Gardens of Late Summer

Oh, the colors... the bright yellow Rudbekia...the blazing red begonias, one of my very favorite the fuchsia colored Love Lies Bleeding, and huge balls of white hydrangeas! The light this time of year is so pretty, although I wish we could keep the longer days of July. The gardens still look wonderful. We have been blessed this year with a fair amount of rain woven in with some sunshine and now the dewy mornings of early fall keep the grass so brilliantly green. The cutting I took from my huge Angel's Trumpet plant has many blossoms and looks just magical, especially at dusk when the white blossoms seem almost iridescent. My roses are still budding and blooming. The hostas are pretty much done with their blossoms and each visit to the Lodge means a trip out to deadhead them of their long flower stalks. I have had less trouble than some years with slugs although their handiwork can be seen here and there in the  hosta beds.  This year's troublesome pest award goes to the Japanese beetle of which there were thousands this year. Tent catepillars have also been troublesome, attacking the fruit trees and the willows and found just yesterday on the viburnum. I wonder if they are more widespread this year because we have been eliminating their favorite tree on the land which I affectionately call "ironwood" for lack of a better I.D. These trees would just be COVERED in tents in late summer. I would get out my pole pruner and cut and burn as many as I could reach. Perhaps erroneously, I had thought be eliminating that tree, which is particularly unattractive anyway, I would eliminate them from the land... instead they just seem to be choosing other trees in which to make their tents.