Still Blooming
Heading toward the end of summer when not many things are blooming whether because of high temperature, humidity, pouring rain or drought, there are still some diehard flowers that never disappoint me. Garden Phlox, Black-eyed Susan, Echinacea and Alyssum just to name a few. There are also some low growing shrubs and lovely weeds, yes weeds – that is what they are categorized. I do let some weeds like Queen Anne’s lace and Goldenrod grow. Not just because they are pretty but because my honey bees love them.
When I first grew Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata) years ago, I started with a couple of pink colored plants which are the most common. Then added white ‘David’ and an orange whose name I no longer remember. I let insects work their magic and now there is quite a large range of colors. I also realized that growing one or two Garden Phlox won’t do much in terms of fragrance. I couldn’t smell anything if I didn’t put my nose next to it. Now it’s another story. The whole garden is perfumed with a very subtle, soothing scent, which is more pronounced in the cool morning and evening air. Next spring will be time to weed it down a bit since the plot is getting too crowded. I tie a ribbon to the ones I plan to keep with a map of colors as a guide. The duplicates will have to go. I don’t know if there are any more colors out there but I still keep an eye out for them.
See more of the Garden Phlox that I added this year – Jenny- and the ones that our insect friends have created at AMAZINGSEASONS
Another flower that started to bloom in June and still blooms now is the Clematis ‘Betty Corning’. In order to induce the vine to produce new flowers I cut the spent flowers off. It has been a very meditative thing to do since there are so many of them but the result is worth it.
I also have Alyssum growing all over the place in both white ‘Carpet of Snow’ and purple ‘Royal Carpet’. Their fragrance smells like honey and they draw in beneficial insects as well.
These Alyssum will last until frost. I let them set seed so they will come back year after year. I’ve blogged enough about Black-eyed Susan and Echinacea so I won’t mention them again here but my appreciation for their hardiness and their ‘never fail’ ability to provide colors in the garden is always there.
Petals and Wings 
Your Alyssum is lovely and it reminds me to plan better for next year. Mine self-seeded for a couple of years but none returned this year.
The white one seems to self-seeded well, another story for the purple.
That has been my experience as well.
Watching the various colors of the phlox come and go through the years is one of my favorite parts of gardening. We started with a few specimens of red and white and now we have a whole range of purple pink and white. The red has gone wild back to purple, I suppose. Your method of tyying a ribbon to the specimens you want to keep is a really good idea. I should try that next year.
It’s fascinating to see their color range, isn’t it? I hate having to pull some of them out but it has to be done at one point to prevent diseases. If I don’t tie the ribbon to them, by spring I won’t remember which one is which.