Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

African Blue Basil

It's that time once again when bloggers follow the lead of Carol at May Dreams Gardens and post what is blooming in their yard.

Today is also Blog Action Day where the topic is Climate Change. I will be posting on some things you can do locally to help save your local environment and help the planet. If you like to eat you'll want to read this! Check back this afternoon.


On to Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

We had our first frost this week. It wasn't much of a killing frost, just a light dusting. Still I don't think I'll have many more blooms off of these zinnias unless we get one last warm spell this fall.


My Pineapple Sage has managed to bloom before dying back. It's turned out to be a huge plant, covered with blooms (not in a good spot for a big picture, unfortunately). I may try to overwinter it in it's pot down in the basement.


My other Salvias, like Maraschino here, are also getting a good bloom in before winter hits. Salvias are not common garden plants up here in New England, we'll see if they come back in the spring. I have my fingers crossed (excuse the typos).


October means October Skies, like this Aster (Symphotrichium) oblongifolis, also known as an aromatic aster. Just look at all the blooms. It's great to have a prolific bloomer like this just before winter sets in. I think I'll plant more next year.


My Caryopteris Dark Knight has also finally started blooming. I'm not sure if this variety starts late or if mine started late because it's new but I certainly saw other blooming earlier in the year. But now mine is making up for it.


I've also got a second bloom on my Society Garlic. It looks good next to the dark colors of the African Blue Basil (which has survived the frost so far).


The Gaura is winding down for the year. It has bloomed prolifically all summer. The blooms are held up in the air by thin stems. I haven't been able to get a bloom shot until this morning when the air was abnormally still (three miles from the coast - it's a bit windy here).


Many grasses look good without blooms so it's easy to forget that they, too, bloom in the fall. Like this Panicum virgatum Dallas Blues (Switchgrass). The birds will eat the seeds from this grass.


It's time to bring the Dahlia in for the winter, before we get our first hard freeze. That's hard to do when it's still blooming.


The Cosmos is looking worse for wear. It's about time to put this into the compost heap.


These pansies will last a bit longer. Down in North Carolina they would bloom all winter. Up here they're just a nice fall filler for some of those annuals that don't tolerate any cold weather.


This will be my first full New England winter so I'm not sure what I'll have to post next Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Maybe house plants. I hope I still have something interesting outside to show but I'll have to wait and see.