Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: North
The middle of October. Got your pumpkins yet? And time once again for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, dreamed up by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.
Flowers are ever more sparse here at Tangled Branches North, but a few stalwarts are still going strong:
Self-sown Cupheas
Self-sown Salvia 'Coral Nymph'
Self-sown Gazanias
Is there a pattern here? Or better yet, is there a lesson here? Perhaps if I want annuals that still look good in October, it would be best to start them later?
Another lesson might be that Salvias like autumn.
S. guaranitica 'Black and Blue' is blooming profusely, maybe more than it has all summer. S. farinacea 'Evolution' is an iffy perennial for me, but it's still looking good too.
Then there are a whole bunch of flowers just barely hanging on, but I'm listing them anyway:
Solidago 'Fireworks'
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides
Hydrangea 'Pee Gee' (has 2 flowerheads that are more or less white; the others have faded)
Petunia 'Balcony'
Various Buddleias
Verbena bonariensis
Cosmos bipinnatus
Aster 'Purple Dome'
Calamintha nepetoides
Cyclamen hederifolium
I think that's about it. I'm shifting out of flower mode and into fall foliage mode. The grand finale is beginning.
Labels: in bloom
9 Comments:
Wonderful self sowers! I didn't realize the cupheas would do that, hooray! That is a beauty too. I do think the changing leaf colors are as good as flowers. Yours are.
Frances
new url
http://fairegarden.wordpress.com/
That salvia is really cool - happy GBBD!
Coral nymph is one thing - she'll put out for anyone, but self-sown cupheas and self-sown Gazanias??
Wow, is that cool, Entangled. Cyclamen may not be as showy as the vibrant leaves but they're pretty wonderful, too.
I'm too lazy to comment twice -when I saw the last post it reminded me not of snakes but of tendrils on a grapevine wreath. Maybe it's time to get out the Halloween decorations.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I love the Blue n Black Salvia. I bought one and once the first flowers finished that was it - its just sitting looking at me!!!
Frances: The self-sown Cupheas are mostly descendants of the 'Summer Medley' mix that Thompson & Morgan is discontinuing :( I'm going to deliberately save seeds this year instead of leaving it to chance.
I updated my Google reader with your new address, but maybe I missed it in my sidebar? Will fix immediately!
Arythrina: Happy GBBD+1 to you too! I've just been admiring your toad lilies and cyclamen. Must get some toad lilies - I think I'm the last one without them.
Annie: This particular cuphea is maybe even more prolific than the Coral Nymph salvia (see above to Frances), but the Gazanias were a surprise. They're in an area that's thinly mulched with gravel.
Grapevine? I still see snakes. I'll work on imagining them as grapevine tendrils because that would make me much happier.
PatientGardener: Oh, that's a shame about your Salvia. If it's hardy for you, maybe it will bloom more next year? It's supposed to be borderline hardy here, but has come back every year for 3? 5? years now.
Lovely! I am a total advocate of letting flowers plant themselves...okay, they can drop their seeds where ever! If it works, keep it up! The cupheas are delightful! I have been looking at them in a catalog for months! It might be time to just order them! I am still smiling at Annie's comment about Coral Nymph! So true! But fall seems to be the time that the salvias do shine. A very lovely post...thank you!
Gail
clay and limestone
Not bad considering it's October already and you live in the North. Love those salvias, all of them. Can't find that black and blue one here, I'm sorry to say.
Happy GBBD!
Gail: It always seems to me that the self-sown flowers grow better than ones I've planted. You gotta watch those Nymphs though - you never know what they'll get up to ;-)
Yolanda: The garden is definitely slowing down. I wonder if the Black & Blue salvia likes drier conditions than Holland offers? Just a guess...
I've got some self sown flowers that are also growing better than anything else right now. I think there is a definitely a lesson in that.
Thanks for joining in for bloom day.
Carol, May Dreams Gardens
Post a Comment
<< Tangled Branches: Cultivated, main page