August brings the garden into its most exuberant stage, where towering natives, vivid blooms, busy pollinators, and textured seedheads create a layered summer spectacle.
The Love of Silphium
Known in garden circles as the cup plant, these wondrous giants grow exceptionally tall, holding pools of water in their leaves like little cups. They shine brighter than the August sun in brilliant shades of yellow gold. A favorite of mine in the late-summer garden, their size and ability to dwarf even the tallest plants amazes me each season.
Silphium perfoliatum
Cup plant rising above the summer border in a bright yellow display.
The Asclepias Family
The Asclepias family, and the many milkweeds throughout the garden, add such theatre for pollinators and butterflies. Busy bugs, bees, and wasps swarm and flit among the clumps and waves of these pink and white beauties.
Milkweed blooms drawing close attention from garden pollinators.
An abundance of ironweed grows in great masses throughout the property, beckoning both pollinators and the human gaze. The tallest cultivars dance alongside shorter varieties in the meadows.
Asclepias clusters in pink, white, and orange, alive with late-summer movement.
Vervain in Motion
The miraculous purple florets of vervain create a hazy veil above the lower-growing natives, catching both the breeze and the butterflies. Whether planted in sweeping drifts or solitary clumps, these purple bursts sway hypnotically in the summer wind.
Vervain florets suspended above the planting, catching breeze and butterflies.
Electric Blue Echinops
The electric blue echinops, in all their prickly glory, begin to rise above the chaos of the summer grasses. Their texture and color are almost otherworldly in the orchard, popping up above the masses of amsonia foliage.
Echinops globes adding electric blue texture above the orchard foliage.
Joe Pye and the August Symphony
Joe Pye adds height, color, and an immense number of tantalizing florets for pollinators. I grow a few varieties in the wilder areas of the garden, each contributing structure and form to the August symphony.
Eupatorium perfoliatum, Eupatorium purpureum
Canadian Thistle at the Meadow Gate
Canadian thistle is a monster to most, but this gent is a perennial friend that I allow to return in this spot each season. I love its texture and the sense of danger it brings to its position beside the meadow gate. The butterflies and finches certainly appreciate its annual return.
A favored thistle standing guard near the meadow gate.
Echinops 'Hula Dancer' pops up here and there throughout the orchard matrix. The last blooms of calycanthus adorn Queen Jocylin's favorite throne.
Ligularia 'Rocket' blazes upward along the wooded coop garden.
Late-season garden portraits showing the layered textures, blooms, and habitat of August.
Together, these August plants turn the garden into a living procession of height, color, movement, and habitat, each one carrying the season forward in its own memorable way. August in my wild areas is always an adventure to wander through. I never know what local wildlife I'll find buzzing, flitting, or scurrying among the vegetative skyscrapers of August.
