October in the Garden

October is a month of radical change in our upstate NY garden. If we've been lucky enough to avoid a killing frost, there's quite a nice variety of plants still blooming during the first half of the month.
Our first damaging frost zapped the Dahlias and several other plants a few days before Bloom Day in the middle of the month, but a few of the hardier plants held on for a while afterward.
Even though I dread seeing the frost come, it can create a magic of its own.

It put a ruffled lacy edge on the blue bells of dwarf Campanula, seen here with white Alyssum,

sugar-coated the snapdragons,

Obedient Plant/False Dragonhead (physostegia Virginiana), which is still blooming,

Lamium (also still blooming),

.....and Wax Begonias.

A few honeybees have been spotted, still at work on the petunias earlier in the month,

And this little fellow on the Anemone de caen/Dutch Windflowers last Sunday.

Verbena "Homestead Purple" continues to bloom.

This is one plant I never want to be without. I usually find a few self-sown seedlings in the spring, and I also buy new plants in six packs at a local nursery.

I recorded my last sighting of a Juvenile Ruby Throated Hummingbird on September 23rd and couldn't resist putting its picture in this post. I'm completely amazed at their uncanny ability to find their own way on the long journey south, leaving a week or two after their parents. Nature is extraordinary!

Just before that frost we still had beautiful Dahlias blooming. This one is Eveline.

And here's Park Princess.

The multiple flowers of Bonny Blue in the New Rock Garden were covered in bees on this sunny day.

And a Monarch enjoyed the flowers of the still blooming Phlox.

The seeds for this Castor Bean plant were given to me by my friend, Marie, who generously passes along so many interesting plants and seeds. If I'd managed to plant it earlier it would've grown much bigger, but it grew quickly once in the ground and I loved those gorgeous big leaves. I hope to do better with it next year. You can see that there were still a few blooms on the Butterfly Bush during the first part of the month too.

Here's that same spot after the hard frost.

And the Clematis in the Lily Garden which blessed us with such late blooms this year.

Hannah explores near the Hydrangea Limelight, its lovely blooms now browned by the frost.

And look what she saw outside on the morning of October 16th!

Here's the view out the back door, looking across the snow-topped Cosmos to the Pink Garden.

That Friday actually turned into a beautiful day when the sun came out about mid-morning and melted the snow away very quickly. It was one of the few lovely sunny days we've had this fall.

Lately though, we've enjoyed a few more beautiful days, although they've been interspersed with some very wet days. Yesterday we had an inch and three quarters of rain, and an inch and a half last Friday night and Saturday.
In the photo above, taken last Sunday (October 25th), the Spirea glows in its autumn colors, while Lamium and Obedient Plant (on the left) are still blooming bravely, even after being cloaked with snow.

The Obedient Plant is past its glory stage, but still pretty. This is a real bee magnet.

If you click to enlarge this photo you can see it behind Tink and Isabelle, who were keeping me company on that cloudy afternoon.

Here's the New Rock Garden, still brimming with color near the beginning of the month. Dahlia Bonny Blue and Zinnias were putting on a wonderful show, amid other pretty annuals.

But that hard frost zapped the Dahlias, Zinnias and Coleus, and damaged most of the other plants. Only the pansies were unphased, and are still blooming today.

The yellow mounds are Lemon Gem Marigold. It hung on for a day or two, but quickly faded. I've saved seeds for next year.

So sad to see the Zinnias go. They made such a bright, cheerful display. Do you see the Sunflowers behind them?

They are self-sown from bird seed. Sprouting later than the earlier "volunteers", they gave us a lovely splash of late color, and now the birds are enjoying their seeds.

Sedum Autumn Joy kept its color well into the month. This photo was taken a week ago, on October 22nd. That Thursday won the prize for the most beautiful October day this year. The temperature reached a sunny 70ºF/21ºC. It was a glorious day to be outside in the garden!

Here's what the front yard looks like now.
I missed out on getting photos of the prettiest part of the Autumn because I kept waiting for a sunny day to take the camera out, when I wasn't working or running around doing other things. We've had a very busy month. Our fall foliage was rather disappointing this year, and most of the leaves fell quickly in the windy, rainy weather.

The red spot on the right is the dwarf Burning Bush.

These photos were taken last Sunday in the late afternoon light, hence those long shadows.

Green, gold and brown are the predominant colors now.

The large Silver Maple holds on to its leaves much later than the big old Sugar Maple in front of the house.

