Labor Day Flowers: Perennial Border Edition

Happy Labor Day! Lots of flowers in the perennial border have come through summer for a second blooming. It's looking pretty good, probably due to our extra-warm spring pushing things a couple weeks ahead of schedule this year. That leaves us with more warmth and sun for the second bloom, so it's looking quite lush.


After a mid-summer pruning back, the Japanese daisies are re-blooming as fully as if it were June.


Our white echinacea is aging, but I like the dark seed heads for fall. So do the birds, but Fletch has taken to sunning himself on the stones right in front of this plant, so it's not getting as picked over as it otherwise might be.


The leaves of the stonecrop in the foreground are getting pink around the edges now that the nights are cooler. It's a great color combination with the spiky, bluish carnation leaves. Father back you can see a few red blooms of the bee balm I added when I overhauled the border back in July. Next year that should fill in that whole space and be much taller.


After an August hiatus, our white roses are back for another round for fall. The bumble bees are pleased!


Behind the roses, our garden phlox has done really well this year. This is its second blooming as well, but there was barely a break between the first and second blooms. These smell great, so I am glad they are in the back of the border, right outside our living room windows — the scent comes in on the breeze every day!


Finally, we have the beginnings of a hydrangea bloom. I was wondering if we would get any this year, and then I saw this little guy this morning. This might be the only one, and I'm really not sure why. This is our established hydrangea, so I was expecting a lot more out of it — last year it looked fantastic. I know that the newer, smaller one I moved out of the sun was going to be done for the year, but I'm not sure why the big one is being so fussy, especially given the great weather we've had. Maybe I'll be surprised with a Septmeber hydrangea after all?

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