Six on Saturday – August long weekend

It’s a soupy, foggy morning but The County is already chock full of tourists and day trippers enjoying this long weekend.  It’s traditionally the busiest weekend of the year, with lineups to get to one of our glorious beaches, winery parking lots full, brewery patios bustling, art galleries and studios full of eyes.

Meanwhile, in the garden, the transition to late summer blooms has started.  Day lilies have just a few buds left to burst, Coreopsis and Gaillardia are done but for a few straggling, smaller second flush blooms, and the snap peas have already been cut back. Giant sunflowers are (finally) attracting loads of pollinators, gladioli and Zinnia are providing vibrant colour and masses of Goldenrod are on the cusp of opening.

Here are my Six this first Saturday in August. To see Sixes from around the word check out The Propagator’s site and the dozens of links in his post’s comments.

1 – I went to Seedy Saturday in Picton earlier this year and picked up a pack of seeds labelled ‘Mallow’.  This is what came up – definitely not any Mallow I’ve ever seen!  The annual Cleome that has sprung up instead is a really wonderful and beautiful gift, though, isn’t it?  I can see why it’s sometimes called a Spider Plant.

2 – This hardy Hibiscus moscheutos takes a while to get going in the spring but I think it’s worth the wait. The flowers are bigger than ever this year and more stems have shot up than ever before as well.  I think I like it!  By coincidence, its common name is Swamp Mallow, or Rose Mallow.  Not to be confused with the mallow seeds I thought I was planting (see #1, above)

3 – Another plant slow to get going in the spring but worth the wait – and, by coincidence, related to # 2, above, is Rose of Sharon, Hibiscus syriacus.  It, like the hardy Hibiscus and the seeds I thought I was plating (see #s 1 & 2, above), are in the Mallow family.  I’m not a fan of the solid lilac, mauve or reddish ones but I do love the pure white or white with red centre ones.  I’m told hummingbirds like them as well.

4 – Another red in the dewy morning – this one a rose.  I’m really disappointed with this one.  It’s a Kordes grandiflora called Crimson Bouquet.  I ordered it because it’s supposed to be fragrant and very disease resistant.   It’s only year one so perhaps things will evolve but so far it’s not at all fragrant and, even worse, every single leaf produced has been afflicted with black spot.  Harrummph!

5 – You know it’s August in the County when the Ironweed starts to bloom!  This Veronia self seeds everywhere although it doesn’t take kindly to drought.  Bees really love the purple flowers.  So do I!

6 – The plan was to grow cucumbers up this trellis to take over where and when the snap peas finished their thing.  Instead, this cantaloupe started to grow – came in uninvited in a scoop of compost and, like the Cleome in #1, way above, it’s a keeper!  Ironic that it’s so much happier here than the sweet peas I planted on the ends of the trellis.