Late Summer in the Garden

Late August is surely the height--or just past the height=--of summer. The temperatures are as hot as they'll get. Many plants are in full bloom. I rarely appreciate "high summer." By this time I'm tired of being too hot and weeding has gotten old. And yet, my plants are reveling in being warm and large. So I took my camera to document the peak of the growing season.

The little French marigolds (Tagetes patula) that I planted this spring are about at their best. Their flowers are open and few are beyond flowering, maturing seeds. 

French marigolds, Tagetes patula

Red birds in a tree (Scrophularia macrantha), a perennial, has been flowering heavily for more than a month. They are so lovely!

Red birds in a tree, Scrophularia macrantha

A sign of the well-advanced season is that the tiny stiff goldenrod (Solidago rigida) shoot I transplanted in May is now flowering. I didn't expect it to get big enough to flower this year.

stiff goldenrod, Solidago rigida
Just the one stalk, but flowering

Other plants are well-advanced in making seeds. 

Here you see the red cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) flowers, but if you look closely, there are seed heads on the cosmos plant too. The white flower heads are carrots (Daucus carota), with a few flowers still open but most well on their way to being seeds. And, the red balls across the background are asparagus fruits (Aspargus officinalis). 

Growing season is ending; more developing seeds than
open flowers or buds in this picture

The silver maple tree (Acer saccharinum) is just about ready to release hundreds of winged seeds 

silver maple with seeds

and the apple tree (Malus domesticus) is heavy with fruit 

Apples on the apple tree are turning red

Apples are falling onto the ground, pleasing the yellow jacket. Many had already been bitten by a bird or squirrel.

The four o'clock (Mirabilis jalapa) is still opening flowers, but I harvested a dozen ripe seeds yesterday and there were more on the ground.

four o'clock, Mirabilis jalapa

High summer is also the peak time for insects, which enjoy the warm temperatures. I took this photo of the stiff goldenrod for the red brown beetle on the left, but also photographed three other flower visitors. Look carefully.

insects on stiff goldenrod 

I planted the squashes (Cucurbita species) for their flowers and have waited impatiently while the plants grew. But now I have beautiful squash blossoms each morning. The smaller plants are from the same squash which I grew last year. I think, being crowded, they didn't get anywhere near as much water as the big one did. But they grew and now the first of them is flowering.

squash blossoms

The morning glories are the same story. I put out a bunch of seeds in June hoping they'd spread to cover the space left open, where three yews were removed. For weeks I watched as they grew, were eaten by the local rabbit, and grew again. Now, finally, every morning there are beautiful blue flowers. (Probably heavenly blue, Ipomoea tricolor, but I saved these seeds long ago, labeled only Ipomoea.)

morning glory, Ipomoea

My stonecrop is flowering, one the latest to start to flower. This is Hylotelphium spectabile, formerly Sedum spectabile, from Korea and Japan. There are wonderful native American Sedum species, but this plant came with my house and is attractive and drought tolerant.

stonecrop, Hylotelephium spectabile

Its not yet fall, though. The rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa) hasn't flowered. In northern Colorado, when rabbitbrush flowers, you know the growing season is over: it makes a grand display but is the last abundant plant to flower. 

rabbit brush, Ericameria nauseosa
Buds but no open flowers (they will be bright yellow)

If you are not already doing it, celebrate midsummer before it is gone. Plants that struggled earlier are at their best, flowering is dramatic. It won't be long before cold weather sends the insects into hiberation, the perennials down into their roots, and kills the annuals. Enjoy big leaves and bright flowers!

Annual zinnias (Zinnia elegans),
as big as they're going to get and in full bloom

Comments and corrections welcome.

Kathy Keeler, A Wandering Botanist
More at awanderingbotanist.com
Join me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AWanderingBotanist