September Sorrow

"September: it was the most beautiful of words, he’d always felt, evoking orange-flowers, swallows, and regret."
-   Alexander Theroux

                                                            

                                                  'Ann's Beautiful Daughter '

Flashback to a year ago-August and September had little or no rain but this year Hurricane Florence changed all that for many people in North Carolina. Here in the Triangle we had heavy rains and fierce winds but fortunately escaped severe damage. My heart goes out to all the people affected by this devastating Hurricane.

The last rose of summer -a special shrub I ordered from the Antique Rose Emporium flushed out its last blooms.  In the garden many plants suffered and died due to the excess rainfall. Lavender and Artemisia in particular do not like it. 

I have also been fighting Southern Blight -a fungus that's caused by excess humidity and my Ajuga in the roadside garden was hit the hardest. 

I've had no luck in growing Rhododendrons but found a beautiful specimen of PJM, reputed to be one of the easiest to grow so of course I was hooked.  

I also found this newly developed improved variety of Oakleaf Hydrangea to replace the one I lost last year.

This lovely 'shades of pink ' evergreen viburnum was added to my growing collection -now numbering 9 !  I love the fact that some of the viburnums are evergreen which gives an added season of interest.

The old saying to be careful what you wish for came true when lamenting the dryness of August and wishing for ample rain in September !   My newly planted lawn groundcover was washed away and I decided to replace it with Ajuga groundcover. 

The days grow shorter but not yet cooler as summer promises to hang on in October and we face yet another hurricane.