EEGADS>>>late summer already?  Today I started a list of to-do s for fall planting, transplanting, and winterizing projects. It was adreary day, so meloncholy was an acceptable mood, but the reality that school starts in 17 days and the nights have certainly been a little chillier and all the harvest fairs are all starting, yikes!!! I can’t bear it!

But I have a secret  happiness in late summer ; one that takes the edge off that frantic-time is going by too quickly feeling; and that is the August border ,( AKA the Dog’s Garden).

The Dog’s Garden was designed specifically to come into it’s glory in mid August (even though the dogs could care less)  and continue until late fall. It all started with 3 old fashioned Rose of Sharon bushes that are virtually invisible  with their narrow vase like form all summer until they expode into bright pink and purple bloom in the late summer. They were part of an old garden near the house that got moved to a new location  when our addition went on, and they became  the jumping off point for the border.

Among the first plants to join the hibiscus girls  in their new home were the clethras (‘Ruby Spice and the white species clethra alnifolia) also known as summer sweet. Their fragrance is heavenly and they are staggered along the back of the border Just opening the porch door invites in the sweet smell of summer.  To finish out the larger plantings I added, two Hydrangea Paniculata ‘Limelight”, Heptaocodium Minocides ( seven sons flower)  and  several blue spruces including a dwarf one that always grows lopsided.

Near the walkway are lined up a handful of red knockout roses that bloom without break all summer, and a David Austin rose ‘Christopher Marlowe’ that has an intoxicationg fragrance and is never without buds and blooms from June through September.Behind them is another long bloomer called ‘carefree spirit’.

Here is the’ Ruby spice’ summersweet and hydrangea’ limelight’

and another with one of the Rose of Sharons

the white summer sweet grows next to a butterfly bush called ‘Pink Delight’…which is….delightful!

An interesting native called symphoricaros alba (snow berry), blooms literally all summer but the flowers are so small you would b=never know it except for the constant hum of the bees who adore it. this time of year it develops it fat white berries that are so fun to look at. The birds don’t seem to care for them, although I have  heard grouse love them, ( we  seem to be  grouse free here). This year I also added a new hybrid called ‘Amethyst” that has pink berries.. An interesting fact about the snowberry and the summersweet is that they both tolerate a wide range of conditions from full sun to full shade, dry sand to heavy clay, and don’t mind wet feet either. Add in the fact that they are bee magnets and they are true  garden lottery winners.

 in this garden I let several annuals seed wherever they like and am always happy with the results. Here is some nicotiana in front of sedum  reflexum ‘Blue Spruce’

this border is also home to Faith’s fairy garden, and the corresponding fairies which reside here but are afraid of the camera . Below is a known fairy resting spot.

Amaranth  is a very cool plant that will shoot up to 5-8  feet in a heartbeat, and works well with lots of other perennials. In this garden it is the burgandy one called amarantus hypochondriacus I let seed. You can eat the seeds and the leaves in salads if you are so inclined.   It has sprouted this year all around the tomato plants and looks awesome there, a combination I wish I had actually thought of myself!

Nasturtiums are planted behind the white bench on the top of a little berm that I hope by next summer will also be draped in clematis . This clematis, c. x ‘jouiniana ‘Mrs. Robert Brydon’, has large fuzzy leaves and small pruple and white flowers and does not twine making it a great choice for hills and slopes (and berms!) The cutting I planted there is doing well and will really take off next year.

I had planted 4 caryopteris bushes when the garden was installed, but over the course of a few years have lost them all except for one very happy one.I think it is ‘First Choice’ , but I am unsure.

Also behind the bench are a stand of Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium ‘Gateway’) and sunflowers. Unexpectedly, they are getting too much shade which NEVER happens around here and I may need to rethink their placement.

Two of the latest blooming daylilys for me, Franz Hil (photo) and Lime Frost, live here.

as does one of only two ornamental grasses I like, Panicum Virgatum     ‘Northwind’ which stays neatly clumped and rigidly upright. ( the other is variegated miscanthus in case you are curious)

In front of the grass are a few late blooming penstemons

The large black seedpods of false indigo(baptisia ‘twight prarie blues’ here) are an added bonus to a great plant that boasts spotless foliage, and early pea like blooms.

This cute climber is thunbergia alata ‘Blushing Susie’ ,  really takes off in late summer.

As does the purple hyacinth bean vine, lablab purpurea, and must have for any garden of mine.

Clematis texensis ‘gravetye beauty’ flanks the entrance arbor to the dog’s garden , and a few others (belle of woking’, Dr. Ruutel, and ‘Rosemoor ‘ will continue to bloom here for a few weeks .

Yet to even start their part of the show  are the heptacodium which will flower all over in creamy white pannicles, and follow that display with cherry red sepals AMAZING!  , the various mums including the oldies but goodies sheffield, and ‘copper penny’; the tall sedums ‘Autumn joy’ ‘Frosty Morn, and ‘Brilliante”, and the Japanese anemones.

All this definitely soothes my anxiety for the winding down of the gardening season. After I get over the hump of september, I am always ready to put the garden to bed and dream of next year while I rest my aching hips and knees.

Head over to Bloom Day at  www.maydreamsgardens.com to see what a bunch of othe bloggers all over the country have going on!