Stop to enjoy summer colour in your landscapes

Summer colour

When I see colour in my West Coast summer landscapes, I feel great. I can’t help it. Clearly, my “office” beats any real office cubicle.

Summer colour is especially easy to appreciate this year after we experienced a super harsh winter. So in this blog we’ll take a break from rants, mistakes and science. Let’s just take in the colourful plants below.

I love Rudbeckia and Echinacea, especially when they are mass planted. Sadly, when they fade, you know summer is coming to a close. And soon thereafter we’ll see armies of backpack blowers attacking piles of leaves well into November. But let’s not rush into fall. We still have some summer time to enjoy.

Test yourself

Scroll through the plants below and see how many you recognize. You might have some in your own garden and some you might want to include in your garden next season. Common names are fine but botanical names are best.

Plug, plug

If you live on the West Coast and need help with basic plant species identification you can purchase my new e-book on Amazon. You will need a Kindle Reader application.

Common Strata Plants: A Guide for West Coast Landscapers
Since I kept answering the same plant species questions from our workers over and over, it struck me that perhaps creating one picture e-book would help. It covers basic plant species you will see in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland and Washington state.

The key idea is that I’ve done the research for you. You might be a condo owner and council member, new landscaper, avid gardener or property manager. This list of 100+ plant species is a good starting point. It’s not supposed to overwhelm new workers and it’s presented in alphabetical order.

Now go enjoy the rest of our summer and discover some neat colourful plants.