August in the garden

It is funny how we complain about what a long, cold and wet spring we had......and then when the heat comes, we complain about that too. As a southerner by birth, I grew up in the humid heat of South Carolina.....so i learned a few things about summer heat. First, don't fight it....go with it. Take shady naps in the middle of the day. Stay neck deep in any available water for at least thirty minutes to bring your body temperature down. SWEAT! AND LET YOUR BODY SWEAT! IT IS OK. This concern that one must look cool and calm at all times is ridiculous. We are all sweating anyway, so let's sweat together!! It is healthy to perspire, and it helps the body regulate it's temperature. Plus, the cool shower that follows in the twilight of a summer evening is one of the true luxuries of life. One of my most enjoyable routines is to walk down to the bay after a hot day of weeding and digging and mulching and have a peaceful, cooling swim. Summer is great.

Due to our delayed heat, the garden looks pretty good this August. This is usually the month when gardeners lose their sense of urgency and let Mother Nature have her way. But most of our roses and perennials have hit their prime this month and the garden is looking like some of those pictures we have used for inspiration all winter.

I want to sing the praises of some much overlooked perennials, that are both easy to grow and have added to the August glory in the Provincetown Garden. First and foremost is the Shasta Daisy. She is a glorious addition to every garden and we came about ours in an almost accidental way. A dear friend, a landscape architect with a wonderful garden in town, was doing some cleaning and dividing last fall, and brought us a goody bag of divisions. In a hurry last November, I spaded them in here and there, not really expecting much. To our surprise in June, all the divisions were up and thriving. Now the entire garden is sparkling with the crystaline white blooms of the simple Shasta Daisy. They have such a cooling effect in the gloaming of a summer evening and seem to catch the moonlight late into the night. They truly have taken "pride of place" and have become my new favorite. It all began as a simple, generous gift from a friend, and has turned into a constant source of joy for Partner and I. Funny how friendship works.

Other gifts from the goody bag were a new favorite goldenrod called "FIREWORKS", and once you see the blooms, the name will be obvious. There is a subtle elegance to this beauty. I admired her in Friend's garden and so he included a few pieces of her in his gift. Now she has found her place at the corner of the bird sanctuary at the back of the garden. Very exciting!

Echineacea "GREEN JEWEL" is a new favorite. Reommended by the international landscape archtect, Piet Oudulf, it is the most wonderful shade of lime green with a prominent cone in the center for the goldfinches to munch on this fall. We also have a maturing stand of the classic echineacea "WHITE SWAN", a real beauty when planted in masses (no less than 5 plants in a mass). We are going to increase the amount of echinecea in our garden for next year. They are easy, beautiful and add an element of antique grace to the garden.

Nicotiana, or Flowering tobacco, is our "signature" plant and we love it most at this time of year. It loves the heat, and shows itself to full advantage when it is warm. The most impressive is Nicotians sylvestris. It is five feet tall with candelabras of long white tubular flowers. On a humid summer night, the perfume from these flowers is the stuff of dreams, so plant them near a porch or open window. Nicotiana landsdorffi is a species of flowering tobacco that we will never be without no matter where we live. It has delicate chartreuse bells that self seed everywhere. This plant is like a good party guest: it makes all the other plants in the garden look better by asscociation. The green of this plant mixes beautifully with oranges and reds to "cool them down", or with greys and whites to create a soothing meditative mood.

Coreopsis , or tickseed, is another favorite of mine (not Partner's), but it self seeds and comes up wherever it deems appropriate. I love it's starlike flowers on long stems that catch every breeze. And now there are so many interesting new colors avaialble, but my favorite is still the classic "MOONBEAM" with it's soft lemon yellow flowers.

Daylilies are a gift from God. I love them. They are an honest flower. They are uncomplicated, They work hard. And when they are happy, they blossom like there is no tomorrow! We planted many different varieties last fall, but i have come to prefer the tall lemon yellows most of all. The most wonderful variety is "HYPERION". The flower shape is elegant, the bloom scape is long, the color is subltle, the fragrance is intoxicating and it combines with everything else in the garden to great effect. I know it could be considered a "common variety", but what's wrong with that? Sometimes familiar is nice. Plus, I love peanut butter sandwiches, so that may explain alot. Plant huge masses of daylilies, don't piddle around with one plant here and another there. plant at least ten plants of a variety. This was never made more clear to me than our trip to an island community in Maine this summer. When visiting relatives in a an old cottage by the sea, i went for a walk when conversation lagged. I walked around the house, and on the entire western side of the clapboard cottage was a six foot wide by twenty foot border of orange daylilies! the common orange daylily---- but it was planted (albeit forty yeas ago!) in such abundance, that it was a celebration of summer in it's exhuberant simplicity. Fantastic, and perfect. It was a perfect moment.

I guess what i am trying to say is this: don't overlook simplicity in choosing plants for the August garden. Things are called "common" because they have WORKED FOR GENERATIONS. And if it was good enough for Grandmother, it is fine for me. The romance and novelty of the catalogs is very alluring, and i won't pretend that I still don't fall victim to it now and again...........but when all is said and done, give me the old fashion girls! They know who they are and they know how to grow.....and most often, when the going is tough (in the August sun) they are the ones that are the most dependable.

Stay cool!