Bloom Day - October 2019

My summer flowers are slowly fading but my traditional autumn bloomers have been slow to make an appearance.

The newest arrivals are these:

The Anemone hupensis japonica came with the garden and aren't prolific bloomers in my climate but I love them just the same

Cuttings of this Plectranthus ciliatus 'Zulu Wonder' came with me from my former garden.  It's one of my favorite plants but needs a good bit of shade - and it doesn't much like being trod on by construction workers.

This is a Salvia leucantha 'Santa Barbara' I thought had died.  If you look carefully at the stem in the middle, you'll see a lurking crab spider.  They're suddenly everywhere in my garden.

Senna bicapsularis finally produced its first blooms this past weekend.  Despite a hard pruning earlier in the year, the stems are very tall, making the flowers hard to photograph.

The flowers of Vitex trifolia aren't especially impressive but the shrub itself, bearing leaves with purple undersides, is attractive

My cutting garden is still the source of the majority of my flowers.  If the following photos look familiar, that's probably because you saw very similar ones last month.

The dahlias are the flashiest denizens of the cutting garden Top row: Dahlias 'Bluetiful', 'Enchantress' and 'Hollyhill Karen Lee' Middle row: 'Citron du Cap', 'Labyrinth' and 'Terracotta' Bottom row: 'Otto's Thrill' and 'Punkin Spice' (Only'Diva' is a no-show right now)

I can't put names to most of the Zinnia elegans currently in bloom so I'll let them all go incognito

Other cutting garden blooms include: noID Cosmos bipinnatus (top), Amaranthis caudatus (bottom left) and Rudbeckia 'Denver Daisy' (bottom right)

Elsewhere in the garden, a few of the plants that bloomed earlier in the year are responding to our cooler nights with another flush of flowers.

From left to right: Bauhinia x blakeana, Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl' and Leonotis leonurus

Meanwhile a variety of stalwarts continue to put on a good show.

Abelia grandiflora 'Hopley's Variegated' is having a very good year

This bed, dominated to Pennisetum 'Rubrum', Lantana 'Lucky White' and Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', has stood up really well against the construction mess associated with our ongoing remodeling project

Although closer to the action, this bed containing Grevillea 'Superb' and Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' has also done remarkably well

Some of my Leucadendrons, 'Devil's Blush' (left) and 'Winter Red' (right), are continuing to put on good imitations of flowers

Pennisetum 'Rubrum' is such a star it deserves a second look

I'll wrap up as usual with the flowers keeping a lower profile this month.

Top row: Delphinium elatum, Eustoma grandiflorum, and noID Lantana Middle row: Lavandula multifida, Plumbago auriculata 'Imperial Blue' and Polygala fruticosa Bottom row: Salvia 'Mystic Spires', Trichostemma 'Midnight Magic' and Wahlenbergia 'Blue Cloud'

Top row: Aloe 'Rooikappie', Alstromeria 'Indian Summer' and Lantana camara 'Irene' Middle row: Euryops chrysanthemum 'Sonnenschein', Correa 'Ivory Bells' and Clematis paniculata Bottom row: Pandorea jasminoides, Phylica pubescens and Zephyranthes candida

Top row: Correa 'Wyn's Wonder', Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' and Pentas lanceolata 'Graffiti Pink' Middle row: Hemerocallis 'Plum Perfect' (another bloom spike!) and Penstemon mexicali 'Mini-Bells Red' Bottom row: Rosa 'Pink Meidiland' and Salvia canariensis

For more Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day posts, check in with Carol at May Dreams Gardens.


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party