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!

Fall in My Garden

Swamp sunflowers (Helianthus angustiflolius) & Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)

Each year with the approach of the Autumn Equinox, the swamp sunflowers (Helianthus angustifolius) on the west side of the house begin their annual show. The date of peak bloom often coincides with my birthday and Herb's a week later. This year they were right on schedule despite a very dry September. 

Autumn Blaze maple turning red

West side of the house in the morning

The leaves of some of my trees have begun to turn, despite the unseasonable heat--likely due to a very dry month. The two photos above were taken within a week, and half of the maple's leaves came down while the swamp sunflowers and the purple asters began their show.

The back yard on an early October morning

This is the time of the year when I look to expanding my garden beds and increasing my stock of shrubs and trees. Seeing that my 'Amber Ghost' Japanese maple has now grown to a size sufficient to cast a bit of shade, I decided to expand the flower bed under it: a lovely Ninebark tree (Physocarpus opulifolius 'Amber Jubilee') in front, an unknown species of hydrangea in back, and three pink Agastaches on the left. The bulbs originally planted under the maple will bloom in spring: Mount Hood daffodils and Muscari armeniacum, whose foliage is emerging in the photo below.

Expanded bed under 'Amber Ghost' maple

West side yard

Here's what the yard on the west side of the house looks like these days from the bottom of the hill. Still has a ways to go before the trees begin to cast much shade, but remembering how bare this hillside was a few years ago, it's coming along nicely. This summer the artichoke plants grew well, but haven't produced any tasty chokes yet. If I can keep them alive through the winter, I may get some chokes next spring, who knows?

Replanted sunflower bed

Herb's sunflowers were setting seed in early September when one morning I discovered that all the flowers had been decapitated! Following the trail for likely suspects I found a couple of torn-off flower heads with scattered seeds at the edge of the woods in back, and it seemed to me that deer would not have easily bitten off a sturdy stem such as a sunflower's and dragged it off. No, a more likely culprit would be a bear--one could have torn all the flower heads to eat the seeds. It's known that bears happen to love sunflower seeds.

Taking that into account, it seemed wiser to replant the flowerbed with other plants that wouldn't be so attractive to bears. I had originally planned to expand Herb's bed to add other plants, and with the sedums beginning their fall show, I bought two new 'Autum Joy' sedums to put there, to echo the others in the Little Indians bed.

Fall is also a great time to take stock of plants that haven't done so well in their present spots and try them out in new locations. I transplanted the small clump of Muhly grass beneath the Seven-son flower tree to the new bed, as well as some yellow mums that were getting scraggly, being shaded out by the cherry tree in front. For a finishing touch, I added one of the three lavender plants bought at the Blooming Hill Lavender Farm when the Outdoor Painters of the Shenandoah painted there this past summer. We'll see how this bed will fill out over the next growing season.

The Badlands bed

The Badlands, as Herb calls the rear-most flower bed, seem to be improving somewhat. The purple aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) here survived the predations of the voles through the winter to put on a decent show--the other plant I had put in the Seven-son flower bed was completely eaten from the roots. The Shasta daisies in front developed only a few buds this year, despite being watered during the dry spell. The bee balm to the left of the Shastas was not doing well (probably too sunny and dry for it here) so I transplanted those to a shadier spot, and moved the native sunflowers (Helianthus sp.) in back which were getting chewed up by deer, to the front. I planted some of the prolific native mints from another bed to the back, in hopes of discouraging the deer. The Badlands have proved to be one of the most discouraging sites so far, but I'm determined to find some plants that can survive the onslaught of the weeds, deer and other rodents that assail this part of my garden, and flourish!

Chrysamthemum & 'Golden Globe' Arbor vitae

 Most of my Chrysanthemums got burned out by the late summer drought and haven't been much to look at this year, but a few plants in more favorable locations such as this one, managed to prosper. I hope to have a better show next year.

Purple aster

The original purple aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) is still the queen of the garden at this time of the year. It is simply covered with butterflies and bees all day long!