I am one of those gardeners that want to squeeze the life out of the growing season by making sure something is blooming throughout the months until that first freeze. I have found that in late February I get started with the Lenten roses and move through the spring with bulbs that turn bold yellow faces to the winds and showers. My summer beds show lots of traditional flowers as well as traditional bedding annuals. Then comes the fall. In early fall which is our mid to late September, I get the asters. Huge bushes of starry flowers that reach out across my walkway and crowd against the boxwood. They attract the smaller and larger bees but not too many butterflies. They have no fragrance, but their abundance is glorious.
Once the starry blossoms close their heads I then look forward to my chrysanthemums, which also have no fragrance. I bought four new varieties this year to fill in some bare spaces where other perennials passed on. (I have no idea why my font changed here!)
That last one in the photo above is my favorite with such a rich autumn orange. I pinch these back in August or whenever they want to bud so that I get a later autumn bloom and bushier plants. They still have to be staked. Yes, sometimes the ones you buy from the nursery in fall can be transplanted, but only the sturdy ones make it through my winter, so I get mums in the spring and plant them out at that time. Then in November, everything except the pyracantha berries and a few trees loses their color and slumber until the next season.
That orange is a perfect autumn flower. Love it!
ReplyDeleteGardeners like you bring joy to those of us who can't garden. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI think you have a slightly longer growing season than we do!
ReplyDeleteWi don't manage my yard for Color and bloom time but I admire the people who make the effort to have showy flowers all year
ReplyDeleteWe have neighbors who got to a lot of trouble to bring us beauty almost all year round. Thank you and others for the joy you share.
ReplyDeletethose asters are very pink! I never plant chrysanthemums, they just don't look real to me though these are very pretty. I usually have something blooming unless we get a hard freeze. if nothing else, the penta blooms. the little red african lilies that always bloom first starting in January have already started coming up! a little early as they don't usually start their foliage until late November. I guess the flood jump started them this year.
ReplyDeleteNothing quiet about those fall beauties.
ReplyDeleteFlat out lovely.