At A Glance: The End Of August

shop-in-August.jpggreen garden

green-garden.jpgboxwood

boxwood-spheres.jpg boxwood hedge stitched together with potted boxwoods

green-garden.jpgwindow boxes with grapes, scented geraniums, figs,mint, parsley, and showy oregano

lavender.jpglavender and Cuban oregano

bird's-nerst-fern.jpg
Bird’s nest fern and bicolor torenia

green-window-box.jpg
window box

Chicago-fig.jpgChicago fig and variegated sage

green-garden.jpgpanicum seeding

boxwood-topiary.jpgboxwood topiary

summer-container.jpgcassia, green and gold plectranthus, and yellow scaevola

 

Comments

  1. Sooooo nice. Thank you for the soothing pictures.

  2. Is Cassia the tall yellow flower? Annual? It must be in the nurseries. Though I usually don’t shop for annuals, yellow would fit in my color scheme. I garden in Seattle, zone 8 I think.

  3. I love the grapes! In my home garden, I have a lot of flowers that bloom late. I can see hardy ageratum and a NOID late-blooming hosta. These look good together, although neither plant is particularly well-behaved. One plant I keep killing is lavender. Do you keep it outside in the pot in winter? If it does better as a potted plant, I may give it another try.

  4. There are various varieties of lavender – some very hardy – but ALL require the very best drainage. We have plants in a raised bed which have remained outside for over 20 years – with max cold minus 8 F. Normal winters can have one to two weeks below freezing all day with lowest at the 0 level. This is zone 7 northern Virginia foothills of the Blue Ridge. We have another variety which has been in an unwatered planter for over 15 years. Only water is given June-October during real droughts. Over winter, nothing – a few winters have gone for 6 weeks with no precipitation. Often plants will die due to frozen soil around the roots and inability for plant to draw water from frozen ground, but we have not had a problem with the lavender.

    • Deborah Silver says

      Peter, many thanks for this letter. I winter my lavender in the garage, as it is the only way I guarantee that it will be dry over the winter. I have had some plants 4 years now, this way. When I did grow lavender outside, I would trim back hard after the first bloom, and then let it go until the following spring. But eventually they would succumb to a wet fall/winter. I much appreciate you writing in detail about your experience with lavender. Deborah

  5. nella davis ray says

    I’m just gettign the hang of growing boxwood. Have a “hedge” of 10 that I just pruned for the 1st time this year. I like the look of the boxwood in planter. Do you have to winter pots in garage in Pontiac?

  6. I have grown lavender ‘Munstead’ in a raised bed for 4 years without loosing a plant. It’s been mulched with Turface in the fall, never watered, never fertilized, cut back in spring at bud swell. The top soil was amended with some compost at planting time. I live in Lapeer county is Zone 5. However, the past few winters have been quite mild.

    • Deborah Silver says

      Dear Nancy? No water? Wow-I may give this a try. The Farmer’s Almanac is saying we are in for a blockbuster winter-say it isn’t so! Thanks for writing, Deborah

  7. lovely as always. two questions: do licorice plants respond well to being cut back? do you do public speaking at symposiums and such?

    • Deborah Silver says

      Mario, I have never tried cutting back licorice, so I don’t know what would happen. I have done public speaking-but only locally. Deborah

  8. There is nothing like boxwood; I love it any shape and any season. The landscaping at the shop looks beautiful even if you are not happy with the pots at home. I think the variegated boxwood in the next post wants to be the star and needs lower, calmer companions.

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