The Early Summer Garden

As a wave of 90+ degree temperatures washes over North Georgia where I live, summer is just getting started. We are only 1 month into summer season so I will title this the early summer garden. One day I really should do a daily journal as to what’s blooming, but, in general, I feel like there is a bit of a lull between the end of spring and now so I’m happy to celebrate these blooms (especially since I’m still not going anywhere!).

Perhaps the loudest of flowers is the scarlet hibiscus (Hibiscus coccineus) both in color and form, reaching up to 10 feet tall by the end of the season. Some days there is only one flower, but one day this week there were four at once and I exclaimed to my grandson that there were “so many” of them. He has been dutifully repeating that ever since to whatever item is numerous.

Hibiscus coccineus with bushy St. John's
wort (Hypericum densiflorum) behind

Pineland hibiscus (H. aucleatus)

This week also brought on the delicate blooms of the Southern pineland hibiscus (Hibiscus aucleatus). The contrast of the white bloom with the burgundy center is just exquisite. I added a second plant of this late last year and I am hoping to have fertile seeds this year if I can get them to bloom at the same time.

This is peak time for black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia sp.) and I have 3 of them going now. I have the popular Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’ in a pot. The deer nipped one side but it is resprouting and blooming harder than ever. I have another one that is similar that I got from a friend. I think it is plain species version of Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii. The flowering on it is very nice and it does spread a bit. The third species blooming now is hairy black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), which is more of a short-lived perennial than the previous ones.

Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm'

Rudbeckia fulgida species

Another bright yellow is coming from the sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa) and the last of the bushy St. John’s wort (Hypericum densiflorum) which has had a very good year. In the back yard, the large cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum  var. connatum ) is just getting starting while the woodland sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus) sets seed.

Finishing up blooms is an assortment of blue flowers: Stokes’s aster (Stokesia laevis), smooth spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis), and American bellflower (Campanulastrum americanum), the last of which I mentioned in this blog several weeks ago. Bash the spiderwort if you want, but it has been fantastic this year. Also continuing has been the native wild petunia (Ruellia caroliniensis); the blooms are smaller but still quite numerous.

Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia)

Angelica venenosa

In the white flower department I have the almost-finished bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) and the newly-opened summersweet (Clethra alnifolia). Going strong is the petite aquatic milkweed (Asclepias perennis) whose pinkish buds open to bright white. In the backyard, angelica (Angelica venenosa) is blooming next to the wild quinine (Parthenium integrifolium). Two doors down, my neighbor’s Franklin tree (Franklinia alatamaha) is starting to bloom, and I walk down to look at it about every other day. My other neighbors’ buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) just finished up a great display, enticing almost a dozen tiger swallowtails to visit it for days (and restoring my faith that there were some butterflies out there somewhere!).

Tiger swallowtail on buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

So if you’re looking for inspiration on what to plant for this time of year, consider some of these. Oh, and how could I forget these – also blooming are the following: another flush on the native honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), summer phlox (Phlox paniculata, including my favorite ‘Jeana’), skullcap (Scutellaria incana), and two great annuals, the rosepink (Sabatia angularis) and scarlet sage (Salvia coccinea).

Rosepink (Sabatia angularis)