Dog Days of Summer

Seems as though the garden always looks a little tired this time of year. In reality it is just a breather until the burst of fresh blooms that signal the next season.The most impressive flower in August for me is the Naked Lady. They are stunning this year.

My Cereus has bloomed 5 times this summer and I saw another three buds forming tonight. I didn't stay up late enough to capture it fully open.

The Dahlias are blooming but not as profusely or as large as in years past. The Calla Lilies didn't produce as heavily as past years either. These are two of the Dahlias blooming now.

Phlox has been a good bloomer this year and has rebloomed too. Here is a variegated variety.

It started last year and again this year I've had a persistent problems with rust on Crocosmia and mildew on peony's. It really diminishes the flower production of Crocosmia. The peonies still bloom good. I sprayed them this year but didn't start early enough. Here's what it looks like.

The real scourge in my garden is rose rosette disease. I've lost 11 roses so far this year. I'm now taking two cuttings from new roses I plant as future replacements. The pic is RRD on Agnes. Agnes is a once blooming shrub rose that was always the first to bloom in the spring with a clear yellow flower and the foliage was beautiful all year. A very nice rose and I had not taken a cutting. Damn!!!

A rose blooming now is Deuil de Paul Fontaine but it is stingy with it's blooms. The foliage is diseased no matter what I do…just an ugly specimen in my garden…now if RRD hit it I wouldn't complain.

Creme de la Creme is a climber that is a good repeat bloomer and the flower holds up nice.

And finally a couple of arrangements with cut flowers from the garden for this weekend.