The end of the season – the start of the next.

The only thing good about another rainy week was that I could use this as an excuse to once  again avoid weeding the flower beds!

We feel lucky in that we only received 4 inches of rain on Thursday.  The ground is so saturated that it just runs through the yard and sits for hours before soaking in.  The woods is wet!

 

The cimicifuga flower scapes are a bright spot in the garden right now with their feathery flowers waving in the breeze.  We have them in different places and they are a standout now this time of the

season.  These are larger perennials – some varieties reaching only 2-3 feet and others stretching up to 4 feet in height.  They are a great perennial for the back of the garden – or in a spot where you want a separation between two areas.

 

The end of the summer season – an update on a couple of plants that I’ve mentioned over the summer.  Our Goldsturm Rudbeckia (black eyed susan) is still blossoming, but are starting to fade. They started back at the end of July and now for two months have been providing us with bright golden yellow flowers.  This is a perennial that we do not cut down in the fall but wait until spring.  The flower heads provide seeds for the birds in the winter.

Perhaps our favorite shrub/tree we have in the yard are our hydrangeas.  Some of the varieties start in early July and others a little bit later in the summer but all of our hydrangeas are still sporting beautiful blossoms.  Toward the end of the season, most hydrangea flowers begin to fade with different shades of pink creeping into the flowers.  Here is our Limelight Hydrangea tree with the blossoms now showing some pink.  Keep in mind that these hydrangea flowers are great for dried flower arrangements inside for the fall or to save and use for your winter / holiday displays outside.