Bloom Day - Thankful Yet Again

     Someone asked me tonight how I was liked working in the weather this week, which was more than just small talk considering we have been enjoying a remarkable-for-August spate of weather with crystal clear skies, lower (but not absent) humidity, and temps in the low to mid-80's. I answered that I was indeed thankful for the weather, but can take anything as long as it is not cold. It is bordering on late summer, and I still haven't forgotten February, and I'm not about to either.

     As for Bloom Day, I only have a few bits of color beyond green to show you. Let's start near the front steps. My former next door neighbors planted 3 Rudbeckia fulgida (probably 'Goldstrum') years ago in their garden, and the current owner has allowed them to grow with abandon. Seeds blow into my garden, and I keep what I want, the others are pulled. This one grows in a small crack in the concrete.

     Climbing above the Rudbeckia is the grape Nehi smelling, misleadingly named evergreen wisteria (Millettia reticulata).

     Begonia boliviensis 'Bonfire' is still blooming on the steps. I'll try to save the tuber for next year.

     I need to keep an eye on my Viburnum lantana 'Variegatum' so it won't be choked by an air potato (Dioscorea alata) planted in the same pot.

     After two horrid winters, I was afraid that my Cestrum aurantiaum 'Orange Zest' would not come back, but it did, though dying to the roots this year. It was later than normal to bloom, but has been going non-stop since early July.

      Red flowers are common, black foliage a little less so. Put them together and you have Dahlia 'Mystic Enchantment' and a welcome addition to a sea of surrounding yellow foliage.

     The flowers on my unidentified Haworthia look more like a spider than a flower.

     I moved Lantana 'Miss Huff' early in the summer, and she has been sulking and stingy with blooms. So I doubly appreciate 'Landmark Sunrise Rose', one of the best annual lantanas.

     If you would like to see what other garden bloggers have growing, then visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens, where a glass is raised on the 15th of each month for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.