Bloom Day: August

 

Dawn Creek pastels Zinnia from Floret

Unfortunately last month's moderate drought has continued and my central Ohio zone 6b garden is looking rather crispy and the deer pressure continues to be high. But I still have some blooms, primarily the late summer stars like dahlias and zinnias.

Dawn Creek pastels Zinnia from Floret

Queen Lime Red Zinnia

Otto's Thrill dahlia 

This is the first year the deer have eaten my dahlias. They've been especially hard on the single dahlias, but seeing this Otto's Thrill dahlia finally bloom this week cheered me up.

A Floret Shooting Stars dahlia

This is my first Floret Shooting Stars dahlia grown from seed to bloom. It's also the only one to bloom so far thanks in large part to the insatiable deer. It's cute, but not quite a stunner like some I've seen.

I also grew some Cleome from seed and I absolutely love them. These ones planted in the ground are larger and more robust than the ones I grew in a pot, but they also get more sun.

Agastache Blue Fortune

The deer, and possibly other critters have been especially hard on my plants in the back, particularly the natives like rudbeckia, monarda, Great Blue lobelia and agastache. I'm not the biggest fan of yellow flowers in my garden, but I make an exception for rudbeckia. It's so cheerful and I hope to expand this patch much more next year.

That's it for my belated Garden Blogger's Bloom Day post this month, but you can visit May Dreams Gardens to see what is blooming in other gardens around the globe.