Page 12 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, AUGUST 15, 2025 Saugus Gardens in the Summer Here’s what’s blooming in town this week to make your walks more enjoyable By Laura Eisener I t sometimes seems that our gardens are a bit less exuberant in the “dog days” of summer, and indeed the hot weather and dry weather make our gardens need a bit more maintenance. Most gardeners by now are hoping for rain and tired of hours spent watering. Many of the long blooming plants slow down their bud production if the spent blossoms are not deadheaded, although not all plants respond to this. Many varieties of roses, including the popular knockout series of disease-resistant roses, can continue producing flowers into the late fall if the faded blossoms are snipped away regularly. Tickseeds (Coreopsis spp.) can also bloom from June until October if the faded blossoms are removed. These are usually available in yellow, but some varieties, such as ‘Shades of Rose,’ are pink, and there are even some red petalled forms. Despite the unpleasant sounding common name, tickseeds do not attract ticks, but the seeds have a shape similar to ticks, which is how it is believed to have received this name. They do, however, attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators. The varied species in this genus are all native to the New World, and many have a wide range from North to South America. Several species, the three most popular Rose campion (Lychnis coronaria) would not still be blooming now if it had not been deadheaded daily. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) being threadleaf tickseed (Coreopsis verticillata), mouse ear tickseed (Coreopsis auriculata) and large flowered tickseed (Coreopsis grandiflora), grow well here as perennials. Given the fact that most perennials have a much shorter season of bloom, these have some fine qualities in our gardens that make up for the need to deadhead fairly often. I would have to include the warning, however, that they are not especially resistant to rabbits, who may remove blossoms and leaves well before it is necessary! Another popular long blooming perennial is hummingbird mint, also sometimes called anise hyssop (Agastache spp.). Orange hyssop (Agastache auA very showy hibiscus blooms in the garden of Margie Berkowitch in East Saugus. (Photo courtesy of Margie Berkowitch) Little bluestem, a colorful native grass, grows along the rail trail in Saugus. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) This bee appreciates the blossoms of hummingbird mint, which attracts a wide range of pollinators. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) rantiaca), giant blue hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) and licorice mint (Agastache rupestris) are a few of the more popular species in this large genus. Recent new cultivars have made these plants available in a wide range of colors. They are known for attracting many different pollinators, including hummingbirds, bees and butterflies. One of the recent additions to my garden, Ambrosia hummingbird mint (Agastache ‘Kudo’s Ambrosia’), has flowers that are purple-pink and orange, while there are purple, white, pink, red, orange and yellow varieties available. One of the most eye-catching members of the hibiscus genus is rose mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos), also known as swamp mallow, and perhaps most descriptively, as dinner plate hibiscus, which gives an idea of the flower size. Margie Berkowitch has a plant absolutely covered with big, bright red blossoms, and she thinks it is blooming a little bit earlier this year than it has in the past. I counted about 40 open blossoms on her plant before I gave up in exhaustion, but there were many more, I’m sure, and more buds getting ready to open. While each flower has a short bloom span, they are certainly something to look forward to in the late “Shades of Rose” tickseed is a continuous bloomer for sunny areas if given some extra maintenance. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) summer garden. Far more subtle are the flowers of the grasses. In most gardens, we rarely see the flowers since what we see in most traditional gardens are lawn grasses, which are usually mowed often enough that they don’t get to bloom. Ornamental grasses are another matter, and so are the many members of the grass family that are grown for food. Members of this large family (Poaceae) — with over 10,000 species spread over several genera — are wind-pollinated so they don’t have showy petals, but some of them do have dramatic flower forms or colorful foliage. One of our fairly common native species, found in many meadows and roadside areas, is little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) — named for its bluish stems and leaves, which sometimes take on reddish tones as well. It has attractive seed heads, which often sparkle in the sunlight, showing up in the late summer. It is found in several places along the bike trail as well as elsewhere around town. Editor’s Note: Laura Eisener is a landscape design consultant who helps homeowners with landscape design, plant selection and placement of trees and shrubs, as well as perennials. She is a member of the Saugus Garden Club and offered to write a series of articles about “what’s blooming in town” shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was inspired after seeing so many people taking up walking.
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