Belated Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – August 2013

Being a new blogger and all, I’m still adjusting to all the great activities I’m able to partake in with my new community. On the 15th of each month, garden bloggers from across the country post the lovely blooms that grace their garden that month. This was started by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Her blog is super entertaining and I would highly recommend it.

Being the plant geek that I am, here is what has got me all hot and bothered during the month of August in my garden.

Image

Kaffir Lily (Schizostylis coccinea) is a relative to the Iris family and hardy to Zone 7. The beautiful blooms add late season color to the Pacific Northwest garden as the flowers will hold on til winter. They are an evergreen in this part of the country and a flower that I have fallen in love with. Even though I am in Zone 7a, I will be bringing it in the garage this winter to ensure that I do not lose it.

Image

Image

I’m a sucker when it comes to Begonias. These tuberous Begonias were potted up later than I would have liked and they are finally blooming gorgeously. Recently, I have been doing research on buying some Begonia odorata for next year. A fragrant Begonia – what more can this girl ask for!

Image

Yes, Calla Lillies (Zantedeschia) are hardy in my garden. I have a small area that is sheltered by two sides of my house and I believe it is a microclimate for plants that would prefer to be grown in Zone 8. Typically, these beauties are sold at garden centers in our area to be used as annuals in container designs.

Image

When I moved from my Zone 5 garden in Michigan, I was absolutely floored seeing Hardy Fuchsias in bloom while visiting the Bellevue Botanical Garden. I couldn’t wait to have my own home again to be able to grow several Hardy Fuchsias. This variety is Fuchsia megallanica ‘Pat’s Dream’.

Image

I have several Coneflower (Echinacea) in my garden, but I was on a wild goose chase last year looking for this doll. It is the first double, orange Echinacea from Plants Nouveau with a fabulous name to match – ‘Hot Papaya’. It has been blooming its head of for several weeks.

Image

In my opinion when it comes to annuals, Non-Stop Begonias are the best bang for your buck for the shade. Their blooms brighten up the darkest corners and they come in a fabulous range of colors to choice from. And you know me, I haven’t found a Begonia that I don’t love.

Image

We’ll end with a gorgeous picture of the sunset on a beautiful summer day! I hope your garden is full of blooms and beauty.

Advertisement

About P.S. I ♥ Peas

Ever since I was a child, I remember falling in love with flowers. My first flower memory was being intrigued by the blooms of Bleeding Heart (Dicentra). Love of nature and art led me into pursuing a degree in horticulture & landscape design. For 15+ years, I worked for different wholesale companies including Proven Winners, Spring Meadow Nursery (Proven Winners ColorChoice Flowering Shrubs) and Zelenka Nursery. Then in 2013, I started my own business Flora & Fauna Media, which specializes in public relations outreach from social media to media publications. Now, I am focusing on being a Stay-At-Home mom and my writing career. I garden on less than an acre of property near Seattle, Washington. Making the most of my space was extremely important to efficiency, which led to removing lots of grass. Now, our property is a sanctuary filled with fruits (blueberries, apples, strawberries, raspberries, cantaloupe, fig and huckleberries), vegetables (kale, beets, peas, tomatoes, squash, potatoes, cardoon, zucchini, green beans, peppers, tomatillos and sorrel) and herbs (rosemary, chives, thyme, mint, oregano, lemon verbena, pineapple sage and sage). Growing our own food is an important mission to me and with a young child teaching is valuable knowledge to pass down generation after generation . If you teach a man to garden, he will eat for life! My husband and I love to cook together. We find new recipes and try them weekly. Wildcrafting has become a fun additional to this pastime. Harvesting stinging nettles or dandelions and making them into something that is edible and delicious is so rewarding.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

12 Responses to Belated Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – August 2013

  1. flhartwig@gmail.com says:

    I never tire of looking at beautiful flowers.

  2. KidazzleInk says:

    Love your sunset picture. You must love the garden…lots of lovely blooms.

  3. Karen says:

    Lovely garden blooms.

  4. Alison says:

    Happy GBBD! I’m also growing ‘Hot Papaya’ for the first time this year and I love it! It’s so fabulous. I’m just starting to get into Begonias too. Yours are very pretty. I actually like the leaves better than the flowers.

    • Happy GBBD to you!! Yes, the leaves on Rex Begonias are amazing. One of my favorites is Escargot. These tuberous Begonia leaves are beautiful, but don’t have the same textures and patterns as Rex do. ‘Hot Papaya’ is a fabulous plant. Plants Nouveau really know how to pick them.

  5. I’m a newish garden blogger as well. Your blooms are lovely.

  6. You have a lovely garden… Best of luck with getting to be outside on a daily basis! You mentioned in your about section that you are a wannabe hippie, do you have an organic garden?

Leave a Reply to KidazzleInk Cancel reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s