I think that little tree is a Sugar Maple too, but being much younger and healthier, it holds onto its leaves longer than the old one too.

And so the days dwindle down to a precious few.... and every opportunity is taken to soak up those glorious rays of warm sunshine, between the windy, rainy days, before Old Man Winter comes to stay.

I hope you're all enjoying whatever season you're in at the moment, be it fall or spring.

Before the Frost

Two hard frosts at the beginning of last week put an end to many of the flowers that were still blooming in the garden, sad to say.

The hardest loss for me was the beautiful Park Princess Dahlia which was blooming profusely, with many buds still waiting to open.

I took lots of photos of it in the weeks before the frost struck.

Blooming behind it is Eveline....

She's one of three Dahlias that I didn't get planted until early August, so I was happy to see at least a few blooms on all three.

The other two were planted in the Driveway Garden in the front yard.

This is Orion

And this beauty is Blue Bell.

Another plant I've been very happy with is this Argyranthemum (Marguerite Daisy) in the Pink Garden.

I overwintered it last year, and it has grown into a nice big plant. I think I'll try striking a few cuttings for next year and see how that works.

The Pink Garden still looked lovely just before the frost.

Here it is from the other side, with the Obedient Plant taking center stage.

Pretty as a picture!

There's a wild Goldenrod hiding in this patch. I let it flaunt it's lovely yellow plume for just a little while, but now that it's done I'll pull it out.

The bees love those pink blossoms! Click to enlarge if you'd like a closer look at the bee.

On the north side of the house the Gloriosa Daisies made a colorful splash, and are actually still looking pretty good. The cosmos also provided long-lasting color until the frost finished it off.

It'll sew itself next year.

It's such a carefree flower...

....and easy to move around.

I've absolutely loved the Japanese Anemones, and will be happy when they multiply so that I can move some to other locations.

Dance ballerina, dance!

This is the thought that comes to mind when I see their delicate stems and blossoms swaying gently in a breeze.

Only one of the white plants grew big enough to bloom. I moved some of them to this spot in the spring because they were being crowded out by Shasta Daisies. The move slowed them right down because it was during a dry period.

Wild Blue Yonder had some beautiful late bloolms

She was very photogenic :)

As was Sea Pearl

And the lovely Queen Elizabeth

Some of the Gloriosas are still undamaged by the frost, and the pink you see beyond it is Cerise Queen Yarrow, which withstands frost as well.

There's Miss Jasmine enjoying the late afternoon sunshine again.

A few of the Gloriosas in this clump are doubles. I never know what I'm going to get....they're full of happy surprises.

Petunias stand up to frost well too.

The Browallia bloomed right up until the frost. It's another plant that gives a long bloom time.

I did remember that I wanted to post a comparison photo of the Lemon Gem Marigold and the regular Marigolds. As you can see, the leaves are fine, and rather lacy, and the flower is small and single. For a better look at the flowers see my last Bloom Day post.

I love the colors and shapes of Nasturtiums...both leaves and flowers.

Sedum Neon...lovely while it lasted, and a real bee magnet.

Rudbeckia triloba is a relative to the Gloriosas...both are also known as Black-eyed Susans.

There are still a few blooms on the pretty pink Aster.

Down in the fence garden a few zinnias bloomed among more Gloriosas...

.....including the petite Lilliput Zinnias....

......and Whirligig

Around the corner of the same garden the bright rose pink Petunias made a colorful show, and there are lots of crab apples on the tree.

The Butterfly Bush had a nice mixture of new and old blooms.

Our Gladioli in the vegetable garden didn't germinate well this year. Of those that finally came, only 2 bloomed.

These were corms saved from last year. We'll buy some new ones for next year. We found last year that a large percentage of the saved bulbs produced white flowers.....a bit disappointing after the beautiful colors of the previous year.

Finally, here's a shot of Park Princess taken on October 5th, before the hard frosts. I covered it and the surrounding flowers with a sheet, but that wasn't enough to keep her flowers from being damaged.

Here's is the sad 'after' shot.

The Alyssum, Lamium and Marguerite held up well however.

It's a good thing we have the gorgeous fall foliage to ease us into winter. It makes the transition a little more bearable. Our weather has been gloriously sunny and warm for the past 5 days. I'd be very happy with at least 6 more months of this, but knowing that's not to be I'll just enjoy it while it lasts.

See you soon for Bloom Day!