't damage the Ladyslipper. I cut out the grapes and briars but pulled out the poison ivy with the roots wherever possible.

Claire

Wow, Claire... what a find! And also a great way to end the August thread. I'm so glad you're going to protect it and keep it hidden. Perhaps there will be a colony here in years to come. These like very specific growing conditions near to specific tree growth... I can't remember exactly but do recall a guided workshop through the woods where its habitat was discussed in detail. We took a convoluted path to the Lady's-slipper grove, which made it impossible for us to visit again on our own.

The whole cross-pollination thing is obviously not clear cut. I've hand pollinated pumpkin, summer squash and zucchini with each other and never had the fruit turn into anything other than the mother plant. Crazy!

Clarie, I am drooling over your Cypripedium find! In the winter months I play with orchids in my sunroom. I keep thinking about trying to make these work in my outdoor beds, but the folks in the Orchid forum continue to discourage me :(

I just wanted to add my congratulation on your remarkable find, Claire. What a treasure that pink lady's slipper is! I remember back in the early 1950's walking with my grandparents in the woods on their property in Reading, Vermont and seeing pink lady's slippers growing wild there. I haven't seen one since.

It is on my to-do list to buy some domestically raised pink lady's slippers, trillium, and jack-in-the-pulpits and see if they will thrive in the shady areas near our brook.

From what I'm reading, the problem with growing Cypripedium acaule is partly the required soil (dry, acidic, well-drained in pine/hardwood forests) but a big issue is the roots. Apparently the ladyslipper roots are spread out on the surface of the soil and don't penetrate significantly down into the soil. The roots are covered with leaf litter or such but not deeply, and they can spread two to four feet outwards from the mature plant.

When people collect them and stick them into a pot, even if it's good soil, they essentially bury and kill the roots and thus kill the whole plant.

Some references:
Does the Lady Slipper Fit Your Garden?
Planting & Caring for Lady’s - slipper Orchids

I asked a few questions of a Cypripedium expert on the Name That Plant forum and got some very good advice.
Woodland plant in Plymouth, MA

Now I just have to get the plant through the winter and to come back in the spring....

Claire

Lots of stuff still blooming. The hibiscus were so loaded up with buds this year they just keep going and going and going.......I really like the spent flowers from today on this one. Looks like a little fairy skirt.

Chelone with sweet autumn clematis and a batch of anemone beyond those. The bees are in heaven.

And more for the bees. This heptacodium is a superhighway. The buzzing is so loud in this tree. For some reason I've never really registered the scent of the flowers. I was working under the tree the other day and realized it is oriental lily with an undertone of hot dog! Quite an interesting combo!

The bees are also all over the sedum throughout the yard. I'm not sure about everyone else's experience this year, but in my garden the sedum are HUGE. I've never seen them this big.

This lespedeza is in way too much shade, but it's so big and flowers every year so I've left it there. It would probably be a bit more vase-shaped if it were in full sun. As it is I have to stake it up a bit to get it off the ground, but it's worth it. It flowers for a very long time.

I thought this dwarf pyracantha was a gonner after this past winter, but it did recover nicely and even flowered a bit giving me some electric orange berries.

Oakleaf hydrangea is getting its nice pink tones.

Lots of blooming color, T2D. I particularly like the Hibiscus and the Lespedeza.

"Now I just have to get the plant through the winter and to come back in the spring...." Relax, Claire. A plant that size is several years old and has been doing just fine on its own for a bunch of years and unless something caused major disturbance it will be fine. IME where Cypripedium acaule is happy, it's happy. One of my neighbors spotted a place on our property where there must be close to 30 in a 10'x10' space. Since you have the one, if the bees do their thing, you may well find some more in additional years. The site obviously has what the plant needs, and your job will be to sit back and enjoy it.