Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - October Summer

From near frost conditions in my garden near Johnson City, New York on Saturday morning, to mild temperatures yesterday (76 degrees F! - 24.4 C) to rain today - all that is certain that this will be the last outdoor Garden Bloggers Bloom Day in my zone 5b garden until next spring.

Brought to you by May Dreams Gardens, gardeners from all over the world gather on the 15th of each month to show what is blooming inside or outside their homes.

Where do I begin, on this October day full of rain?

This year, I managed to overwinter a scented geranium, so this is the plant's second summer.  These plants are grown for their scented leaves, not their small flowers.  But I like the flowers - so small and dainty.

Not like these ivy geraniums.
In my back yard are Japanese anemones.  This looks so much like the photo from my October, 2013 GBBD but I assure you it isn't. Bought about three years ago at a clearance sale, these have become one of my favorite fall flowers.

I have some newbie flowers to show you.
 I finally bought a toad lily plant - and it is flowering. It did surprise me a little - I thought the flowers would be larger.  But, it has been blooming for over three weeks - a pleasant autumn addition to my shade garden.

I bought this sage in April, at Plantasia in Charleston, South Carolina. We had no idea this event even existed - we visited Charleston in mid-April, saw the signs, and visited this annual plant sale.

I've blogged about my bad habit of buying plants in my travels like souvenirs, taking the gamble that they will survive my upstate New York winter.  The vendor felt this sage might survive.  As usual, the name of this sage plant exists only in the mists of time and my bad memory, as my spouse (yes, I'll blame him) once again got rid of the tag.
My white marigolds are still going strong.
My perilla (the purplish plant to the right of the reddish plant) is blooming, although the picture didn't come out that great.

My pansies are reblooming, but they look a bit eaten - not good enough to show my blog readers.

Please, now that you have seen my beauties, visit the May Dreams Garden website, and click the links to other gardens from all over the world.

What is blooming where you live?

12 comments:

  1. Oh! I love Japanese Anemone in the fall. Mine is pink and the flowers often spill over my 5 foot tall fence! A friend send me a start years ago!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your garden photos are beautiful and put my garden to shame. It has been neglected. I, too, purchase plants during my travels...needless to say, they do not always survive.

    Rachel recently wrote Gremblins Got You Trembling?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi - I like the concept of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - had never heard of it until now. It is Spring here in Queensland, Australia, so great flowers coming out now. I am a gardener without a garden these days, but still love to look after the pots that follow me around. The only bloom I have now is a Hippeastrum and some Petunias.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful flowers. I have a few, myself, like very few.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've had toad lily on my list for years, and finally should do something about it. Love yours. P. x

    ReplyDelete
  6. So pretty. I love those white marigolds and I envy your toad lilies. I'm still waiting for mine to bloom.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I might have to move my monthly garden update to the 15th instead of the 1st weekend of the month. Here in Southern California lots of my native plants re blooming like goldenrods, zauschneria, Apache plumes and the salvias are just starting to bud.
    Your flowers are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love all of your fall flowers, they are beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your flowers, Alana, are so refreshing! Don't let me near them - I'm a garden killer :( The most I can do is keep a bouquet alive for a week. Even wax flowers die in my presence ... We are now at the end of summer in Israel after months of dry weather. It will take a few months and hopefully some rain for our flowers to start blooming and then ... what a glorious site! Thanks for sharing and adding color to my day! HUGS <3

    ReplyDelete
  10. The Japanese anemone are beautiful, but it was your little white scented geranium that made me smile and brought back very fond memories of a dearly loved, gardening-mad aunt. She gave me a similar one many years ago, perhaps with more silvery foliage. Both the geranium and my aunt are long gone, but you've inspired to go hunting for another.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Beautiful flowers and garden Alana :) Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Beautiful garden and flowers, Alana. My gardens are starting to wind down now that fall is here. Some plants will go into the garage for the winter and go to sleep until Spring since they may not be able to handle the cold snaps that sometimes happen here in the South. But right now, things are still blooming and I'm on my patio every day enjoying them while they last.
    Blessings.
    Penny

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting! Your comments mean a lot to me, and I appreciate each one. These comments are moderated, so they may not post for several hours. If you are spam, you will find your comments in my compost heap, where they will finally serve a good purpose.