We have had a cool summer for the most part here at Peacock Horticultural Nursery, with foggy mornings and low to mid-seventies in the afternoon.    Not that I am complaining, as lower temperatures mean less watering for me.   The following are  some of the plants that are blooming or bearing fruit this month:

• Asclepias physocarpa (Milkweed) –  Great plant to attract butterflies to your garden.  4-6′ tall with white flowers followed by lime green, balloon-like seed pods.
• Clerodendron bungei ‘Pink Diamond’ (Variegated Glory Bower)  – A beautiful 30″ shrub for part shade in USDA zones 8 – 9.  Blooms 3 – 4  months with fragrant,  pink  flowers.  Foliage is variegated with white and various shades of green.
• Clerodendron trichotomum (Harlequin Glorybower) –  A small suckering tree to about 15′  for sun to part shade in USDA zones 6 – 9.  Flowers are very fragrant and white, and in the fall bear bright blue fruits. 
• Colletia paradoxa, Colletia spinosa, and Colletia ulicina –  Nearly leafless, spiny, South American shrubs with white to pink fragrant flowers in summer.
• Crinodendron hookerianum (Chilean Lantern Tree)  – A 15′ evergreen shrub originally from South America with red flowers.  Grows best in partial shade in USDA zone 8b – 10.  Freezes may damage flowers or young growth. 
• Dianella tasmanica (Tasman Flax Lily)  – A 2-3′ strap-leafed perennial for the shade garden.  Blue flowers are followed by very striking deep blue fruits in summer.
• Eryngium pandanifolium (Giant Sea Holly) – A clump forming perennial for full sun in USDA zone 7 – 9.  The thin, spiny, silver-green leaves are 3′- 4′  and the thistle-like, multi-branched flower stalk can be 8′.   A very impressive plant in bloom!
• Hibiscus x moscheutos ‘Lord Baltimore’ (Rose Mallow) – A hardy 5′ tall perennial with large, red Hibiscus flowers from Summer until the first frost.  Dormant in winter and hardy to USDA Zone 5.
• Musschia wollastonii (Madeira Giant Bellflower) –  A rare monocarpic plant from the Island of Madeira.  Forms a large rosette of green leaves a top a woody trunk up to 3′ – 5′.  Produces a huge, multi-branched, pyramidal display of odd greenish-yellow flowers and then dies. 
• Puya mirabilis– A terrestrial Bromeliad that forms many 2′ rosettes of thin, spiny, grass-like leaves.  Chartreuse flowers are produced on 2-3′ stalks in summer. 
• Roscoea purpurea (Roscoe’s Lily) –A winter dormant perennial for part sun in USDA zones 7b to 9b.   Rich purple flower to 2.5″ in summer.