Garden Bloggers Bloom Day August 2014 - Orange is the New Red

The rain is over - for now.

In upstate New York, August is the last true month of summer.  We can (although rarely, where I live in the Binghamton area) get frosts in September.

Already, the days are noticeably shorter than just a month ago here, near Johnson City, New York.  The crickets are chirping.  The days can still be hot, but the nighttime lows, many times now, are dipping into the 50's (the teens, Celsius). Tuesday of this week, we got soaked.  But not soaked as bad as other places, some of them in New York State.

The weather can be scary.  Even now, the clouds have a science fiction type look to them.

But Garden Bloggers Bloom Day must go on.  And this month, I am going to concentrate on my container flowers.

In my yard, I have a number of container plantings and hanging baskets.  Some of these are light enough where I can take them in if frost (or too much rain) threatens.

This is one of my favorites - coleus with two type of begonias.

Preciosa Angel Earrings with Persian Shield.  This is what it looked like at the beginning of the week.

And this is what it looks like now, with the flowers open.

Yellow begonias.

New Guinea Impatiens with a different coleus, one I've kept alive indoors in the winter the last two years.

A couple of hanging baskets in my back yard, hanging off the clothesline.  Why not?

In one of my back yard containers, there is a mystery petunia.  It is a Vigaro variety, which I bought at Home Depot.  When I look at it, it looks brown and a bit (technical term) yucky. My son, in fact, asked me if it was diseased.  It isn't.  The foliage looks healthy.  In the photo, it looks more purple.

And speaking of color transformations, there is the case of my "orange" geranium.  My friend saw it at an Agway, a local chain of stores that service both farm and city, and bought it for me.  The blooms are bright orange.

Except when I try to take pictures of the plant.  The photo above is the only one I can get even somewhat orange.

This is how it usually turns out.  I guess orange is the new red.

Speaking of orange, there are my non-container blooms, including this peachy dahlia.

My nasturtiums did not do well this year, but here's an orange one.

Red dahlias, descendents of some a late friend gave me many years ago.  I think of her each year when we plant these.

Heirloom four o clocks, to end today's post. There are so many flowers in August that I can'tshow them all.

My Japanese anemones will be blooming in another day.  My hardy mum is budding. Can fall be far behind?

It's the 15th of the month, and it is time for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  Today, gardeners from all over the world blog about what is blooming - in their houses, in their yards.  Click the link above to see beauty from all over the world.

Will you join us?