The Hot Peppers Are Enjoying The Day!

It is a beautiful day today albeit a bit on the hot side. We've been pampered with very few days in the 90s although today indicates 88 degrees and certainly feels in the 90s. Our hot peppers have needed days like this in July/August and hopefully will continue to develop and mature with this late season heat. Next Saturday (Sept. 6) is the Garden Festival that will feature this collection as well as many other vegetables, food and activities.
To the left is a neat hanging basket that we have in a shady location under our back porch. The intent here is to offer some "illumination" to a dark spot with bright gold coloration. The fern is a golden Boston fern (Nephrolepis exaltata 'Rita's Gold') and the trailer is golden creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia 'Goldilocks'). These baskets literally glow, particularly when they get hit with the last rays of the late afternoon sun. The creeping Jenny is a hardy perennial and can be planted as a groundcover. However, it is very vigorous and seems prone to earwhig and/or slug damage if used in that fashion. Our specimens at ground level have extreme damage but those in containers and hanging baskets are doing fine. We have a late summer "round" of hanging baskets that will soon replace the tired summer baskets with the intent of extending color. To the right is a shot taken in our shade garden. Note the colorful wax begonias in the back and the bold, tropical leaves of the caladium in the foreground. For a "grassy look", we've used the annual sedge (Carex comans 'Amazon Mist') for a nice, fine textured clump of color. Look to both perennial and annual sedges for a grassy look in your shadier areas. However, always (emphasis on ALWAYS) determine whether your perennial sedges are clumpers or non-clumpers. Many sedges are considered aggressive runners and will quickly overtake a garden and may take years to eradicate. I'm speaking from experience here. If you can contain a running sedge, that's great but realize that plant descriptions for some of these aggressive sedges use word and terms like "vigorous", "fills space quickly", "hearty growing", etc. In fact, these deceptive descriptions should read, "if planted, this sedge will make you regret your decision for the next 10 years as you attempt to eradicate your mistake while slowly going insane...."
Nice black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii 'Goldsturm') below in our sunken garden. This was the Perennial Plant of the Year in 1999 (selected by the Perennial Plant Association) and has a long bloom window. Be wary in damper soils as it does spread and essentially double in size every year. It's easily divided though and indispensable in the mid-summer garden.