Looking back at a Sweet Summer in the Garden

June began with an explosion of color in the gardens. The seeds I had direct sown in raised boxes were popping open with color. Bachelor buttons, calendula, cosmos, poppies, zinnias and sweet peas.

I had grand plans to turn all of my formerly raised vegetable beds into cut flower gardens. Well, that's me in a nutshell. Grand plans. I work two jobs, I'm a data analyst for a school district and I coach competitive, club soccer....year round. So...my grand plans never quite come to fruition. However, managed to get several raised boxes blooming with color. And..I even saved seeds this year, so I'll be all set to expand my cut flower adventures next summer (between jobs ;).

In the immediate back yard, the area transitioned from spring pinks and blues pastels into the bright reds and yellows of summer.

I didn't take as many photos of the gardens this summer as I have in past years. We took a lovely vacation up to Pemberton, British Columbia and enjoyed the forests and glacial fed rivers up north.

As summer progressed, my favorite perennials, echinacea began to bloom. It's not a summer without purple coneflowers standing tall in the gardens.

I pair the coneflowers with saliva 'Black n Blue'. The combination is striking. It's all for the pollinators. The bee's, butterflies and hummingbirds that visit my garden make it all worthwhile.

Below is Demon cat lurking in the front gardens. He's too fat to leap up and get the hummingbirds.

Pretty foliage from geranium 'Vancouver Centennial'.

More striking foliage from acer palmatium 'Fireglow'. If any of the seedlings that have self-sown over the summer make it, I'll baby them for a few years and plant a few more of this Japanese maple. It's a stunning tree.

Lilliput 'salmon pink' zinnias that were direct sown this past spring added a cute pop of color and the bumble bees enjoyed them too.

More direct sown flowers, sweet peas and queen anne's lace, filling the late summer garden.

As the season begin to transition to fall, the hardy hibiscus really take late summer stage.

Above, hibiscus moscheutos 'Jazzberry Jam' and below hibiscus moscheutos 'Pink Cloud'. 

And rounding out summer is anemone 'September Charm'...fittingly blooms in late August and into fall. It's a nice little anemone, not too aggressive with prolific blooms.

And the gorgeous dahlia 'September Morning'.

And that wraps up our look back. Here's our current view taken just before the first big rain storm hit this past weekend.

The rain will hang out with us this week, but these blooms won't fade, they'll be here to greet October before the season closes out.

Bring on fall.

Cheers, Jenni