Garden Bloggers Bloom Day September 2026

It's the 15th of September, and time to join other flower lovers for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

It's a beautiful, sunny day, and crisp. 

We are getting an early taste of fall in my zone 6a garden in the Southern Tier of New York.  Yesterday, it never got out of the 60'sF (20 C).  Last night they were even warning of isolated frosts. But soon fall will be here officially.  So, I have to get out and enjoy my outdoor flowers while I still can.

My front yard:

A fuchsia plant that my son gave me for Mother's Day.

Garlic chives in my overgrown front garden.

Sedum.

Sunpatiens.

Pink tall phlox.

Whitish tall phlox.

Last of the sweet peas.  They've reseeded so much that they are going to have to go. 

Let's go around the back now to my shady back yard:

Zig Zag goldenrod really took off this year.  I'm going to have to thin it out.

Japanese anemone.

Heuchera.

Cuphea "Torpedo"  I bought it due to its unusual shape but I think next year, I will stick to "Vermillionaire" or one of the other varieties that hummingbirds like.

Fuchsia "Pink Galore".

Pink turtlehead.  I like seeing bumblebees feed on it.  

I had toad lilies once, but they seem to have vanished, along with an aster.  My back yard has gotten so choked that I have hired a landscaper to thin it out - neither my husband or I, due to physical issues, can manage it anymore. Ditto for my front yard.  

As my garden approaches fall, I am also in the season some call the autumn of life.  If I need help with my gardens in this season, so be it.  As long as I can have it, I will be grateful.  Life is too short.   

Joining Carol at May Dreams Gardens for her 15th of the month Garden Bloggers Bloom Day meme, as it approaches its December, 2026 end date. 

 

Mid August Garden #ShadowshotSunday

August is over half over already!   

Bee on a hardy geranium flower. 

Sunpatien in my back yard.

Finally, an update on yesterday's blog post, where I stated I haven't seen any hummingbirds all season.  I saw one yesterday. I heard its wing buzzing when I was outside reading a book, looked at my cuphea plant and a female ruby-throated hummer was feeding on it.  Hurray! I wasn't in a position to take any pictures but that's OK.

Joining Lisa at This and That: A Blog for her #ShadowshotSunday.

Still More Day Lilies and their Shadows #ShadowshotSunday

Here are some day lilies in my garden for your Sunday enjoyment. 

This was taken July 14.  This photo is actually on its side because I liked how the shadow looked.

The next three were taken July 8.

Joining Lisa at This and That: A Blog for #ShadowshotSunday. 

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day July 2026 #WordlessWednesday

It's another two memes for the price of one day - Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and Wordless Wednesday.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day has been a years old meme. hosted by Carol of May Dreams Gardens.  On the 15th of each month, flower gardeners from all over the world take pictures of what is blooming in their yard and/or houses.  Carol is retiring from this meme the end of the year, so this is the last July installment.

In my zone 6a Southern Tier of New York, it's hot and dry.  Today, we are also enduring a bonus - wildfire smoke.  I feel for all those affected.  Fire is a terrible thing.  So most of these blooms are from yesterday.

My astilbe didn't make it until today, alas.  And, I also have a confession.  In the last two years, my flower gardens have been neglected (long personal story why) and are a bit out of control. I'm going to have to pay someone to help me get it into shape, but not this hot week.

Much of the blooming in my gardens is from the humble daylily, and I'll be sharing some of my daylily collection in a minute.  But first, some non-daylily blooms.

Bee balm, leaves wilted but the flowers still beckoning bees.

Yellow million bells.

Yellow loosestrife.  Lesson learned from this plant:  when buying a plant from the local extension service plant sale and they warn you, "this is aggressive", believe them, no matter how pretty the plant is.  I started from one plant.  I don't want to count what I have now.

Ditto for these perennial sweet peas, which we grew from seed, and now wish we hadn't.

One of several hosts.  

Now the daylilies 

This is my oldest daylily.

I bought this at the same time, I think.  It was from a mail order nursery.

Thankfully, these beauties don't mind heat or little water.

 

These are my tallest dallies, and good thing, as they are competing with other plants.

I'm going to call it quits now, because I'd like to visit some of you, so have a Happy Wednesday filled with joy.

Linking up with Carol at May Deam Gardens for her #GardenBloggersBloomDay

Linking up with Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.

Day Lily Season Begins

Here is a collection of my day lilies, taken July 1 through 4.  Their names, of course, are lost to history as I am terrible at recording gardening facts.

Most of these pictures were taken during a heat wave, but day lilies just soldier on. 

This is a reblooming day lily. 

Pink and yellow.

Another orange.

Finally, a large yellow.
 

These aren't all of them.  Several have shadows on them (like my lovely spider day lily) and I may post them next Sunday for Shadowshot Sunday.  

Flowers of the First Day of Summer #WordlessWednesday

To my Canadian readers a few hours from me, Happy Canada Day.  On July 1, 1867, the Constitution Act of 1867 took effect, creating the Dominion of Canada.   

On July 4, my country celebrates its 250th birthday. 

 I can't believe it's already July!  It's hot, too. I want to go back to some cooler times.  How about the first day of summer June 21 (for us in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway).

What was blooming on the first day of summer?

 My earliest day lilies, that's what!

The names are long forgotten but day lily season has just begun. 

This is one of two fuchsia plants I purchased from Select Seeds.   It's a variety called Pink Galore and I am loving those pink blooms.

Honoring Canada Day.

 Honoring our Independence Day coming on Saturday.

Times are tough, but I hope the friendship between our two nations can endure.

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday. 

Flowers of the First Day of Summer #WordlessWednesday

On the first day of summer, spouse and I walked in a neighborhood park and found these flowering plants Some I knew.  Others I used the built in plant ID application within my iPhone photo app.  Sadly, some of these wildflowers are actually invasive species, non natives that grow aggressively and crowd out native plants.  

Shall we explore?

A note first: I am far from a plant expert and depend a lot on my camera plant ID, which too many times, is not that accurate.  So if you know better, please don't hesitate to correct me.

Bedstraw.  Some plants called bedstraw are considered invasive; others are native.  I don't know which this is. 

Cinquefoil.  There is a native species and a non-native species. The latter is considered invasive.  I suspect this is the latter.  There are guides that give pointers for identification but this plant was partially hidden.

Common motherwort.  Yup, invasive.

Forget-Me-Not is not invasive.  But water-forget-me-not (which this is, according to my app) is. Sadness.

I know this one!  Crownvetch is a serious invasive.  When I first started gardening in the late 1970's, I remember these plants being sold in catalogs for erosion control on banks.  This is another example of good intentions gone way wrong.  It is also poisonous to horses and humans.

Creeping jenny is also considered invasive in our area. 

Finally, a native! Northern catalpa (Catalpa speciosa) trees are sometimes used in landscaping where I live.  They are native trees with showy flowers. After flowers, they develop long bean-like seed pods, which are not edible.  I had never seen one in this park before.

It's obvious that I need to sharpen my skills.  What a shame that so many of the "wildflowers" I saw are not welcome plants from other parts of the world.

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.

Flowers and Shadows #ShadowshotSunday

Today, on a day promising storms this afternoon, I decided to post a couple of shadow pictures from yesterday.

Taken at a local farm market.

My shady back yard, with shadows and golden hour lighting.  Nothing in this picture is yellow; the gold is provided by the sun's angle in what photographers call the Golden Hour.

Joining Lisa at This and That: A Blog, for her #ShadowshotSunday.