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Noon Edition

August Gold

Our hot month of August was named in his own honor by Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus. Many August bloomers are majestic erect plants that match the color of the sun and luxuriate in its heat.

For example, the achilleas. Commonly called yarrows, they have flat, textured heads and some popular yellow cultivars are ‘Gold Plate', ‘Coronation Gold' and ‘Moonshine' all with grey foliage that is a good foil for the flowers.

Grey foliage softens plantings and also usually signals drought resistance, an added bonus.

"Sun" Flowers

All kinds of sunflowers abound an August too.

Many have names derived from the Greek word "helios" meaning "sun." Helianthus, for example, is the name of many American natives with yellow daisy-like flowers and "anthos" means flower.

Heliathus multiflorus, always has many flowers as its name suggests.

Roadside Beauties

One cultivar "Flora Pleno' had refined looking double flowers and resembles a yellow dahlia. It is a member of the aster family, as is heliopsis. The ‘opsis' part of its name means ‘resembling' so heliopsis resembles the sun and has yellow petals with darker centers or eye.

Its common name is oxeye daisy. (By the roadsides are the ubiquitous golden rods (Solidago) and the solid asters, a cross between an aster and a goldenrod, and "sol" also means sun.)

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