Manage Your Life
Monday, November 30, 2009
Blooms For A Late Summer Garden in Georgia
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By the end of the summer, many plants have grown tired of
providing blooms for our garden. Sometimes it can be a challenge to
find plants that will fill in this difficult time with flowers. A
diligent gardener can find quite a few plants that bloom in late
summer.
You're probably familiar with Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia) and
Butterfly Bushes, providing the garden with blossoms this time of
year no matter how hot it gets, attracting butterflies by the
hundreds.
You've seen Japanese Honeysuckle on the side of the road, or
perhaps you're even plagued with its invasive qualities in your
own garden.
But have you seen our native Red Trumpet Honeysuckle?
Lonicera sempervirens is a non-invasive evergreen vine
that blooms almost year round, attracting hummingbirds,
butterflies, and many other beneficial insects. Grow it as a
groundcover, let it climb an arbor or trellis, or train it to cover
a fence. You'll be rewarded with blooms from spring to fall,
and I've even seen blooms in our garden in December! It will
grow in sun or shade, but flowers more profusely in full sun.
For the shade, try Lobelia cardinalis, our native Red Cardinal
Flower, loved by hummingbirds. This perennial prefers moist soil,
but can be grown in regular garden soil with supplemental
water.
If you have a woodland garden, try the beautiful Plumleaf Azalea,
an American native made famous by Callaway Gardens.
Rhododendron Prunifolium is a rare deciduous azalea
with bright orangey red blooms in late July and August. Plumleaf
Azalea prefers a cool shady spot with regular water.
Perennial Hibiscus continues to offer up showy blooms in several
colors right up until the onset of cold weather.
And for a little later on in the season, consider adding Swamp
Sunflower, a good companion for perennial hibiscus, since they both
share a love for sun and water. Helianthus blooms in September with
large, bright yellow flowers on tall stems up to 10 feet tall!
I hope you'll try some of my suggestions in your late summer
garden as you strive to make your garden more beautiful year
round.
You can find most of these plants at Shady Gardens
Nursery.
Related: woodland, swamp, sunflower, ship, shady, sempervirens, rudbeckia, rhododendron, prunifolium, plumleaf, online, nursery, lonicera, lobelia, late summer, japanese, hummingbirds, honeysuckle, helianthus, gardens, garden, flower, cardinalis, cardinal, callaway gardens, buy, butterflies, blooms, black eyed susan, azalea
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Posted by Flutterbyze Sat Aug 8, 2009 7:45am PDT
I work on a garlic farm burdickcreek.com check it out, I love the fact that the outdoors is my office and the sound of the sun the wind, the animals is fabulous. I found that it has been a great way to ease depression and get into shape
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Posted by Flutterbyze Sat Aug 8, 2009 7:48am PDT
I have seen the orange rhododendrums for a while now and hae been commenting on their beauty and wondering what they were for i have only seen the purple pink ones that i grew up with. i love this orange variety and i am tickled to finally know what they are
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