Who says there's a late summer flower shortage? I have - many times! It was true in my case before I started a cutting garden and planted dahlia tubers and zinnia seeds. Dahlias and zinnias can handle high temperatures better than most flowering plants, provided that they get sufficient water. No matter how hot and dry summer gets, I limit my use of irrigation during the summer season everywhere except my cutting garden. I hand water the raised planters and containers there, relying on collected rainwater to the extent possible. Whenever my husband empties the spa to clean it, all that water also goes into my collection tanks for use in the garden once the chemicals have dissipated. We don't get summer storms often but Tropical Storm Hilary also made a big contribution this year. My cutting garden is bursting at the seams!
My first floral arrangement was inspired by the first blooms of Dahlia 'Fairway Spur'.
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I augmented the 3 stems of Dahlia 'Fairway Spur' with flowers of Dahlia 'Summer's End', which has been very productive this year
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Back view: The color of 'Fairway Spur' varies considerably as each bloom matures
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Top view
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Clockwise from the upper left: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', noID orange Chaenostoma cordatum (aka Bacopa cordata), Grevillea 'Superb', Dahlia 'Fairway Spur', and D. 'Summer's End'
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One thing I failed to do this year was to properly stake my taller dahlias. I usually put a tomato cage around any dahlia that's projected to grow taller than three feet but this year I waited too late to do that in many cases. I tried to support the taller stems as best I could without breaking the plants surrounding them after-the-fact but it was sloppy process and many stems have flopped over. The unknown dahlia that was supposed to be 'French Can Can' was one of these. One heavy branch broke at the base this week so I cut the flowers when I removed the stem, which led to the creation of floral arrangement #2.
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I was afraid this arrangement would look too much like one of those I created last week but I think the double-petaled yellow Bacopa gave it a different vibe
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Back view: For scent, I added the interesting twisted Pelargoniumgraveolens 'Colocho'
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Top view
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Abelia grandiflora 'Hopley', noID yellow Chaenostoma cordatum, Cosmos bipinnatus, Dahlia 'La Luna', noID yellow dahlia, and Pelargonium graveolens 'Colocho' |
Floral arrangement #3 contains no dahlias. It includes a handful of zinnias but the key ingredients are sunflowers and coneflowers. I've discovered that, like dahlias and zinnias, both flower heavily given sufficient water and I plan to make them regular ingredients in my summer cutting garden in future years.
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This arrangement looks a lot like the early fall arrangement I created 2 weeks ago but the sunflowers peaked in late August and I felt I should cut some before they're entirely gone
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| Back view: Unlike the sunflowers, I think the coneflowers have 3-4 weeks left in their season |
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Top view
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Clockwise from the upper left: Helianthus annuus 'Joker', Hibiscus acetosella 'Haight Ashbury', Plectanthus scutellarioises 'Limewire' (aka coleus), 2 versions of Rudbeckia hirta 'Cherokee Sunset', and one of several Zinnia elegans 'Candy Mix'
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Today is expected to be the last of a four-day heatwave. I'm looking forward to a return to cooler conditions but I did clear my backlog of ironing and scrubbed our refrigerator while I was stuck inside the house waiting out the heat. I didn't get around to washing the windows but maybe I'll work on that today - or I could put together my fall bulb order.
For more IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
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material © 2012-2023
by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
