There are several ways to cool off a garden visually. The use of variegated foliage, white blooms, no blooms (just green foliage), and cool colors like blue and purple, are a few ways.
In my garden, for a visual cool, purple reigns:
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| Crape Myrtle 'Muskogee' |
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| Salvia |
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| Provence lavender |
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| Scabiosa (Pincushion flower) |
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| Indigofera decora (Chinese indigo) |
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| Rose 'Popcorn' is weaving itself through the Chinese Indigo! |
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| Vitex |
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| Althea |
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| This little aster is reminding me that soon the weather will be cooler, too! |
How do you visually cool off your garden?
Lovely cool shades of blues and purples, quite soothing to look at :)
ReplyDeleteI wish there were more true blue blooms in my garden, but I think purple goes well with everything, too. And yes, soothing to see.
DeleteI agree the colors are quite soothing to the eye. I think most of us are lucky if we have anything blooming at all. We started cooling down this week, hope it sticks but it is August so this is not usual. I am tearing out my 2 big beds out back. Almost finished now.
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
What a lot of work you're doing - in the heat, too! Be careful. I hope it cools down some for all of us, but I'm not looking forward to it getting cold!
DeleteWizualnie da się ochłodzić ogród na zdjęciach, szkoda , że nie da się tego zrobić w naturze. Pozdrawiam.
ReplyDeleteVisually, the garden can be cool in the pictures, too bad that you can not do in nature. Yours.
So true, Giga! It's still hot out, no matter the color of the blooms!
DeleteYour header photo, the climbing rose bush
ReplyDeleteis what I'm after. Maybe you can help me.
I put a good Blaze of Glory rose bush, from
the jackson and perkins catalog, into a
60gal container. Good soil and followed the
planting instructions to a T. It's not happy!
This all started in April and after only 4
months it's grown about 6' but the leaves
are starting to yellow?
What am I doing wrong? I don't over water it
and it gets about 7 hrs of sun...
Thank you ahead of time if you can help me.
Lovely blog and I so enjoy our photos.
Sandy
Sandy - If your rose has grown 6 ft, you're definitely doing something right! And without knowing the answer to more questions, all I can do is guess. First, stick your finger in the soil down past the first knuckle. Is it moist all the way down? Does your container have drain holes? Roses don't like it too wet, either. Do the leaves have any spots on them - front or back? Do you see any spiders or other small bugs? Are all the leaves turning yellow or just a few? If just a few, well, leaves do die, and they will turn yellow before they turn loose. Most of the time it's just a few leaves that will yellow and die, although, in the fall when the rose begins to go dormant, it's usually more. So, it may not be anything to be worried about. However, if your entire rose has yellow leaves all over it, then something is definitely wrong. Most of the time, something wrong with a rose will be one of a handful of things. Checking the soil and the leaves should give you a good indication of what's wrong, if anything. Hope that helps.
DeleteYou still have some gorgeous blooms in your garden. Your Althea is just so pretty. Have a wonderful week.
ReplyDeleteI have a white Althea and this purple one. The caterpillars (or grasshoppers perhaps) have eaten all the leaves off the white one. :( But this purple one is looking good!
DeleteVery relaxing photos indeed.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kelli!
DeleteYou have a lot of cool flowers...
ReplyDeleteI think the more plants we see, the more plants we want! :O
DeleteLove the title of your GBBD post. I once designed a "Hendrix Border" with all the flowers creating a purple haze!
ReplyDeleteA Hendrix Border! What a fun idea! I think we gardeners should put more personality like that into more of our gardens!
DeleteAh, purple. My favorite color. I love your purple-blooming plants. They are an inspiration.
ReplyDeletePurple is one of my favorite colors, too. Guess that's why I love purple in the garden!
DeleteI love your crape myrtle. I keep trying to justify buying one because they sell them in the home centers here, but I know better. I will vicarious enjoy the crape myrtles of all the Southern bloggers. :)
ReplyDeleteI once bought some lilacs. It was a fail. :( But I had to give it a try! Good for you for saving your money!
DeleteLovely cool photos! Growing dahlias means I can;t join the "cool" club. They are just starting and they are hot, hot hot! Though you could find enough colors from the hundreds available to make a cool pallette as well!
ReplyDeleteOh, I wish I could grow dahlias! I love hot colors, although it might be fun trying to make a "cool color" garden using dahlias!
DeleteI love lavender but I have the hardest time growing it. I have been slowly adding more purple in my garden...Russian Sage, verbena, catmint...
ReplyDeleteI grow lavender where I have had sandy soil brought in. I think it would not do well in my naturally clay soil!
DeleteHow lovely to have flowers and sunshine - we are soaked away here.
ReplyDeleteWe are starting to need rain here, so I hope your garden is enjoying the soaking.
DeleteWell I usually have purple and white but with drought not much but those hot colors bloomed...I guess I will wait until more rain and maybe we will see more cool colors...
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I wonder if your cool colors will shine when the seasons start to turn to fall.
DeleteLots of purple here Holley. I have it coming up in a post shortly. It just is that time of year that the blues and purples shine. Like you, I have aster, Scabiosa, Lavender, and Salvia in bloom, but they're not the ones I am featuring. I like the ones you have I can not grow like the Crepe Myrtle. So wish I could grow it.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's either lilacs or crape myrtles, but not both. I've always thought I would love lilacs more, but I have to say that since the crape myrtles bloom all summer long, I am actually now glad that they grow here instead of the lilacs!
DeleteLovely, soft, restful colors, Holley. Happy Bloom Day!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the cool colors! :)
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