Here are some red phlox still putting on a nice show!
Plus some interesting late summer yellows ;)

Ooh, those red hibiscus are fabulous! :0)

My ornamental crabapple trees are covered in dark red fruit.

Which variety is that? A neighbour has a nice one with showy red fruit, and there's a nice hawthorn nearby with showy red fruit too. When it comes to crabapples what I really want is one with the edible fruit that I remember from my grandparents' orchard many years ago. I've never found any crabapples around here that had as good a flavor. My SIL had a lovely old tree when she lived in a small town in the Canadian Rockies. She hadn't realized the fruit was edible until we visited in the fall one year and I taught her how to make stewed crabapples :-) Every fall I check out farmers' markets in hope of finding the right ones....

I really like the red Hibiscus too. It looks nice with the echinacea and the berries on the Viburnum. Since my white Kopper King has been finished blooming for awhile now, I'm wondering if there are different bloom times for different Hibiscus varieties?

Woody, I remember having crabapple jam at some point and I still remember how delicious it was. I can't imagine how you would find the right variety. Sadly. Unless....you could find someone who produces jam and ask which varieties they grow.

PM2 - there are definitely different bloom times on hibiscuses! The first ones here are the pink Disco Belles, then the red Lord Baltimore starts to bloom, followed closely by the Luna Red. Then the Fireball ones come along a week or so later. A dark pink one (don't know the variety - it was supposed to be a red one!) and a dark pink Disco Belle seedling start a day or two after the Fireballs start showing color. I'm not sure where the Midnight Marvel we got a week or so ago will fit in since it was in bloom when we got it.

Re the crabapples - I have hopes that I may eventually find it at the market not too far from gardenbug - there are a lot of Mennonite farmers at that market and they sometimes have older varieties. We found some Alexander apples there a couple of years ago - another variety fondly remembered from grandpa's orchard.... I have no idea if grandpa's crabapples had a variety name or not - it was a huge, tall tree so it might have even been some wild or seedling apple. The tree at SIL's was smaller but, of course, she had no idea of what variety it was because it came with the property and was obviously an old tree.

... these apple memories sent me off in search of info on another of my favorite apples from childhood - see link. I'm never going to find that one again - not unless I went 'home' and hunted through old orchards....

Here is a link that might be useful: New Brunswicker apple

This post was edited by woodyoak on Mon, Aug 26, 13 at 15:44

Woodyoak, the crabapple in my photo is an American Spirit, but the fruits on my Profusion and Prairiefire look identical. I don't think these fruits are edible, except by the birds. Last spring, flocks of robins, and other birds, dined on them. Before that, I didn't think that even birds would eat these fruits. I think these trees are all some sort of Asian ornamental trees.

My grandmother had one of the old varieties of crabapple trees that you refer to, and she put up delicious spiced crabapples one year. I'm nostalgic for them too!

That's a pretty apple, Woody. I am sure everyone feels this way, but don't you think certain foods, fruits and vegetables especially tasted better when you were young? I wonder if it is an illusion, or if it was our 'young' taste buds or is it actually that it was tastier? :-)