The Penultimate Summer Six on Saturday

I just love the word ‘penultimate’ – with autumn in the northern hemisphere starting on the 23rd this year (a bit late, I’d have thought) it means next Saturday will be our last opportunity to feature hot summer colours and lush greenery. And since we finally have received some rain this past week (Yaay!), and it fell overnight (double Yaay!) i was able to take a few shots of my late summer garden before yesterday’s high winds blew things all over.

1 – There’s a few Clematis blooms here and there, including several on the C. x durandii. Interesting how the paler blue streaks show up in late summer; back in July the flowers were a solid deep violet-blue.

2 – A tidied-up Iris bed. What started out three years ago as a half dozen small clumps of white reblooming Iris had become, before this brush cut, an overgrown mess of foliage, much of it dead, possible infested with the dreaded iris borer…I should really lift and divide them but I doubt there will be time. For now, mottled foliage is on the burn pile and we shall see if there is any ‘reblooming’ this year…

3 – Something a bit dreadful, downright horrible, I’m sorry to say. has started to invade our property. Dog strangling vine (Cynanchum rossicum) has blown in from down the road – I’ve spotted it in several places this week along the edge of the woods. Argh!!!

4 – The end of summer (almost…) means asters. Not that I plant any, but I do encourage those that spring up naturally by sometimes collecting seeds or just not chopping them down. This white aster is a favourite – I don’t know its name but there’s one small patch in the shrub border, just to the right of the Iris (above) that stands taller than me.

5 – Speaking of asters, my third favourite (after Sky Blue Aster and Heath Aster) is the New England Aster, with its fancy new name, Symphyotrichum novae-angliae. I actively encourage this one by collecting seeds (ie whole stalks with flowers that have gone to seed) and intermingling them with goldenrod. Here’s my blurry-vision Monet inspired composition:

6 – Because it IS still summer, here’s a summer butterfly, on a summer Zinnia. To see more summer garden shots from around the world, and also some late winter shots from the southern hemisphere where daffodils just may be in bloom, please visit The Propagator‘s site. It’s wonderful and inspiring journey every week!