September Blooms

Today I'm linking up with Tracie at Fishtail Cottage to share some early September blooms. Heading outside in the early morning the other day to take some pictures, I wasn't really expecting a lot. To my surprise a couple of my favorites were putting on a nice show. It seems that most of the flowers in the "secret garden" are still looking good.

obedient plant and Princess Elizabeth rose

 The secret garden is new this year - it's a little corner of the garden which popped up after we put up the back fence. It's a small space between the old fence and the new - if you follow my blog you may remember that we repurposed some of an existing fence. But this is what the space looked like last fall just after we built the new fence.

Since this photo was taken, we've removed the farthest piece of fence and taken out the grass you can see and dug a new bed extending along the old fence. It opens the area up but still allows for (what will be) a rose garden.

Princess Elizabeth floribunda rose

So far I've got a David Austen rose, a couple of floribundas and a climbing rose (Don Juan). Right now the only one blooming is the Princess Elizabeth. Nestled in with the purple obedient plant, it's putting on one last show. I've been disappointed with my roses this year. But as Tracie reminded me the other day, I shouldn't expect too much from them the first year. Thanks Tracie. That really did make me feel a lot  better.

Buddliea purple emperor

Also still hanging on to summer is my little butterfly bush - I've enjoyed watching grow from a small 1 foot plant at the beginning of the year to it's end of season height of 4 feet. I know it's still just a baby, but the butterflies don't seem to mind that she's little. Can't wait for next year when she is a teenager and has a growth spurt.

After a slow start, the morning glories have finally starting putting on a show. I took a packet of seeds and threw them in under this trellised partition on the side of the patio - it hides the air conditioner from view. Love the pink colouring,  although I must admit I thought they were going to be blue. It's a happy mistake. I'll gather some of the seeds and start them indoors next year so we don't to wait until the end of the summer for this show.

Autumn is starting to show up in my garden with touches of colour that tell me that the cooler nights are here to stay. The chrysanthemums are budding, the viburnum berries are turning, the sedum is colouring up and even the dogwood has some red leaves. It won't be long before the maples start turning. Slow down, Mother Nature. I'm not ready.

And I'll leave you on my tip for the week. It's not pretty but does the job. To kill off grass in an area so that you can dig a new garden, lay a black garbage bag over the area. Leave it for a few weeks, uncover and dig. The grass below will have died off due to lack of light.

Told you it wasn't pretty. But it has to be done. Have a great weekend.