Red Dirt Ramblings®

Firmly rooted in the Oklahoma soil

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day September

Hello!! I’m here for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day today! Not a day late. Not a day early, but on time.

‘Tightwad Red’ crapemyrtles really shine with Chinese maiden grass, Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light.’
Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
Unknown giant salvia which leaves similar to the S. farinacea group, ‘Baby Joe’ Joe pye weed, a shorter version of tall garden phlox and four o’clocks in the kitchen border.
‘Truffula Pink’ gomphrena is one of my favorite plants. I like it better than ‘Fireworks.’

I know. It never happens. I planted a lot of perennials this morning, and I met with four garden coaching clients this week, so let’s get going before I’m too tired to post.

Click on the photos in the galleries to make them larger if you’d like.

On this Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, I’ll feature some beauties and some sneaky plants I can’t get rid of, like Verbesina alternifolia, no matter how hard I try. I’ll share about the sneaksters below.

Gardening musing on white zinnias from Milk and Honey Acreage.
White zinnias from Milk and Honey Acreage make me smile this year.
Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day featuring Uproar Rose zinnias among so many other things.
‘Uproar Rose’ zinnias are the most beautiful pink aren’t they?
Oriole zinnia for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
‘Oriole’ zinnias look nothing like their photos in online catalogs, but they are blooming powerhouses so who cares?
‘Meteor’ zinnia after the rain.
A portrait of ‘Meteor’ zinnia that I’d like to paint. So beautiful it makes my heart hurt.
Benary’s Giant Coral zinnia which I planted later in summer for fresh flowers.
Cutting garden update with 'Meteor Mix' zinnias
I grew some of ‘Meteor Mix’ that I had left over in one of my garden beds that faces the street. They did well there which also shows that my cut flower bed soil was terrible.

I’m all about the zinnias this year.

They have been a bright spot throughout the garden and are the stars of monthly Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Days for most of the summer. I’m planning to grow even more next year. I found myself loving white and creamy zinnia flowers so I’ll sow more of those.

Now, on GBBD, let’s take the long views that show the good and the bad.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
White zinnias, ‘Blackhawks’ big bluestem grass and that ever-present unknown salvia.
‘Truffula Pink’ gomphrena with ‘Hameln’ dwarf fountain grass makes a pretty picture.
This is the walkway in part of the shade garden. I love this view.
Path in the back garden with several great plants. There’s a Razzle Dazzle pink crapemyrtle, my ‘Carefree Beauty’ rose, and several other things here.
The long view shows all of my powdery mildew in the cut flower garden. Pretty normal for this time of year.
The garden beds facing the street start to take off in September.
This is in the lower garden, and I love the view.

The September garden looks pretty good, all things considered.

I think September is the most beautiful month. In spite of August’s 105° temperatures for days on end, the garden rebounded after cooler nights and a little bit of rain. I’m happy about that. I went to Bustani Plant Farm for my birthday and bought a few perennials to fill in places where the weeds want to take over.

In July and August, I almost always think I’ve lost my gardening mojo. Then, September comes, Monarchs fly in and start laying eggs, and the garden and I breathe a sigh of relief.

The tiered borders just look kind of shrubby. I don’t love them right now.
Rosa ‘Desdemona’ up close.
Rosa ‘Desdemona’
Gabriel Oak rose on Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
‘Gabriel Oak’ English rose twinning in its large container in the potager. I think I’ll grow more roses in containers where I can truly appreciate them.
‘Munstead Wood’ rose which a friend told me David Austin took out of production. Maybe because it gets blackspot?
‘Harlow Carr’ English rose is very pretty, but so very thorny.
‘Olivia Rose Austin’ English rose has the most beautiful petals and a nice growth habit too.

More and more, I choose prairie plants to make the garden sing.

  • They are often easier to grow.
  • Use less water.
  • Benefit pollinators, birds, and other creatures, and
  • They look good and, dare I write it, more natural.

That doesn’t mean I don’t grow roses, too.

Of course, I do. ‘Desdemona’ has flowered all summer, and ‘Munstead Wood’ and ‘Olivia Rose Austin’ have too. However, my ‘Carefree Beauty’ rose has seemed out of sorts all summer. I’m not sure why. Maybe because she was covered up with volunteer ‘Heavenly Blue’ morning glories. I freed her a couple of weeks ago and fed her. We’ll see if she snaps out of it. She’s been a venerable part of my garden for years, but nothing lasts forever.

Unhappy ‘Carefree Beauty.’ I don’t know why, but I’m keeping my eye out for Rose Rosette.

Then there are the sneaky plants.

I have four very sneaky plants that I find this time of year every year. I have been pulling up all of these plants ever since I put them in my garden years ago. Young Dee is my worst enemy because she didn’t refuse gift plants of a questionable nature. The sneaks are in the gallery below.

Sneaky garlic chives. I hate them.
Sneaky autumn clematis that comes up all over the garden. I pull it up like whack a mole.
Sneaky yellow ironweed.
Sneaky obedient plant.

Well, that’s about it for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day. A special thanks to Carol J. Michel, my co-host on the Gardenangelists podcast, who sponsors GBBD each month. I hope you enjoyed the turn around the garden and that you’ll stop by here or on Instagram soon. I’ve been profiling a lot of plants on my Instagram reels.

One more thing: if you need more individualized garden help, email me at dee@deenash.com, and I’ll get you on my garden coaching calendar. I hope you have a beautiful September in and out of the garden.

Thanks for stopping by.

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Dee Nash

      Thank you Linda! Sometimes, the roses grow better than others. I usually get two to three really good months out of them. Not consecutive. ~~Dee

  2. Julie

    The sweet autumn clematis is rampant in my neighborhood and on my unused tomato cages, sadly. I hate the fragrance, it has a disinfectant smell to me. Asiatic dayflowers are infesting several of my borders right now, too. At least I didn’t plant either one.

    • Dee Nash

      It grosses me out too Julie. I hate the sickly sweet smell. Ooh, I don’t have Asiatic dayflowers. That sounds rough too. Invasive plants are the pits.

  5. Jennie

    For the first time I had Autum Clematis show up in my yard and I found it at Derek’s too. Both were dug up and properly disposed of.

  6. Kris P

    I’m envious of those white zinnias – and the roses too. Sneaky flowers are valuable (unless they spread by rhizomes and attempt garden bed takeovers).

  9. Alana Mautone

    I’m a Southern Tier of New York gardener who lived, at one time, in Wichita, Kansas, Wichita Falls, Texas and in Northwest Arkansas so I have memories of flowers in all four places. Your observation that our young selves are sometimes our mature selves’ garden enemy made me smile because – yes, garlic chives. Autumn clementis has become a problem, I’ve read, in many places. When I last visited Arkansas in 2013 it seemed to be everywhere we walked. I wouldn’t have known that obedient plant was on that sneaky list. Your roses are beautiful. Zinnias are our go-to for cut flowers at this time of year and I had to admire yours, too. Alana ramblinwitham

    • Dee Nash

      Hi Alana, thanks for stopping by. Yes, my young self has caused me many more problems than I’d like to admit. The garlic chives came from an herb farm when I was about 30. I planted autumn clematis on the main arbor in 1992, and a friend remarked that it did so well the first year, I should probably dig it up and throw it away. Her words were prophetic. I can’t remember when someone gave me obedient plant, but it is an aggressive spreader here. I also sadly have my husband’s grandmother’s Asian honeysuckle. Ugh. I’ve dug it out multiple times, and it is invasive in northeast Oklahoma and further east. Arkansas is getting so many of these bad plants. Poor states. Poor natives. ~~Dee