August Celebrities
With Labor Day fast approaching, Jill Nooney and I strolled around the gardens to capture a few of our favorite late-summer stars. We hope you find them as entertaining as we do.
 Solenostemon 'UF0646', Redhead coleus (far back); Brassica oleracea, 'Winterbor' kale (center); and Emilia coccinea, or tassel flower. |  Baptisia australis, Blue false indigo (left); Verbena bonariensis, a self-seeding annual (front right) and Vernonia noveboracensis, or Ironweed, a native, late-blooming perennial (back right) Taking Center Stage: We love the interplay of airy stems and boldly colored blooms against the backdrop of dense, bushy foliage. The flower colors pop smartly against the gray-green foil. |
Chorus of White: Galtonia candicans, or summer hyacinth (a hardy, late-blooming bulb); Cleome hassleriana, 'Sparkler White'; Nicotiana sylvestris ‘Only the Lonely' and N. langsdorffii ; Gaura lindheimeri (a naturalizing perennial); Ammi majus, or Bishop's weed; Callicarpa dichotoma f. Albifructa, or Beauty berry (which produces stunning clusters of white berries); Buddleja davidii 'White Profusion', or Butterfly bush; Eupatorium perfoliatum, or Boneset, among others
Back-Up Singers, All: Jill's been trying to create a white palette in the Parterre Garden for more than six years. "It's very hard to find white-flowering plants that will bulk up," she explains. This spring, in a last-ditch effort, she scattered annual seed heads from the past two years' growth among the perennials. The effect is very different from that of the previous photos in that no one plant or flower stands out. Instead, it is delightfully meadow-like. Kudos to the lichen adorning the bench for lending their complimentary silver-gray-green coloring.
 Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' (foreground); Sedum 'Autumn Joy'; Solenostemon scutellarioides, Coleus 'Wasabi' Co-Stars: Contrasting shapes and textures are woven together in these groupings by repeating color, however subtle. The chartreuse coleus is picked up by the stripes in the Hakone (smaller photo). Sunlight joins the soft, bright greens of nasturtium, foxtail millet, and scented geranium in the larger photo. |  "One plant I will never be without," says Jill, is Pelargonium tomentosum, Peppermint-scented geranium (foreground). An annual, it grows quickly from seed into a three-foot-high bush. Behind it shine Setaria italica, 'Lime Light Spray’ millet; Ligularia dentata 'Othello'; and Tropaeolum majus, Climbing nasturtium |
Welcome! I'm Lisa Peters O'Brien, a.k.a. The Bedrock Blogger. While Bedrock Gardens has been around for 30 years, this blog is new, and it needs your support in the way of readership. If you like what you read and would like more of it, click here to subscribe!
RSS Feed
