Sheer exuberance: The garden in high summer

In my last post I remarked about the crankiness of the weather this summer, and how it sort of compensated by creating humungous and gorgeous hydrangeas. There have been other plants that have reacted rather marvelously too.

For one reason or another, getting good photos has been a challenge some days. It's either been grey/foggy/dreary, or else I've been busy and haven't been able to get outside until the light is all wrong--too high in the sky, too low in the sky, or some other problem. I'm not a good enough photographer to compensate for those things, but tonight, the weather, the light and my macro lens and tripod united to help me get some pretty cool photos.

Large flowered clematis grow really well for us here, probably because the damp keeps their roots cool. But I happen to love this small-flowered tangutica clematis for its profusion of bloom and its fireworks as the flowers give way to seedheads.

Sunflowers are an instant smile to me, no matter what colour or size they are. I never get tired of them, although I neglected to plant any this year so we're reduced to a few freerange plants in the greenhouse. I was never good at math, but I love the geometric patterns of a sunflower's heart, and the subtle changes in colour as we head out to the rays.

I cut off all the spent flowerheads on my geums a week or two back, and 'Cooky' has rewarded me by putting up a few new flowers. The plant has gotten huge, too, so I'm hoping it plans to hang around for a few years.

Our coneflowers are coming on nicely now, but I'll have more to say about them when I get some more photos in just the right light. The sun was behind the house and was causing some neat effects just because of the way I had the camera positioned for this photo, but I want to get the subtle shadings of some of the coneflowers in just the right light. So expect yet another post on cones from me soon.

Talk about floral fireworks! The nice tidy geometry of the flowers and bracts of flat sea holly (E. planum)is especially cool when juxtaposed with the utter joyful lunacy of Allium 'Hair'. I planted half a dozen bulbs of 'Hair' six or seven years ago, and they continue to multiply nicely. They aren't huge or showy, but they're a lot of fun.

The Asiatic lilies are finished and the highlight of the Lilium season has begun: the Orientals and Orienpets are beginning to bloom. Their fragrance is intoxicatingly wonderful; I can be walking in some part of the garden and stopped in my tracks by the awesome fragrance.

My only problem is that I am not sure which are which. I bought quite a few bulbs a couple of years ago, but as so often happens, I've forgotten where I planted them. This could be 'Cobra'. Or 'Dorgogne'. Not everything is in bloom yet so I can't do a compare and contrast routine.

This is Orienpet 'Purple Prince', which was given to me by a grower from Truro/Bible Hill. I'm besotted. It opened up a few days ago and is just getting better and better. Only one problem; it's quite heavy, and one small stem with only one flower on it fell over before I could get it staked. The slugs devoured it right down to stamens and carpal. They haven't gone after the rest of the flowers yet, but i'm considering breaking out the diatomaceous earth tomorrow just to be safe.

And this is either 'Zagora' or 'Caravan'; I know I bought both and planted them somewhere...what I know for sure is this, coupled with the nearby bee balm, sea hollies and globe thistles, makes the bees and hummingbirds totally giddy. And makes me giddy too. And I'm all right with that.