Late Summer Color Fixes for your Fading Landscape

Like many people, you may not have planned your garden to accommodate the fading color palette that often happens in the last summer.  There are several plants you can plant to fill  your landscape with color through early fall.  If you missed planting them in the late spring then you might be able to find them in your garden center now.  If you do, then strategically place them where you need to brighten up things and bring the color back to your landscape.  

Coleus.  A plant with amazing foliage color.  New varieties arrive each season, and the bright color combos will fill your yard with sunshiny happiness until frost.  Many of the new varieties don't flower, so the care is easy and most love the full sun and heat.

Alternanthera.  Another plant with amazingly lush foliage is the Calico Plant.  This easy to grow plant produces leaves in purple, bronze, orange, red and yellow to make it a rich color addition to your beds or containers.  Planted in the spring, the color will continue to produce until frost.  Although it's a tropical, it's tough enough to handle some rough weather and will often return the next season in some subtropical areas.

Salvia.  Varieties include both annuals and perennials and many varieties bloom through frost.  Salvia plants need good drainage and grow rather quickly.  Quite a few varieties will invite hummingbirds to your garden and the colors range from purple to blue to pink and white.
 

Scabiosa.  The Pincushion Flower blooms from spring and into fall.  It will come back each year, and during particularly mild winters, you may even see a bloom from time to time.  Varieties include Butterfly Blue, Pink Mist, Samantha's Pink, Mars Midget and Vivid Violet.

Dwarf Crape Myrtle.  During the hot, hot heat of August, a crape myrtle may be the only bright color you'll see.  If space is a consideration, then consider planting some dwarf crape myrtles.  They will give you color through the month.  Varieties include Red Filli, Cherry Dazzle, Diamond Dazzle, Strawberry Dazzle and Sweetheart Dazzle.

Coreopsis.  This plant has one of the longest blooming seasons.  If you didn't plant it in the spring, then most garden centers come out with a new group for the late summer, early fall season.  Colors vary and the daisy like flowers are always a welcoming sight.

If you missed the late summer color planting in the spring or can't find them in your favorite garden center in August, then there's always next spring!

Bird Watching 101

Your summer flowers may be attracting a lot of birds right now, but do you know what kinds they are.  If your garden is anything like mine, these might be some of the flowers you have growing and the birds that will visit them.

Aster.    All asters attract birds.  These birds include cardinals, goldfinches, chickadees, goldfinches, indigo buntings, nuthatches, sparrows and towhees.  Pictured below is the towhee.

Black-Eyed Susan.  If you leave your black-eyed Susans standing through the winter you can continue to feed certain types of birds.  Birds that will visit at different times during the year include American goldfinches, chickadees, cardinals, nuthatches, sparrows and towhees.  Pictured below is an American goldfinch.

Coneflower.  Like Black-Eyed Susan, the coneflower can remain standing in a snowy garden.  It attracts both the American Goldfinch and the pine siskin, pictured below.

A large variety of songbirds are attracting the seeds of the coreopsis flower.  These birds include finches and sparrows, as seen below.

Goldenrod.  Birds love Goldenrod.  If you've got it in your yard, you'll see finches, pine siskins, yellow-rumped warblers, and indigo buntings feasting on their seeds.  A Yellow Warbler enjoys s

Sedum.  Sedum attract almost any type of seed eating bird, even hummingbirds.  Leave them around all winter to continue feeding the winter birds.  Along with sedum, several other flowers attract hummingbirds and these include

What birds have you seen in your garden this summer?

Mellow Yellow

Anything but mellow, yellow just might be one of the brightest colors around, especially when it comes to bringing impact to your landscape.  Yellow definitely doesn't blend...it POPS!  Somehow nature knows this, and yellow is one of the easiest colors to find at the nursery.  Yellow bloomers are plentiful and wide ranging, both in size and light requirements.  The difficulty lies in deciding what yellow flowers to include in your garden.  Whether you choose yellow as your primary color selection or as the color that pops through and shines, there will be no shortage when it comes to variety.

Black-eyed Susan.  With it's bright yellow blooms and growing ease, you'll have a blanket of yellow before you know it.

Coreopsis.  A lovely yellow shade that is one of the longest bloomers in the garden.

Leopard's Band.  Daisy like flowers that will bloom in shady spots.

Ligularia.  Lovely yellow spikes that love a little shade during the heat of the day.

Kerria.  Easy to grow, early blooming shrub.

Lemon Drop Primrose.  Does great in heat and drought.

Oxalis.  Comes in both annual and perennial varieties.

False Lupine.  Attracts butterflies and does well in heat and drought.

Creeping Zinnia.  With its spreading growth pattern and miniature daisy-like flowers, this one is great for container and rock gardens.

Globeflower.  They love moisture, so plant them in that soggy spot.

Yarrow.  Thrives with very little care.

Dill.  A tasty herb that produces a lovely yellow flower mid-summer.

SB's Sunny Dahlia.  WOW!

Taking the Outdoors Indoors

We often get asked, "What flowers should I plant for cutting? " and that's a question we love to answer. 

The choices are endless, but these are a few of our favorites:

Yarrow.  This is a tough, easy to grow perennial that blooms and blooms.

Star Gazer Lily.  It's pretty and it smells good.  Of course, we recommend it!

Coreopsis.  It's simple and has a down home, country feel.

Bearded Iris.  With a huge variety of colors, it's hard not to fall in love with these favorites.

Blazing Star.  Gorgeous stalks of color that are also great for drying.

Summer Phlox.  Old fashioned, full and fragrant.

Perennial Sage.  A vibrant purple-blue color.  The more you cut, the more blooms it produces.