I pasted the above off the end of the meadow thread. Hope they are readable.

I was also thinking today, I bought Zinnia seed and never started them. I wonder if it is too late to start some now?

Maybe some GW members who garden in zone 7 and 8 and have to keep their garden growing for a longer season, can tell us whether they have plants still blooming in the late summer? Do you do anything different to keep your garden blooming?

I am also wondering about this. Many things that I thought would start blooming in August will be long gone by then.

Here are a few plants I wonder about:

1. Geranium 'Rozanne' should bloom all season if the heat doesn't do it in.
2. Tall phlox and helenium should rebloom if regularly deadheaded.

Not sure if other gardeners have more ideas?

Hello Prairiemoon2

I was thinking about starting a thread on the same subject. My garden looks more full and beautiful than any other year, which I am so enjoying. However, I too have noticed that flowers are early. Even my blueberry patch, I was out picking three or four cups a day, more if my back could hold out, starting in the last week of June. Ususally by July Fourth, I am lucky if I can even see any blueberries ripe enough for picking. Usually Blueberry season isn't until mid to late July and into August up here in Maine. And a friend just told me they had gone picking wild blueberries at the End of June and picked five quarts. That is about three weeks early for such abundance in wild blueberry picking.
The garden is beautiful, although the echinacia for me is just blooming. What I do see is a definite change in the atmosphere in the garden. Just since the Fourth of July there seems to be a subtle shift of hints of fall that I ususally don't notice until the first week of August. So I too wonder what will be blooming in late July and August and if indeed fall will be early this year.
The gadren produce appears to be doing fine and on schedule. The corn was knee high like it usually is by the Fourth of July., and the garlic looks like it willbe ready to harvest at the end of July as ususal. But regardless of the early blooms of flowers, I am enjoying them as I see the the slow transition from a lush summer garden into a fall garden a month before it should be doing so.

Same thing here... everthing is weeks ahead of schedule. One thing that worries me is that the heptacodium tree is forming flowerdeads now. It usually doesn't bloom until late September. The timing coincides with the migration of the monarch butterflies, and they swarm the tree for its nectar. If the tree blooms early, there won't be anything there for the monarchs when they migrate. The butterfly bushes are blooming now too and, while they can likely be kept in bloom with deadheading to encourage the side shoots to develop and bloom, there would likely be less nectar from them too for the butterflies. I wonder if the butterflies will migrate early too. And, if they do, I wonder what the effect all this early bloom etc. is having on the larval/caterpillar stages of the butterflies?

I began noticing perennials blooming early about three years ago, mostly my Anenomes. I used to look for them in August and September, now they start budding in late June and probably will bloom here in a week or so. Now it is my Mums -
they are actually blooming! Small blooms, but they are there.

This might not be a lot of help, as I am so much farther South than most of you.

What is blooming:
canyon creek abelia
Agapanhus
Thryallis
fanick phlox
shrimp plant
fruitcockail shimp plant
duranta aka golden dewdrop
yellow cestrum
brazillian rockrose
vitex
crapemyrtles
plumbago
zinnnias

Everything is way early here, too. Our growing season started in February this year so it has been a long summer already. Goldenrod, asters are in bloom, mums have been blooming for a month. I'm about to cut them back and hope for a second fall bloom. Crape myrtles have been going for month. Looks like September here. And so hot and dry, I feel like we have been picked up and transported to west Texas!

Sandy

Plantmaven, my Vitex always blooms in May. Sometimes I'll get a small rebloom later in the summer, but nothing so far.

Noticed the Country Girl chrysanthemums have put out a few flowers. That's a typical October bloomer.

Nat, mine usually blooms earlier. But I hacked it way back. My neighbor could not see traffic as he backed out of his drive.
It will bloom until we get our first frost.

we do need to keep this thread active. We do not know what is up ahead so perhaps we should record our observations in our journals and include the temperatures. I imagine the annuals will continue to bloom. I just wonder what of the perennials? I'm very very curious.

Ianna

My garden peaked early in June...yes, 3 weeks earlier! We had a very mild winter.

Since June 27, we've had 10 days of 100+ temperatures, so my garden may literally be stopped by the extreme heat. We did get a good rain last night. I don't know what to expect next.

Here's my "new rule" for plants since we've experienced such hot, dry summers for the last 3 years:

I now look for plants that are rated at least two zones hotter than my 7b. In other words, plants for zones 6b-9b are most likely to survive in my full sun garden.

