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]