Nettle-leaved Mullein

I grew these two plants from seed this year not expecting them to bloom but here they are
Verbascum chaxii 'Album' meaning  white & the yellow, we'll just that.

 I thought I ordered the white but this one is yellow & just starting to bloom. I have had the so called 'Southern Charm' variety in the garden for 13 years & it's still going. Popping up each year.

 Since the circle has so much competition it really doesn't have many stalks at once. The summer heat wilts the flowers in the middle of the day but in the morning they seem fresh again. Spring & fall are probably it's best times & if you actually watered your garden during dry periods it would no doubt do better, My ornamental plants have to survive without supplemental water.

Deep rooted they are survivors not to be voted off the island. 

I once saw  these for sale at Plant & See Nursery but as with my own nursery experience they didn't seem to sell.

You can get seed from seed swapping/saving sources.

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=a432

Inland Sea Oats

It's August so the seeds of the so called River, Upland, Inland or Northern Sea Oats (Casmanthium latifolium) are starting to mature. Decision time for tidy gardeners. This lovely native grass enjoys some shade or even mostly shade & a moist environment although in shade it will tolerate dryish soil.
The most attractive aspect of this perennial plant are it's drooping seed heads which sway in the slightest breeze. 

The copious amount of seeds produced makes some gardeners nervous and in damp soil the seedlings can be a problem if you don't want, well,  a sea of sea oats! The easy solution to this is to cut the seed heads before they hit the ground. They make great dried arrangements either by themselves or with other dried material. Do strip the leaves as these can be messy later on.

If you want the colony just cut back in February as advised in the link below
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CHLA5

Small Flowered Zinnias

I have just two varieties of zinnia in the garden. This red type I saw years ago in a fall garden at Montrose in Hillsborough NC looking spectacular with dark foliaged dahlias. I have not been able to grow the Dahlias successfully but the zinnias come up from seed I saved from last year. Select Seeds, where I got the original seed, calls it 'Red Spider'. Here's what Monticello says about it.
Zinnia pauciflora was grown in eighteenth-century gardens and was sold by Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon in 1804. Like its larger-petaled brethren, pauciflora is an annual flower native to South America. The small, attractive flowers show orangish-red throughout the summer and are very different from the hybrids now so popular.

My absolute favorite  is Zinnia angustifolia (linearis) 'Star White'. It self seeds in the gravel driveway and makes a great border for a sunny site. I have tried it in less sun but it becomes leggy & falls over. I always buy a lot at Big Bloomers in Sanford at the beginning of the growing season and volunteers come up in June to be transplanted or not. (Those that escape the herbicide my husband uses for the weeds in the driveway that is!)

You can see the ones I planted at the back of this area & volunteers in front. Free draining soil is essential for this all summer until frost flowering annual.

Figs

The fruit is ripening on the 'Celeste' fig tree which this year is about 15 ft tall & almost as wide. I first planted this about 10 years ago further back in the garden to give it frost protection but there was not enough sun. Once moved to the edge of the gravel driveway it really took off.
I believe we will have to prune it down to a reachable height. The birds get a lot of the fruit. Mockingbirds sit on the overhead line & complain when we pick some for ourselves & Sandy dog really likes them but is not prepare  to harvest unlike our former furry friend who would pick the lower hanging fruit.

Celeste is a small fig but so sweet. Perfect with creamy blue cheese & wine, but what isn't?

The 'Brown Turkey' in front of the house was so distressed last year that I cut it to the ground this spring. It responded by shooting up as a multi seemed bush I think I'll keep it that way. A few small green figs are forming I wonder if they will ripen before frost.

http://pender.ces.ncsu.edu/2012/07/figs-the-forgotten-fruit/