Garden Bloggers Bloom Day October 2014

This might well be the last Garden Bloggers Bloom Day of 2014 that features outside plants. I better start fertilizing the Anthuriums so I'll have some winter blooms to post!

A lot of my blooms this month are from annuals.

My fall pansies (that I will leave all winter and get to enjoy again in the spring). These particular ones look almost psychedelic.

And, of course, I have a couple of mums, in bright, cheerful colors.

And this annual. I'm not sure what it is, but I LIKE it. It's had a nice lloonngg bloom period, too. If I see it next year I'll be sure to buy it again.

On to the perennials.

This Coreopsis redshift has done really well this year.

I added this Helenium Mardi Gras just recently. I have one in another spot where it's kind of hidden and I wanted one up front. Does it count if I bought it in bloom just a few weeks ago?

I hope so. Cause if not I can't count this Solidago spacelata Golden Fleece. I'm hoping it's one of the less aggressive ones. I hear such good things about Solidago as a plant for native organisms (like the tiny wasp in this image) but bad things about them taking over. This one is planted in the back yard where Piper, our dog, can potentially do damage. She does sometime like to run and dig (hence the support structure -  not because the plant needs it but for protection against the fuzzy menace.).

The fuzzy menace, herself. Unlike me, she likes the change in the weather and looks forward to spending more time outside, especially when it snows!

My Vernonia angustifolia Plum Peachy is almost done but the last of the butterflies are still finding a few blooms. Like the American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis) above and the out-of-focus Monarch (Danaus plexippus) below.

And I have a very few blooms left on Buddleia. Also a nice stopover plant for migrating Monarchs (Ok, I admit it, the photo is from a week ago but I've just been eagerly waiting a chance to post it and now's a good time, right?).

My Aster (Symphotricium) October Skies is still in it's full glory.

As are most of my Gaura (which really don't photograph well except on very, very still days, which we don't often have here at The Edge).

I'm even getting some reblooming on this tiny thrift (Armeria Amada Rose) that I have tucked between the bricks edging the bed and a small bird bath.

That's it for my garden this month. Thanks to Carol at May Dreams for this meme!

My favorite plant in the garden this week - "Aster" October Skies

It's October and right on schedule my Aster oblongifolium (or maybe Symphotrichum oblongifolium, depending on your source) 'October Skies' is in her full glory!

Just look at that. Four feet of gorgeous blooms.

Her blooms bring ALL the pollinators to the yard.

I'm just confused when I see that they're supposed to be about 2 foot tall. I've grown this plant in both North Carolina and Massachusetts and it's been about 4 foot tall in both places. I've also read that some people cut them back to keep them short. I don't know why. She's gorgeous as is.

As an added bonus she's a US native, not to Mass. but just to the West of us in New York state.

But this glory is bittersweet because when October Skies blooms I know it's almost the end of the garden season and the beginning of the stuck-indoors-wishing-I-could-get-out-in-the-garden-but-I-can't-until-spring season, the short days and long, cold nights season, the having to wear closed toe shoes season.

Can you tell I don't like New England winters?

thanks to Danger Garden for this meme.

To-Do list for late summer

I have a few problem areas that need new plants once the weather cools off enough to plant again...

This is the end of the Hell Strip by the driveway. The problem here is that the woman who plows our driveway also plows up anything I plant here. Since our driveway was badly torn up by her plow last winter we're thinking of getting a snow blower and doing our own driveway so I might be able to plant something there again. Or I could just put annuals there.

This spot just needs another lavender to go with the two on either side that I space as far apart as the label recommended. I guess the label was designed for people who like spaces between their plants. That would not be me.

I have a nice Helenium Mardi Gras that ended up behind some larger plants. The "grass" area needs to be pulled back about a foot when I install the brick border that I'm slowly putting around all my gardens.

This may look full but it's mostly "wild" violets. I let them act as a ground cover in part because they are easy to remove and they'll keep down more difficult weeds. I had a nice patch of Perovskia [Russian sage] here that died back last winter. The question is do I try again? It seems to do well in this area and I'm not sure why it died back...

This area is particularly problematic. You can't tell but it's full of tree roots and nothing likes to grow there. Even the "wild" violets are stunted looking. Some Liatris has volunteered for the area and I may let it take over (in fact I may spread seeds when my other plants go to seed this fall).

