My Flower Garden Tour 2017, Part 1: Perennials

 Tomorrow is only the first of September, but Fall has arrived early this year to Northern Indiana! This past week's weather has been unseasonably cold for the end of August and tomorrow the forecasted high temp is only 68 degrees! Yikes! Perhaps I jinxed us in my last post when I said that we usually have several weeks of good weather left!

Today, I am posting pics of all my glorious flowers from this year before they bite the dust! I feel like even my flowers are sensing that Fall is near because they are subtly starting to fade away. So let's take a tour of my flower gardens before that happens!

I had a pretty good season for flowers this year. Things I thought didn't survive last winter made a surprise appearance late in the season and even my first year Dinner Plate Hibiscus bloomed! I started a new garden, added to my existing ones, and have decided to revamp all of my front porch landscaping next year. In fact, I've already started adding to it with a couple of clearance plants!

I'm going to break this down into two posts since I have so many flowers! Perennials and Annuals. We'll start with the Perennial plants first, which come back every year (hopefully!) 

First up is my new fave, the Hardy Dinner Plate Hibiscus!

 

I didn't know what to expect when it bloomed. I knew it was a red and pink combo of some sort, but there are several different kinds. I was pleasantly surprised!

This is my favorite picture ever!

It brings a touch of tropical Hawaii to my Midwest garden! Be sure to get the ones labeled hardy if you live in a non-tropical climate.

Next up are my Hydrangeas, beginning with my favorite, the Limelight Hydrangea. 

This was from this Spring when it first started to bloom. It's my favorite stage because of the bright lime green color.

Then they turn white and fluffy!

This sucker is so huge! I got this plant at Main's Flower Garden for half off (only $10!) probably 6-7 years ago. The first year, I misread the directions and cut it off almost to the ground! I thought I'd lose it! But it came back better than ever! It's now bordering on being too big for it's spot.

Here is the Limelight Hydrangea today. It's already starting to turn a dusty pink around the tips for Fall!

 

This was my Bloomstruck Hydrangea a few months ago. It's a beautiful purple color. I was about to dig it up because I thought it was dead due to a late frost when all of the sudden this tiny sprout appeared.

This is the Bloomstruck today! A flower bud has appeared! Better late than never! This winter I will definitely be protecting it better!

This is my shade garden area. On the far left is my pink Let's Dance Diva Hydrangea. It too barely survived the late frost, but it's come back nicely! My transplanted Hostas sure have thrived in the shade garden too! I'm on the lookout for more shade loving plants to fill in the rest of the garden here.

This is a fully bloomed head of the Let's Dance Diva. It's a little strange, but still very pretty. The little pink buds in the middle don't get the big flowers on them.

These are purple Balloon Flowers, aka Platycodon. The unbloomed flower at the top resembles a balloon, hence the name! They don't really spread much from year to year, so I will be getting more next Summer.

This is a new plant for 2017, a Spiderwort. I planted it in the shady creekside garden, but I may move it next year if it needs more sunshine.

After seeing the Bleeding Hearts at Foster Park this year, I had to get one for my creekside garden!

My most recent purchase was this Black-Eyed Susan and the Echinacea in the next picture. They are front and center in my new garden area around my garage.

This is Echinacea, otherwise known as Coneflower. I only fell in love with them this year!

My new garage garden area is looking good!

This Wisteria is a new plant this year too! (I am only just now realizing how many plants I actually bought this year as I write this post! I can't help it! I love them!) I planted it in a pot since I am unsure where it's forever home will be just yet. They are known to grow like crazy, so I have to find just the right spot! Hopefully it will come back next year!

One plant that will not be coming back next year is my Chinese Lantern plant. I love the orange lanterns it produces, but it has gone wild and completely taken over my garden! I can't ever just seem to throw plants away so I may see if I can re-home it elsewhere in the yard, but we shall see!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my 2017 Flower Garden Tour ~ The Annuals!