Six on Saturday – bye bye summer

I think it’s been quite appropriate that the last week of summer, 2018, has had such a mixed bag of weather conditions:  hot and humid one day, windy and cool the next, then hot again.  Mother nature is getting us, and the garden, prepared for what’s to come, while not quite letting go of the past extremely hot few months.  Nonetheless, autumn will be here in just a few hours, and the cool weather flowers are quite happy with that.

Here are Six from my garden this morning; to see more Sixes from around the world, hop on over to The Propagator’s site.  It’s quite a good read!

1 – With the cooler evenings, Snapdragons are making a comeback.  They put out plenty of nice foliage throughout the summer but not many flowers.  This ‘Rocket’ variety gets nice and tall and fits in well in the kitchen cutting garden.

2 – The tomatoes, on the other had, are mostly done for the year.  I say mostly because the cherry toms are still going strong; these larger varieties have had enough though.

3a – The roses I planted in the spring don’t seem to mind the cooler temps. This is  Kordes ‘Cinderella’…

3b – and here is Kordes ‘Crimson Bouquet.’

4 – I have a large patch of re-blooming white Iris.  So far this year there’s only been one fall flower stalk.  Perhaps the hot summer has delayed their internal clocks.  Perhaps they need dividing. 

5- Another favourite late summer, early fall flower – the Sky Blue (sometimes Azure) Aster.  Officially it’s Symphyotiichum oolentangiense, but who can spell that?  Like The Propagator himself, I still call them asters.   

6 – Finally – nothing says ‘End Of Summer’ quite like when Colchicums making their appearance. I have them scattered around the yard, and try to have them poke through other, low, loose, ground coveres.