Summer's last hurrah

The yearly cycle of blossoms that begins in Vancouver as early as January with snowdrops and heavenly-scented witch hazel is coming to its usual big finish. Black-eyed susans, hardy hibiscus, asters, sunflowers, late roses and dahlias -- lots of dahlias -- are filling gardens with the summer's final blast of colour.

My own garden has shockingly few fall flowers, something I yearly vow to remedy but somehow never do, so I depend on the efforts of other, more dedicated gardeners for my annual end-of-summer fix.

Here are some of the colourful blossoms I have noticed around the city in the last couple of weeks:

Displays like this are why I adore the gardens of enthusiastic amateurs. No garden designer would ever give free rein to the sheer love of one type of plant -- in this case dahlias -- and fill a garden with it. Luckily, amateurs can do whatever they please. 

Every year, the dahlia enthusiast -- who lives in a modest house just down the hill from me -- puts on a similar fabulous display.

Mom always grew dahlias, and I think she would have loved these.

The dahlia border from another angle. You can see the gardener's small (for Vancouver) house in the background.

Rudbeckias, or black-eyed susans, create a sunny show in a back lane.

Another view of the back-lane display.

It's been a good year for roses, with enough sun to keep them happy. They are flourishing in this Point Grey-area garden, which also has several stands of Oriental lilies. You can see one bunch of  the pink lilies just above the light-coloured roses

Another look at the rose garden; I loved the variety of colours. 

Russian sage is beautifully purple and see-through on a street corner.

My favourite garden just below Fourth Avenue is featuring white hibiscus now. 

A blue hibiscus adds beauty to the front door of  a house near me.

This colourful planter welcomes visitors to a community garden in West Vancouver. 

Most fall colours are bright and intense, which is why this window box of pale begonias drew my attention. It looked like a wedding bouquet. 

I've never seen sunflowers in window boxes before, but here they are!

A mixture of  black-eyed susans with plum-coloured foliage makes a sophisticated border at Van Dusen Garden.

A stand of black-eyed susans is a blast of colour under a plain cedar hedge. 

This  community garden is always full of flowers as well as vegetables. In the centre, sweet peas climb a trellis.

 My own sweet peas in the kitchen window. In the background, the foliage of my garden, including white blossoms from the second flowering of my summer snowflake tree.