Last year, we experimented with gravel gardening and it was a big success. We extended the use of gravel this year as a mulch for more trees and shrubs (even a few perennials), integrating gravel paths with the mulch for a cohesive, uninterrupted look. We actually love it, but we're accustomed to seeing gravel on our trips to Europe and here in the southwest and California.

Cameron

Here is a link that might be useful: Blooms in the gravel garden

Everything is blooming earlier than normal here too -- with most plants blooming only 2 or 3 weeks early. What happens later in summer/autumn will depend a LOT on what the weather does now. Rain & cool weather will produce something entirely different from hot & dry weather! FWIW, I remember an odd summer several years ago where spring-blooming perennials went into a second bloom season in the autumn! it was weird to see bleeding hearts bloom in September. :)

Another strange thing, to me anyways - I planted Lupines in early June and they are blooming now. First, I thought they bloomed second season and second, in late Spring/early Summer not July. Anyway, they are an added bit of color in the border with the daylily just now starting to bloom and a hardy geranium in its second blooming.

2-3 weeks early here as well. My daylilies are almost past peak bloom. Plus we have had extended heat since the last week of June and no rain. It's all I can do to keep everything watered.

I too wonder what I will have left to bloom in late July and August.

Well my strawberries are continuing to produce. My meadowsweet is about to produce a second set of blooms. Usually they are past blooming at this stage. I might just prune all my lavenders now and hope for a new blooms by Sept. Anyway the flowers just about withered from the heat.

My butterfly bushes, russian sages, filipendula are blooming now. Interestingly my hardy chrysanthemums have been in budding stage for more than a month and yet not bloomed yet.

My autumn joy sedum is looking very strange. I usually pinch it back in May both to keep it from flopping over the sidewalk in August and to start cuttings elsewhere. This year it had full flower heads in May but I pinched them off anyway and I am surprised to see that the new flower heads are puny things. I'm wondering if it is because with the weather the plants were too mature(?) at pinching time, but I suspect this is just the way sedum is. Threw the flower heads in a compost heap and they continued to bloom. Stupid. I should have put them in a vase.

I am a new member and looked at this thread because I was looking for pretty things that I might use to fill in garden gaps this time of year. One poster suggested someone from a warmer area (like me!) might have suggestions for the upcoming dog days. As if they weren't already here...

So far I am filling in with coreopsis, hardy hibiscus, and phlox. Zinnias have worked well for me in the past but my seeds didn't come up this year and they are a little too aggressive mixed in my flower gardens anyway. Once the weather cools a little, dahlias might bloom for you. Mine are not producing buds right now though -- but we've been over 100 consistently. Russian sage is always a nice, soft option.

Also I noticed that the most recent catalog from White Flower Farms listed several late summer/early fall bloomers. That might be a good idea resource.

I'm also thinking about mixing in a couple more beauty berry bushes. Mine are beginning to flower now. And purple berries, well, they are adorable. And will show up in the fall. I'm not sure if they would be an option for you but perhaps?

Well, the garden is doing okay so far. Perovskia has been blooming for a long time but some stems have flopped over their neighbors a bit. I do see some new stems with buds forming though, which I don't remember seeing in past seasons.

Echinaceas are still blooming with new buds forming but some that were not deadheaded are slowing down. Liatris is just opening for me. Sedums have fully formed heads but not coloring up yet. Buddleia is still blooming well with deadheading, as expected. Agastaches are just about finished blooming and I will leave those to go to seed. Golden Finches are already landing on them. One of the Agastache hybrids, 'Ava' is still looking fresh as a daisy and continuing to bloom and push out new stems. Hybrid Hibiscus 'Kopper KIng' is still blooming.

I have a few roses and they started to slow down and look messy, so I have cut those almost to the ground, as I usually end up doing. I like to do it early enough to make sure it fills out with healthy new growth before a frost. And usually I will get a few blooms in the fall.

I wish I had grown Zinnias. I bought seed but never got them started. I bought an annual 'Black and Blue' Salvia, but this is the last year I buy that plant. It flops without support, it is fragile and the stems bend or break if you just look at it wrong and the foliage is always looking raggedly and I'm always pulling it off. It would have been a great year for Dahlias, I suspect. I had California Poppies for at least 6 weeks plus, but right now they are ready to be pulled out. Last year I grew Nicotiana Lime Green and it bloomed until frost and this year, it reseeded itself and is flowering nicely right now.

