July/August 2024: Late Summer Garden

After countless years of ever increasing oppressive heat, humidity, drought, torrential rain storms, flooding, devastating fires, etc., the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finally doing something about climate change. This year it will spend 4.3 billion dollars on twenty-five new projects designed to reduce toxic emissions nationwide by 7 percent in 6 years.

While we wait, let’s celebrate outstanding garden plants that perform despite Mother Nature’s insults:

Begonias rule in shade. Begonia Double Up White, a new addition to my garden, pairs lovely late-summer flowers with showy, lustrous, dark foliage. Perfect plants to front a shady border. Photo below.

Another awesome new addition, the fiery Salvia ‘Roman Red’, is a Hummingbird magnet. In partial sun, and with minimal deadheading, it has been in constant bloom since May, and, reportedly, will bloom through Fall. I don’t want to be without this plant. The Hummingbirds agree. Photo below.

Rhododendron prunifolium Z 5-9, an award-winning, large, native deciduous Azalea, ignites the summer garden with blazing color in July and August. The flowering shrub’s nectar attracts Hummingbirds and bees and, unlike my other azaleas, is deer-resistant. For decades in my organic garden, it has been disease-free. Provide a shady site with moist, well-drained, organically rich, acidic soil. (Beware: If ingested, all parts of the plant are poisonous and toxic for humans, cats and dogs.) Photo below.

Garden Update:

1) In the Fall of 2023, the garden bunnies had a dinner party and Hostas were on the menu. (See post: “2023: Successes and Failures.”) I was overjoyed when all five plants of Hosta ‘June’ survived and returned this year. June 2024 photo below.

And then there were two. August 2024 photo below.

(Note: If you live in Never Never Land and your garden plants are not troubled by rabbits, deer, chipmunks, squirrels et al, Hosta ‘June’ is garden worthy . Photo below.)

2) I recently pruned the Rhododendron bureavii stems that invaded the driveway. (See post: “April/May 2024: Spring Enchantment”) Photo below.

3) To avoid contact with ticks, I decided to weave gravel paths lined with stone around and through several planted areas of the garden. A skilled landscaping team from Jackson Dodds & Company got it done. The improved areas are safer to visit, easy to cultivate, and look great. Photo below.

Jackson Dodds & Company, phone:631-604-5693; info@jacksondoddsinc.com

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A Garden Blog by Lois Sheinfeld

July/August 2024: Late Summer Garden