August in my Garden

I can't promise such great photos and stories as the Italian Adventure but it's surely time to see what has been growing and happening in my garden this month.

The coneflowers have done well this season and make for goodlooking rustic photos - I liked the reflection in the birdbath here - but they do have a somewhat raggedy appearance.

There's basil planted in anticipation of a good crop of tomatoes. That little spot of red you see has been the only ripe tomato so far.

 And a full head of parsley to garnish and flavor summer dishes.

But ripening? That's just not happening to schedule. Usually I have several thriving cherry tomato plants that grow from seed. But with the very cold and long winter we had the much anticipated seedlings just never showed up. By the time I decided I couldn't wait much longer to get seedlings in there was not much choice left at the garden centers so I settled on a six pack of Rutgers variety. Fruit has developed as you can see but with the lower than usual temperatures and the number of overcast, dull days we have had there is only very slow ripening.

 Butterflies have also been very slow to appear. Ordinarily in late August I should be seeing multiple butterflies for much of the day on this butterfly bush. But it was only a week ago that I first saw this Tiger (?) Swallowtail.

 And a couple of days later this Spicebush Swallowtail showed up to visit the phlox.

The caryopteris (blue beard or blue spirea) are starting to bloom now and are attracting the bees.

 The hummingbirds are defying the lack lustre summer by appearing frequently at my feeder. Last week demand was so strong that I was refilling the feeder on a 24 hour basis but in the past several days it has dropped back somewhat. The birds seem to be very territorial and although there are four feeding spots at  the feeder an incoming bird would always first chase away whoever else was already there. I happened to be telling a friend, who has lots of hummers visit, that I had not seen two able to feed at once.

And of course the next day I saw this happening. The bird on the left sat quite happily feeding while the one on the right would take a few sips, back off and hover, take a few more sips, back off and hover.  I'll have to check back at the photos from last year and see how much longer we can expect to be delighted by the sight of these tiny birds in the garden.

 In the front garden there is a large number of echinacea (coneflowers) and salvia which are a magnet for the goldfinches but those birds are very camera shy.

I'll close with this last shot of purple petunias backed by more basil that has gone to seed waiting for the tomatoes! It has been a good summer for the crepe myrtle tree.

On the bright side the lawn is the best it has ever been in August so all is not bad!