What a difference a month makes! As Bloom Day approached this month I was looking forward to being able to showcase a still colorful late season garden packed full of foliage and flowers. However as she often does, Mother Nature had other ideas. Sometime in the early hours of Saturday, a hard frost took out most of my garden and effectively ended the 2012 garden season.
All of the tropical foliage and tender blooming plants were either blackened or reduced to mush. I do have a few stray shrubs and perennials still blooming here and there (all Abelias, Daphne x transatlantica 'Summer Ice', Geranium 'Rozanne', Caryoperis 'Sunshine Blue', Anemones, Aconitum, Gentiana scabra to name a few) but I stink at close up photography so after a few failed attempts at capturing them, I gave up. Perhaps a photography class should be on the winter agenda.
Most sources peg my average first frost date somewhere in the middle of October but I often don't get frosted until the end of October or beginning of November. At the very least, I get a few intermediary light frosts (which I usually dodge), before the big freeze. Not this year. I suspect this may be my last Bloom Day until next March or April. Thanks to Carol and
May Dreams Gardens for hosting this oh so useful monthly event.
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| Abutilon Souvenir de Bonne sailed through the frost with hardly any damage |
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| Berries on Viburnum dilatatum 'Cardinal Candy' mixes with spent flowers of Leuccsceptrum |
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| A single Echinacea 'Hot Papaya' amidst a monstrous pile of Eupatorium 'Chocolate' and what's left of a Salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue' |
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| A wider view of that area. |
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| Mums and Kale |
A few assorted Calibrachoa were protected by taller plants and spared an early trip to the compost pile.
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| Phlox 'Norah Leigh' making her third Bloom Day appearance |
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| Although I'm not enamored with this Hosta 'Red October', I'm impressed by the late season flowers. |
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| Sanguisorba officinalis 'Lemon Splash' and an unknown Agastache purchased as an annual last year. |
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| Beautiful fading flowers of Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight' with Itea virginica 'Little Henry' |
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| A Tricyrtis of unknown ilk |
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| My favorite Brugmansia spent Friday night safely tucked away in the garage. Keep those flowers coming! |
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| Callicarpa dichotoma covered with berries |
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| Another Bloom Day regular-Leycesteria formosa 'Golden Lanterns |
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| Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Golden Arrow' with a lone flower of Chelone lyonii 'Hot Lips' |
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| A Hydrangea paniculata standard that may be 'Tardiva' |
Now I'm going to cheat and post a few of the pictures I took Friday night before the freeze.
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| The Twerpster checking out Allium thunbergii 'Ozawa' after the frost |
Happy Bloom Day! See you next year.
Sue~
Ohhh, for an app that would provide smell on this post. I'd love a whiff of that angel's trumpet. Enjoy, Sue.
ReplyDeleteThat Brug is an unknown pass along and the best one I've ever grown (or tried to grow).
DeleteAhhhh... wonderful! You have a lot more left than we do here. It really had to have been down to the mid 20's Friday night. Howard lost the rest of his mums at the nursery...
ReplyDeleteI think it got below 30 here. With the exception of what was tossed in the garage, most of the tender stuff is gone. What's left are mostly late blooming shrubs and a few perennials.
DeleteI love twerp creeping around in the last photo! He is so cute!
ReplyDeleteYou wouldn't believe how many pictures I have to delete because he walks through just as I'm snapping the shot. Damn flea bag! :)
DeleteHahahahahaha! That's what Rahjii does all the time. He's always slinking into the pics.
DeleteJust realizing your Twerpster is a ringer for my Evie. How amazingly lush and full it all is, Sue! I love the shot of the walkway to the front door. I finally pulled my leycesteria out -- never flowers like that here, and it definitely wasn't digging the heat we've had. I can't believe that is all going to vanish very soon!
ReplyDeleteYou really have quite a bit still going on Sue! I lost track of the date after driving home from the coast yesterday and I'm a Bloomday deadbeat this month.In any case it looks like you have more action at your place than I do,zone 9 not withstanding.
ReplyDeleteI've only take a couple photo classes at the local Community College, but what I am really excited about is getting into Saxon Holts all day photo workshop on Nov 9th. The Community College classes really covered the basics well , and were inexpensive.
Maybe I'll check into something like that. What I really need is a new camera so people can't make fun of my giant memory chip anymore :).
DeleteI have very little left of the things you have posted this round: no Hosta blooms, no Tricyrtis, no chocolate Eupatorium. But, Leycesteria formosa 'Golden Lanterns' is still standing! Today I threw away 4-5 garbage bags full of annuals from containers. Then I pulled out my yarn and needles and sat by the fire, then went to book club!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe Letcesteria is hardy for you, Marie. Supposedly it's zone 7.
DeleteOff subject but what the hell...do you overwinter your Colocasia? And if so, how?
ReplyDeleteSome of them, yes in the basement semi dormant. So far the varieties I've had luck overwintering this way are Diamond Head, the straight C. esculenta, and Alocasia Portodora. However, I've found you get larger leaves if you break up the clumps and not let them get too crowded in their containers.
DeleteThe hard freeze not only took out the tender plants and tropicals and hostas, it blackened some woody plants --- my bottlebrush buckeyes are crispy and the redbud leaves are all brown. Sheesh. My Tardiva panicle hydrangeas look good like yours, but the serrata (and macrophylla) hydrangeas are positively heaps of black rubble. That freeze was such an aberration this year. Enjoy what's left!
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying what's left but also looking forward to a switch in activities for the winter.
DeleteVisiting from Denise's blog!
ReplyDeleteI'm in awe.
My garden pales next to yours. I realize how much work and love you must put into it.
It's just lovely.
Your Twerpster looks like my Ghost! :)
Thanks for visiting Cynthia! Yes, the garden is alot of work but I get lots of enjoyment out of the creative process.
DeleteI thought about bloom day but don't have much in bloom anymore. Your before pictures are awesome, but the after pictures aren't too shabby either. You have a wonderful fall garden.
ReplyDeleteThanks Michelle. I do plan for a later season garden so it's nice when things work out that way.
DeleteYou have a pretty bloom day and I love the colorful garden vignettes.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Participating in Bloom Day this season has been fun. It really makes you take a hard look at your garden at least once a month.
DeleteSue, your garden is beautiful and it's sad to see it all collapse for the winter. You're right, though, it gives time for different activities. Thanks for one last bloomday! Snow and frost on branches makes winter blooms...
ReplyDelete