About the only thing that is yet to bloom, is Chrysanthemums and Asters. I am looking forward to those this year. I made a point to tip prune the Chrysanthemums on the recommended schedule, with the last time on the fourth of July and I have to say, they are nicely shaped, bushy, the right height and full of buds. And the Asters were tip pruned too and they look better than I've seen them so far. I just hope they don't bloom too early.

So....how are your gardens looking right now?

My garden is doing well, although most of my day lillies are gone, and the hostas have lost their bloom. However, the garden looks more colorful than I thought it would in August. After reading your discription, prairemoon2, I would say that is just about what is happening in my garden. Although, I did find a singular red maple leave lying on my front yard this morning, a sign of the turning tides.

It has been a weird year. I had helicopters that stayed on the maples and then were dropping more than a month later than usual.

I have one Hosta that is just starting to bloom...Guacamole. Nice large white blooms that are fragrant.

I am wondering what kind of a fall and winter will be coming up. Is it going to be a long mild fall followed by a winter like last year?

Scientists are saying that this is the effects of global warming. Really warm, hot summers. Droughts and sudden rains.

So we have to plant accordingly. some plants will definitely suffer. it may mean we have to plant wisely. Drought tolerant plants for example.

Interestingly, my perennial cornflowers are reblooming. I'm also getting a second bloom from my roses. My alpine strawberries are bearing flowers once again.

It started with our spring bulbs blooming a nd being done a month early, daffodils gone by end of march, tulips by April. I bought potted tulips in bud and planted in the garden so it would look like spring.
The trend continued all summer, so thank goodness for annuals and containers, even though they took dedicated watering.
Totally different from last year, and who knows what next year will be like.

My garden started to bloom in early April and now its the mid August and most every thing is done blooming, I have garden phlox butterfly bushes, butterfly weed and black eyed Susan's in bloom,I think my zone 5a is going to become 6 if the weather keeps up the way it has,snow last oct and a mild winter,might have to rethink my gardens for plant for zone 6

Bear

it's the same in my area and Im in zone 5a. Black eyed Susans, butterfly bushes, echinacea, phlox, clematis, helianthusm, russian sages, asters are blooming. My verbena bonariensis are starting to bloom. So in a way, they are blooming like they should at this time of the year.

According to many materials I've read about the climate change - it will be much of the same in the years to come. What it might have in store is the unpredictability of weather. It may be very mild in winter and then suddenly a deep freeze happens which can a plant killer. So planting borderline plants may look tempting but if a deep freeze happens it would be a gonner. So we should mulch but at the same we need to be vigilant about insects and disease that mulch can harbor.

I managed last week to get out to the full sun garden and do as much as I could to extend bloom. All the coneflowers were deadheaded, the butterfly bush once again, 'Purple Rain' Salvia, alyssum got a crew cut. Pulled out the weeds and all the california poppies they were coming up through, since the poppies have already gone to seed. Then I added two more chrysanthemums where the poppies were and now I'm very happy with the way it looks. The Perovskia still looks full and doesn't really degenerate. One 'Ava' Agastache keeps blooming and looks fresh. The butterfly bush is pushing put a lot of flowers. It looks a little bare with the coneflowers deadheaded, but I see more flower buds coming. I'm happy that the Mums have not started to open yet. so if they just wait a couple of weeks, I'll be happy with that.

I debated about cutting back 'Golden Jubilee' and 'Honey Bee Blue' Agastaches, but thinking they wouldn't rebloom, I decided to just leave them age naturally. The gold finches have been landing on them, so that's fine.

And that's about it.

This is a great thread and it is one I have been following earnestly since it began. Here is what is still blooming in my garden as of August 13, in no particular order:

