This August is burning with reds, yellows and orange. These colours were not so dominant last year; they were much more diluted by white, pink or blue tones.  However last month was very hot, I wasn’t at home and did no additional watering during these hot weeks, so many of my flowers bloomed shorter than usually. But still there are some blooms to enjoy. Yesterday I picked a big and cheerful bunch of flowers for my friend. It was so nice – my garden is finally mature enough to cut some flowers without making some damage for the general garden view and border consistency. Here are some blooms from this August bouquet.

Flames of the orange

Cosmos sulphureus from Ladybird mix are very bright. I expected them to be mixed colours, however all cosmos I sowed this year bloom orange. Maybe they have something in their petal structure but I get very bright, even blatant, highlights when I try to make photos of them. Very beautiful but also very challenging flower for me to capture.

I am surprised how perfectly daylilies endured heat and my negligence. Many of them are still blooming but the most burning is the old and reliable ‘Kwanso’.

Calendula officinalis ‘Pink surprise’ is not pink at all. Maybe here comes surprise 🙂 Well at least they are a little bit lighter than other cultivars.

Shades of the yellow

I was pretty careful about pompon type echinaceas, just could not decide if I like them or not. Now I can say I do. Echinacea ‘Coconut lime’ is much more delicate than my other echinaceas, and it started to bloom earlier. Not so many green shades as someone could expect from the name, but it definitely gained my sympathy.

Rudbeckias are my favourite flowers. I always wait for them to bloom. Love this storm of gold in my flower beds.

Heliopsis helianthoides ‘Loraine Sunshein’ is one more yellow spot in my garden. This plant is non stop bloomer through all the summer. Of course it is a good friend of mine 🙂

Crazy reds

You don’t need to have lots of red in your garden to make it noticeable. Helenium autumnale ‘Ruby Tuesday’ is a living proof of that. Last year it suffered from the mildew and bloomed sparsely but this year it looks like a sea of rubies.

Rudbeckia hirta ‘Cherry brandy’ is almost black. This flower was one more challenge for me to capture because of the velvet petals that almost don’t reflect light. Just did not manage to make a photo that would reveal the real beauty of this flower.

If flowers could have Godfathers, Scott Weber from the Rhone Street Gardens would be one for my knautias. Just could not resist planting some knautias in my garden after viewing wonderful photos of Scott. My knautias are very young, I grew them form seeds just this spring, but I already enjoying single graceful blooms. Thanks for this inspiration, Scott!

I think I will save other colours of my garden for September. Some more echinaceas, asters, roses, sedums, monardas, veronicastrums and veronicas, verbenas, eutrochium as well as some grasses are blooming, but I hope that the next month they still will be in the full swing. Summer evenings are not suitable for long posts 🙂 Happy GBBD! Enjoy the charms of ending summer and don’t forget to visit other gardens that can be found at May Dream Gardens.