October Colors

October harvest.

 

With the month of October coming to a close, my garden has been keeping me very busy! At the beginning of the week I harvested the Sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes) and sweet potatoes that I'd been growing in grow-bags. My sunchokes had reached lofty heights in September, with lovely blooms. I don't know if it can be seen clearly in my photo below, but those flower stems on the left reached nine to ten feet in height!

This year's Sunchoke harvest is the best thus far, enough for quite a few meals. The sweet potatoes were an experiment--I wanted to see how much I could get from a grow-bag of the same size. Not bad, but the yield may not be cost-effective, depending on the taste, I'll have to think about whether to grow them again next year.

Veggie pagoda with Sunchokes inside.

The nights are getting chilly, and our trees have been changing colors: the hickories have turned to gold, the maples red, and even the oaks are starting show a bit of color now. The back yard at sunrise this morning was completely transformed!

 

The back yard at sunrise.

My 'Autumn Blaze' maple is in its glory on the west yard, and the Kwanzan cherry in the front yard has turned to gold. The witchhazels have turned yellow and and starting to show some of their flower buds.

Fall being the best time to plant in our area, I've been expanding my beds, adding new plants and trees wherever I can find space. The badlands were extended to make room for some elm-leaved goldenrods that I acquired at our recent VNPS chapter meeting. Other native plant buys included a small spicebush sapling, two elderberrys, Sedum ternuum, a seedbox plant and a narrow-leaved goldenrod.

In addition, I had three tiny dogwood saplings that grew under the cherry tree in front and need new homes somewhere--one went in behind the elm-leaved goldenrod, the other two will get planted in the side yards, one in the east and one in the west. It will be interesting to see how these plantings develop over the next few years.

 

'Autumn Blaze' maple and dwarf Japanese maple Acer palmatum var. dissectum 'Viridis'

 Front of the house with cherry tree.

 

Not many flowers are left now--the snapdragons I planted this year are still blooming, but the aromatic asters (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) were nibbled a lot by the deer, so the blooms are not as full as on other years. In the past deer stayed away from the aromatic asters, though they ate all the smooth asters (Symphyotrichum laeve) but I guess deer will eat anything when they're hungry.

These late-season flowers attract many insects: little skipper butterflies, moths, wasps and bumblebees living out their last days.

 

Snapdragons

Aromatic asters

Aromatic asters

The seasonal changes in my flower beds always bring out some surprising color combinations, like the yellowing leaves of the Amsonia hubrichtii with the rusty flower heads of sedum 'Autumn Joy.' A few flowers of Agastache 'Blue Boa' in Herb's bed contrast with the dusty-green foliage of lavender--speaking of which, there are still a few flowers left.

Flower beds in the back yard

Late-blooming lavender

 

The Kousa dogwood is displaying its fall color, though this year it's hard to compete with the colors in the woods behind.

'Kousa' dogwood fall foliage

The pink Mums I bought this year are still looking good planted next to a clump of Muhly grass--such a beautiful color!

 

Pink mum planted near Muhly grass

 

Although the temperature has been dipping below 32 degrees these past nights, there is still no sign that a hard frost has hit any of the plants, I'm still waiting for Jack Frost to make his appearance. When that happens--and it will--I'd love to have it be a picturesque hoar-frost such as we had a few years back in early November. We shall see.

October 2024 Bloom Day

Sternbergia lutea.

 

The 15th of every month is garden bloggers' Bloom Day, when we share what's blooming in our gardens, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden Blog. It's mid October now and fall is making its inroads in my Zone 6B garden in northwest Virginia. Welcome to my garden!

This year I planted a few fall-blooming Crocus and Colchicums to brighten my flower beds--the Colchicums have already bloomed and faded--the Colchicum album was in bloom about a week ago. One of the lovely yellow Sternbergia bulbs I planted along the front walk opened a few days ago. Let's hope the others will follow and all will multiply for a more plentiful display next year.

 

The back yard from the deck.

Looking west from the deck.

Our trees are starting to show some fall color--the hickories and sumacs in the back woods, the Yellowood tree (Cladrastris kentuckea) and  'Autumn Blaze' maple on the west side of the house. The redbud trees have dropped most of their leaves, after barely changing to a dull yellow.

 

West side of house with "Autumn Blaze' maple and aromatic asters.

The east garden from the deck.

The Badlands bed in fall with Sumacs and woods in back.

 

The butterfly weed in the Badlands bed is dying out, with only a few aromatic asters and a tiny mum blooming. Herb's bed is still colorful, with Muhly grass, 'Autumn Joy' sedum, Agastaches and other perennials. The red Salvia there continues to bloom--the late-migrating hummingbirds who visited a few days ago were most grateful for the refreshment.

Herb's bed in October.

Agastache 'Blue Boa' and 'Firebird' with lavender and grasses in Herb's bed.

Red Salvia in Herb's bed.

There are a few blooms left on the climbing rose 'New Dawn,' and the berries on the 'Brandywine' viburnum have turned deep blue as the leaves change color.

'New Dawn' climbing rose has a few blooms left.

Viburnum 'Brandywine'

This is the time of the year when every garden center and grocery store offers those florists' Chrysanthemums in a variety of colors--and the sales are hard to resist!  I bought two new ones at Lowes, which I haven't decided yet where to plant.  

 

Pink mum.

White mum

I still have some of those Chrysanthemums I buy every year that I've refreshed by transplanting to different sites every few years, like this orange one here and the purple ones below...but they rarely ever look as good as the greenhouse-grown ones. The blooms of yellow mums are just fading--perhaps the white mum would look good next to them.

 

Orange mum in the long island bed.

Purple mums in the Little Indians bed.

I'm preparing my tender tropicals to be brought indoors for the winter season by staging them on the porch, where they'll get washed and disinfected before being brought in. The other annuals are at the end of their life cycle and will be left to the mercy of the elements. It appears that our first frost may not come until early November this year, but who knows?

Porch plants preparing to be brought in.

Last blooms of tuberous begonia in hanging basket.

In the meantime, enjoy the last of the late flowers. Happy Bloom Day!