Lycoris chinensis
Patrinia scabiosifolia
Verbena bonariensis
Echinacea 'PowWow Wild Berry'
Calamintha nepetoides
Allium 'Millenium'
Allium 'Summer Beauty'
Allium nutans 'Pam Harper'
Agastache 'Blue Blazes'
Agastache 'Blue Fortune'
Agastache 'Golden Jubilee'
Agastache 'Purple Haze'
Hibiscus 'Summer Storm'
Hibiscus 'Plum Crazy'
Lilium speciosum album
Lilium speciosum rubrum
Phlox 'David'
Phlox 'Old Cellarhole'
Phlox 'Jeana'
Phlox 'Caspian'
Phlox 'Peppermint Twist'
Phlox 'Mile High Pink'
Helenium 'Mardi Gras'
Geranium 'Rozanne'
Geranium wlassovianum
Rosa 'Quietness'
Rosa 'Jude the Obscure'
Rosa 'Rose de Rescht'
Silphium perfoliatum
Gladiolus 'Carolina Primrose'
Gladiolus 'Bolivian Peach'
Gladiolus 'Boone'
Thalictrum 'Splendide'
Thalictrum 'Hewitt's Double'
Perovskia 'Blue Spires'
Eupatorium 'Little Red'
Nepeta 'Joanna Reed'
Geranium 'A.T. Johnson'
Knautia macedonica
Solidago 'Little Lemon'
Salvia 'Black and Blue'
Geranium 'Blue Sunrise'
Scabiosa ochroleuca
Angelica gigas

I have included plants in the above list whether they are in full bloom or have just a smattering of blossoms. We finally have pleasant temperatures and rain in my neck of the woods, and I think I can hear my garden sighing in relief.

Here is a list of plants I have that still have not bloomed and/or are currently forming buds:

Various sedums
Helianthus 'Lemon Queen'
Solidago 'Fireworks'
Various asters
Various Korean mums
Aconitum 'Barker's Variety'
Anemone 'Honorine Jobert'
Artemisia lactiflora 'Guizhou'
Various colchicums
Various autumn crocus
Helianthus 'First Light'
Salvia azurea 'Nekan'
Allium 'Sugar Melt'
Allium tuberosum
Allium thunbergii 'Ozawa'
Allium thunbergii 'White Form'
Scilla autumnalis
Lycoris squamigera

For the past couple of weeks, I have been putting in as many late blooming hardy chrysanthemums and asters as I can find and afford.

Without a doubt, gardening will become more challenging in coming years due to climate change.

Included below is a photo of the stunning Lycoris chinensis:

Ispahan, great list of plants and photo. I had not seen that Lycoris before. Pretty.

You reminded me of a few I have as well....

Verbena bonariensis, which are too numerous at this point and I will need to start deadheading soon before they go to seed.

Agastache 'Black Adder' I added this year and like it better than my other blues. I want to add 'Blue Blazes'.

BTW, which is your best performing Agastache?

Hibiscus 'Plum Crazy'
Hibiscus 'Kopper King'

Although I think they are about on their last bloom.

Phlox 'David'

Geranium 'Rozanne' hasn't bloomed for awhile.

Heliopsis 'Midwest Dreams' has blooms on it but are pretty much slowed down. I don't think I completely deadheaded it because it was hard to get to. This was a new addition this year and I don't like it. It is not tall enough and it flops badly. I'll give it one more season.

I cut back all my front shrub roses and 'Golden Celebration' has just started blooming again, with blooms that are half the size of their first flush. I see Rosa 'New Dawn' has a couple of fresh blooms on it.

Eupatorium 'Little Joe' which isn't so little.
Salvia 'Black & Blue' but barely

I also have those that have not bloomed yet....

'Autumn Joy' Sedum has some huge green heads on it. Other sedums are not setting much for bloom although dark and variegated foliage adds nicely to the mix.

Asters & Chrysanthemums

I really enjoy Mums and I don't have any more room for them. I have hardy mums that do a good job, and last year I added some from the nursery in the fall, which I didn't expect to come back, but they did. And last year the Asters looked awful and I almost yanked them, and this year they look great.

I am surprised you have Alliums which I thought bloomed in early summer, and Lilies which have been done in my garden for awhile. I don't have that variety.

You have a lot of late bloom. :-)

I also have annuals that are blooming....

Morning Glories
Nicotiana Lime
Petunias
Alyssum
Portulaca

I do wish I had planted Zinnia. Does anyone have Zinnia still blooming?

Prairiemoon2,

There are quite a few ornamental alliums that bloom later in the season, all of which are the slowly spreading rhizomatous types (think chives and garlic chives for growth habit). They all bloom in shades of pink and the flower heads are not nearly so dramatic as the giant spring globe alliums, but they are quite charming nonetheless and are beloved by pollinators. Hybrids like 'Millennium', 'Sugar Melt', and 'Summer Beauty' are all sterile so you don't need to worry about them seeding everywhere. And they are nearly impervious to heat and drought. The foliage on all of these is glossy, attractive and compact even when not in bloom.

