Don't be fooled. Inside this thin coating of sweetness is a fiery core of total insanity.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day -- October 2013

I can't do much out in the garden right now, because of my back, but at least I can walk around with the camera. And walking is good for me. I seldom realize just how much is blooming until I go out there to take photos.

Here's what I have to show off for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

Echinacea purpurea

Penstemon ('Blackbird' I think), whose flowers contrast nicely with the leaf splotch on my Geranium 'Samobor'

Yellow Corydalis

Penstemon 'Tubular Bells'

Erysimum is one of those plants whose flowers just keep going forever

I can always depend on Fuchsia magellanica to flower from spring to fall

Now is the time of year when Cyclamen coum makes its appearance

Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Golden Arrow' is so much happier since I moved it into more shade

Aster 'Purple Prince' has such tiny flowers

Fall is the time for Tricyrtis formosana to make its presence known too

This Aster, whose name I don't know, has been in full bloom for a while now.


I sowed Alyssum in this bed under cloches way back in February or March, and they are still going. Some of the seeds spread into the gravel of my neighbor's driveway, and she left them.

They make a nice contrast with the purple cloud of Aster

The Brugmansia that I bought earlier this year at Means Nursery in Portland is putting on a second flush of flowers.

This variegated Brug is not as far along, just starting to produce its first buds. I wonder if it will flower before frost.

I'm going to have to bring this Aloe glauca in soon.

Pink Begonia boliviensis

Bougainvillea from our recent visit to WeHop is looking healthy. I'd like to put it in a nicer pot, but I keep reading on the web how fragile their roots are, which puts the fear of God into me. Who needs a prettier pot when the flowers are this beautiful?

So far the only plant I've moved into the house to overwinter is my banana. Everything else is still happy out on my front porch, and in the gravel garden. We are having such a nice sunny week, with no frost in the short-range forecast, although the temps at night have gone down to the high 30s. Such a dilemma. Leave them out to benefit from the last rays of full sun, or bring them in just in case the temps go lower than expected? Well, it may be risky behavior, but I'm leaving them out till the weekend.

I hope you still have lots blooming at this time of year. Carol Michel at May Dreams Gardens hosts Garden Bloggers Bloom Day every month on the fifteenth. Go to her post here and check out what other bloggers around the world are showing off on their posts.