This one is an easy solution. My Campanula Pink Octopus has spread very well and it will fit nicely into this narrow space between my Aster October Skies and the sidewalk and they bloom at different times of the year. [The Aster name may be Symphyotrichium depending on who you ask. I'm going with Aster because it's easier to spell]

Support Your Garden

I have a chronic problem that plants in my garden grow larger than the tag predicts (and larger than the same plants in the garden down the street... I think it's because of the ritual sacrifice I do every spring). Sometimes these plants get so large they need support. If I was a controlling (and organized) gardener I would cut them back half way through the growth cycle so they ended up shorter.

I'm not that controlling (organized).

These are the plants that get too big for plant hoops.

So I'm experimenting. My Baptisia (that I wouldn't want to cut back anyway, it blooms too early) gets top heavy and in strong rains it tends to flop over - I'm trying chicken wire with the hope that new growth will grow THROUGH the chicken wire and hide it. We'll see.

My October Skies Aster (either Aster or Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) could be cut back. But I love it's oversized exuberant blooms in the late fall. I'm trying the square tomato cages. They're nearly invisible already, we'll see if they can carry the load.

Speaking Typing of tomatoes... They're always problematic. I got this idea from a neighbor. Tomato cages combined with stakes. The cages support the lower branches and the stakes are to support the weight of the tall plant. It worked when we did our community garden and had 8 foot tall tomatoes so it should work here.

Now we just wait and see which ones work and which ones look least annoying.

Or I could get on the ball and cut things back. 

Just not the tomatoes. 

Or the Baptisia. 

Hmmm... I think I'm sensing a problem...

Miscellaneous Monday

One of my best friends is coming to town next weekend.  It will be her first visit to The Edge and I'm both excited and apprehensive.  Excited because I haven't seen her in two years (she lives in California), apprehensive because my garden does not look it's best at this time of the year.

Sure my Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) October Skies is in full bloom [note to self - buy more of these next year!].

I've got a beautiful pot of ornamental peppers waiting by the door.

And my hollies are full of berries already.

But my Solidago (goldenrod) is past it's prime and likely to go down hill this week.

And I'm not a big fan of fall cleanup in the garden.  I like to leave certain plants to reseed like this Asclepias tuberosa.

Hopefully this Zinnia will reseed (who needs to buy annuals yearly?)

Other plants I leave the seed heads for the birds, like on this Rudbeckia Cappuccino.

Still others I leave the seed heads because they look interesting.  Have you ever seen anything like this Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum)?

But the California Girl is coming to see me.  And the fall foliage.

Like this Fothergillia.

She's never lived anywhere with a True Fall so we'll be driving around a lot, looking at trees.  Should be near peak fall color here.  It's not a great foliage year due to the dry summer but I'm sure we'll find something worth looking at.

In other news I finally got around to harvesting my carrots.  

I've only grown carrots once before and that was a dismal failure (in thick Carolina Clay soil) so I was very surprised to find these under ground.  I'll save some for you, California Girl!

I'm still procrastinating on the Basil harvest.  We haven't had a frost yet (knock wood) but we're over due so I'm really pushing it.  I need to harvest it, grind it up in some olive oil to make a pesto base and freeze it.  Better get to that soon or it will be too late!

So I have a lot to do both in the garden and in the house to get ready for company.  Besides mowing the lawn, dead heading what I'm willing to dead head, planting fall annuals like mums and pansies (if I can find any), and re-asphalting the driveway and sidewalk I also want to get the guest bedroom painted, the office painted, the houseplants trimmed up and a couple of them repotted, clean the house, train the dogs to be better behaved, renovate both bathrooms, lose twenty pounds...

Do you think I'll have time for all of that?

Promises

My garden is full of promises right now. 

Promises of blooms next month.

See how big my Aster 'October Skies' has gotten?  It's nearly 6 feet tall!

Here's my Autumn Clematis - I planted this earlier this year.  I'm expecting that this will eventually cover the side of the deck.

Promises of blooms next spring.

The buds on two types of Pieris.

Promises of blooms winter color and winter bird food.

My hollies have red berries, green (unripe) berries and blooms!

And promises of more, still needed, rain.  

 

Those clouds are from Earl.  We might get a sprinkling or we might get soaked.  I'm hoping for a soaking!