Allium thunbergii is also a clumping rhizomatous type that may gently reseed if you are lucky enough. It grows as a wispy clump of short (8 inches tall) chives all season but then bursts into glorious full bloom in October and November. Color is a stunning dark pink-violet and the blooms seem unaffected by cold and frosts, often putting on a good display until early December. I love ornamental alliums and collect as many as I can find!

I planted my agastaches as a reliable food source for pollinators. I love to see them swarming with bees. I only just planted them this spring so they are not yet mature and I don't know how well they will fare over winter. That said, 'Blue Blazes' is truly stunning. When it first started blooming, I was not impressed since the blooms seemed pale and small. But in typical agastache fashion, each bloom spike has slowly been elongating and deepening in color as the season has progressed. Once mature, this plant will be a show stopper. The color really is vibrant when backlit by the sun, a flaming blue-purple! 'Blue Blazes' is probably my favorite so far, but all of my agastaches have performed equally well this season.

ispahan, your alliums sound very nice. Heat and drought tolerant become more and more advantageous too. You'll have to post photos if you get the chance.

I started using Agastache when I was winter sowing and someone sent me seed. I find the rootbeer fragrance of the foliage on 'Honey Bee Blue' something I look forward to every year. It is a little pale in color though. You are right, the pollinators love it and I've let that one reseed in my very dry and shady corner under a Maple. I am surprised that it grew there all season with no attention and bloomed. I amended my bed to accommodate them because my soil is a little heavy. I've lost three different cultivars that didn't come back for me. I was very surprised to lose Agastache rupestris, which is supposed to be hardy to zone 5. I plan on trying it again. And I bought 'Tutti Fruiti', 'Orange Flare', 'Purple Pygmy' in the past two years and this spring there was no sight of them. It was a crazy winter though. 'Ava' was the only variety from High Country Gardens that came back. I hope all yours come back next spring. Hope the winter is more normal too.

I forgot that I also have Liatris ligulistylis blooming, and the butterflies are very interested in that particular plant.

I've seen some interesting hyacinthoides coming up. I usually see this in spring! I also enjoyed a tiny alpine strawberry yesterday.

I'm confused about the agastache blue fortune. It's listed as a perennial and yet in my zone at least (despite that it's listed as hardy in zone 2-9), it behaves like an annual. And it reseeds a lot. I also lost my Agastache rupestris which I really liked- which I could get more seedlings had I known it would behave like an annual.

I've posted these photos on another forum so excuse me if you've seen them already. I just thought they helped with the question of how the August garden is doing this year with the early start we had. I took these this morning......

Peppers in with the Perennials......

Prairiemoon2, gorgeous photos! I have to say that your garden looks stunning in spite of the difficult season.

I am also surprised at how much is looking fresh and perky in my own late August garden. It seems like the cooler temperatures and the tiny bit of rainfall we have received have given many of my plants a second wind.

Thanks ispahan....I'm surprised too. I usually don't have the Echinacea going this long. And I thought I would have my Mums blooming too early so I am happy they have not opened yet. You are right, the rain and cooler temps was just in the nick of time. We actually did get a downpour about a week ago, so that helped a lot.

It is a drought tolerant bed in full sun. I expected the Perovskia, the Butterfly Bush and the Agastache Ava to be still going strong because they did last year. I do have other Agastache that have finished blooming and are starting to turn brown with ripe seeds and are not looking as good, but okay. The birds are already landing on them. Also enjoying more productivity from the tomatoes, peppers and basil this year.

I do have other parts of our garden that don't look as well. Plants that need more moisture.

Glad to hear your garden is perky too! Do you have something that still looks good that is not one of the plants I already have?

Is that pink agastache - Agastache Ava? Beautiful.

I also saw daisies blooming - looks like a kind of shasta daisies and that's odd. Daisies were done a month and more ago.

Yes, that is one plant of Agastache 'Ava' that came from High Country Garden. in photo #4. It is a performer in heat and full sun, with good drainage. It came back after last winter, when I lost other Agastaches. I wanted to propagate to have more, but never got around to it this year. I need at least two more.

What you think were daisies are not...behind the pepper, that is Heliopsis 'Midwest Dreams' new to me this year. I added that in the middle of the bed with 'Raspberry Wine' Monarda thinking it would fill the space with some height, but so far that hasn't worked out. You can see the Heliopsis is just about on the ground, flopped over. You can see a few blooms of the Monarda above it and that is supposed to be at least as tall as the Monarda. I'm not sure what I will do for next year yet.