August into September

It's hard to remember a nicer August. Mornings were cool, days were warm, but it didn't rain enough. We did get an inch of rain recently and everything perked up nicely. Lavender is beginning to rebloom-not as much as June, but still enjoyable and another chance to harvest. Pink roses in the garden are reblooming, too. What a pretty combo. Catmint is also reblooming. Its spiky, lavender flowers resemble lavender so it's also good with roses.

I really appreciate plants that look good late in the season.

Some things to enjoy now:
Annual vines-Mina or firecracker vine (shown to the right) is full and blooming with sprays of red, orange and yellow flowers.

Hyacinth bean are huge. Seem to be blooming a little late, but are loaded with flowers now and should be loaded with beans in a couple weeks.

Pineapple sage-Pretty, tasty red tubular flowers.

Mexican bush sage-Mine hasn't bloomed yet, but the flowers are fuzzy, purple and plentiful.

Winter savory is covered in white blossoms now, and the trailing variety will follow soon.

Snaps-Maroon and pink are both nice, along with some odd colored sports.
Along with marigolds, I think snaps, parsley and nasturtiums look better the later they go in the season.
If you have garlic chives (picture to the left), which are tasty and pretty now, with plentiful, white blooms, cut off the flower stalks before the seed ripens or they will reseed everywhere.

I use Labor Day as the time for last BIG harvests from woody-stemmed herbs like sage, thyme and santolina. This allows them time to develop new foliage before cold weather sets in. I usually include rosemary in the category. Mine is so big, since it survived the winter outdoors that I'll continue to harvest it till we get a freeze.