August and the Annuals

This is the time of year when the annuals strut their stuff. The ample rains in the spring sent the cosmos growing. Some of the plants are over six feet. These, the most useful of annuals, produce soft green feathery leaves which fill in all the spaces now that the perennials have finished blooming. The other annual, planted in clumps in the perennial bed, is the pink lavatera, now unfolding in satin cups. The bachelor buttons (Jubilee Gem, a true blue) are blooming under the roses.

In spite of all this bounty, I was not able to find enough blooms to cut for the house. I like to run a continuous bouquet inside. I put the vase on the kitchen table where the flowers scent the room and are in full view. Roses, peonies, shasta daisies or lilacs married with the goat’s beard or baby breath make stunning displays but these plants have finished blooming for the season. Several perennials are not suited for cutting. The delphiniums and the monks hood do not last . Others, like the true geraniums, have floppy stems. Phlox releases hundreds of petals. Some of the smaller plants such as lily of the valley and the pansies make charming nosegay bouquets in a small vase but they too have come to the end of their time. Sweet William lasts well inside but mine are right by the patio and I don’t want to remove them.

So how to get a bouquet together. The sweet peas and the sea lavender, the best flowers for cutting, are still not ready. I planted no sunflowers this year. A vase of these look great as Van Gogh’s famous painting shows. So I pick a few of the emerging cosmos blooms here and there. Their stems look fragile but they are really quite wiry and so they stand up in the vase. I add a few bachelor buttons and monardas but the bouquet is skimpy indeed. So into the back lane I go to pick the ox eye daisies and this fattens up the group well enough to fill up a vase. I vase of daisies with a few colourful extras now sits on the kitchen table.
Tip. It’s not too late to plant day lilies and Asiatic lilies which are on sale this week