Who can resist the plant sales that start in August? It’s like you realize the winter is coming and if you don’t buy plants now, you’re out of luck till next May. That’s too long a wait to contemplate for me. Plus, I’ve gotten some of my most unusual and beloved plants in August. August is a great time for buying fall bloomers and prairie plants. For the third year in a row, I’ve purchased an exciting prairie plant. This one is “Aster azureus” or “Sky Blue Aster.” If you live in the middle or eastern part of the country, this is probably the same tall blue aster you’ve seen by the sides of the road and in fields. It is supposed to tolerate any soil type imaginable and still thrive. My kind of aster! I love asters, but have so much trouble with rust and mildew on my old-fashioned short varieties that I’ve given up on those. This will be a tall, majestic beauty next August! (Right now it’s a pathetic few canes, kind of like a Charlie Brown plant.) I planted it next to my white “Swamp Aster” which is also a prairie plant. Should be an outstanding combo. Also purchased on this plant sale shopping trip was Harvest Moon Coneflower. Not my showiest coneflower, but an arresting light orange color with a pretty cone. And finally, Plumbago or Leadwort. This was a groundcover recommended to me by my mother. It blooms with deep violet-blue flowers this time of year, when flowers are most needed. All three plants were rather root-bound (one of the hazards of late season shopping), but some extra attention opening the roots up should fix that. I wish my three new babies good health for years to come.
Late Summer Plant Shopping Spree
August 13, 2011 by Cait
Cait's Garden 
Harvest Moon was the first new coneflower I bought this summer and so far I’m very happy with it and looking forward to next summer. I’m not as thrilled with the other red coneflowers I bought because after a couple days in the sun, they fade to the same color as the standard coneflower. From now on I’m sticking with yellows and whites.
It’s good to buy coneflowers now (so you can see what the spent flowers look like)…or as a back-up, Google the variety before you buy. Often people will comment if they flowers have disappointing color fade. I agree with you about many hot-colored coneflowers. Years ago, I bought the Big Sky series “Summer Sky” and “Sundown” which are shades of pinky-orange to start, but fade to a rather boring washed out peach very quickly. The only red coneflower that I’m THRILLED with is Tiki Torch which stayed pure red for about 6 weeks and only now has faded to a kind of muted red-orange (which is still a better color than many flowers ever have). Seriously, buy Tiki Torch!