Winding Down the Season

I was working on my plot today at Rutgers Gardens. Even though we are entering September, it still looks great.

The cleome is almost done, but looked so nice against the gorgeous blue sky.

The cosmos, initially "pruned" by hungry deer, is just beginning to bloom. Instead of rolled pink petals typical of Seashells cosmos, the blossoms are white.


The nasturtiums that had been looking very tired, have put out a second flush of flowers.


The Lime Green nicotiana has held up remarkably well, still looking as fresh as it did in June.


The Verbena bonariensis is past its prime, but still looking very nice.


I inadvertently violated the 3' (1m) height limitation with my cleome and cosmos, but the little sunflowers stayed at their promised 3' height.


The star of the plot right now is this Bright Lights cosmos. It's a single plant that was a volunteer from last year. Since this is supposed to be a cottage garden, I allowed it to grow, along with a couple of volunteer petunias and a whole bunch of Jewels of Opar that sneaked in from the Head Hatter's plot which is immediately adjacent to mine.

Along the edge of the parking lot at Holly House are some ornamental grasses. They are not labelled. They may even be volunteers from other beds. I took a lot of photos of them, but this one, where they are lit by the late afternoon sun, was particularly striking.