Catching Up (In Time For The Sept. Flurry)

I'm finally catching up with paperwork and plant sale preparations this week. We had lots of Grumpies today and an awesome group of "women weed warriors" including Geesje, Glenna, Marilyn, Michelle and Sandy. Most of the Grumpies worked on our "evolving" storage shed and got the roof shingled before some sprinkles arrived this evening.

Above is a beautiful herbaceous hibiscus hybrid called 'Kopper King'. This compact variety tops out around 4-5' tall and has 10" wide, light pink flowers with a maroon center. The leaves are also maroonish although seem to be a delightful snack for Japanese beetles. This hardy hibiscus dies back to ground level each winter, only to emerge in late spring, achieve height thru the summer and contribute these awesome blossoms in July and August. This variety was introduced by the famous Fleming brothers of Lincoln, NE. This plant does like lots of water though...
Lots of questions about the plant to the left that is prevalent throughout the gardens. This is the old-fashioned flowering tobacco (Nicotiana sylvestris) that tops out close to 6' tall with dangling white trumpets. These blooms are quite fragrant, particularly at dusk. This is the variety called 'Only the Lonely'. We plant lots of these annuals around the gardens. They tolerate part shade and provide a nice clear white. As the blooms begin to fade, we'll cut down the entire main stalk to encourage another new stalk with a fresh flush of blooms that will extend until frost. Nicotiana does reseed prolifically so babies next spring are imminent. We must have 500 of these at peak bloom in our reception garden.

I took another neat shot of Rudbeckia 'Henry Eilers' that I believe was in one of my blogs earlier. The petals are so neat on this plant and flowers are numerous on this 4' tall plant. This is definitely a sun lovers and is thriving in our English cottage garden. Lots of weekend weddings coming up so we'll tidy up the gardens tomorrow. It's a great time to visit as evidenced by 100s of visitors today.