August is such a beautiful month in my garden. I have a hard time with cutting back. Everything is so lush and over the top. The colors mix with abandon, everything striving to take center stage. Misty mornings give way to hot sunny days. I live near a bay on the Puget Sound and when I wake in the early morning it is usually clear. The mists come down from the north and swallow everything in dense fog, leaving water droplets on all the plants and giving them the only water they will see for that day. I thought you all might like some pictures from one of these early morning trips around the garden.

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Heathers and miscanthus along the driveway edge.

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Love the brilliant pop of purple in the heather along with the hot orange of Crocosmia walbreyes

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Agapanthus blue magic with crocosmia Emily Mckenzie and penisetum orientalis.

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Hydrangea paniculata, Cersis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’, and Cotinus ‘Grace’. There is a little orange glass bird bath tucked in the center.

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Summer pond with geranium rozanne, knatia macedonia, and clematis integrifolia.

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Persicaria ‘golden arrow’, hedychium densiflorum (from Far Reaches Farms), Red Banana (Ensete ventricosum’Maurelii’), with my rusty girl in tropical garden.

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Even just variegated foliage (Canna, small bamboo, and annuals) make a lush summer statement.

I’m going out to cut a path around my gunnera and through the peony tree to get to the lower portion of the garden. I will remember and take a mental picture today. This winter I will bring it back to my mind and see again the massive leaves, beautiful flowers and sweet scents of summer.