Color in October 2023

We have had a gorgeous October with cooler temperatures and nurturing rain.It's hard to believe that we are in the low eighties on Oct. 29th with a predicted high of fourty-nine degrees on Halloween.

The angles of the autumn light are casting many shadows.

A close up of my cheap and cheerful Dollar store decorated wreath with nandina from the garden. The flowers and pumpkins are from the Dollar store. The scare crow came with a gift bag. I knew I could use him one day. :)

First Love Dahlia- I had to wait until October for this show stopper to bloom. I planted these in May because we had such low temps in April. I will leave them in the ground to see if they over-winter in the front garden. I have a 50/50 success rate with dahlias. I sometimes bring the tubers inside for the winter, but even that doesn't guarantee success.

Of course the one plant that has blossomed faces East. You have to be coming down the street to see it. Another one is about to open that is front and center of the garden.

The one facing the street started to open today, Oct. 30th. I hope the coming cold front doesn't damage it too, badly.

The two pink anemones (robustissima) are doing great. Its hard to believe that I transplanted a third one this summer to my mother's garden. We never missed it since these are really large plants.

Close up of Carmine gomphrena with Southern Charm verbascum.

There is so much beauty in the neighborhood right now. These are just a few examples of neighbors' plants and gardens on our street.

Persimmon tree

Blue asters and yellow mums

I don't know the name of this plant, but the bees love it.

I think these are swamp sunflowers.

Autumn crocuses under a mulberry tree

Close up of the crocuses

Mahonia- surpisingly this faces West

Pampas grass ( I think.)

The view of next door from our garden room. Next year I will be ruthless, when I see any sprouts of the huge white aster/boltonia. I will transplant a couple to a side border, but the others have to go. This plant is great for pollinators, but it always dominates the pink muhly grasses and zinnias in this bed. I trimmed this plant twice this summer to keep it in line. It is still three feet tall and wide. Untrimmed, it grows to about five feet.

Back to our house..... Woods oxalis growing by the chimney.

Autumn sage, a wild aster and wild ageratum (blue) in the border by the driveway

One of my favorites, self seeding peachy salvia coccinea and wild ageratum. Coral Nymph might be the variety of the salvia.

Japanese aster growing under the white butterfly bush. Beautiful, but pollinators don't use it.

Heavenly Blue morning glories

Even bluer on Oct. 30th. The color is true even though the focus isn't very sharp.

Early Amethyst beauty berry and Arctic Sun dogwoods. You can just make out a few pink and white buds on the Moon Shadow camellia in the background.

Here's the best surprise of all! Numerous Eastern Black swallowtail caterpillars are feeding on the parsley in the herb bed.I counted fifteen. The good news is that they have a strategy to survive this late in the season. They will likely cocoon throughout the winter before emerging or can actually survive a mild winter in leaf matter. I was worried that there would be no nectar plants for them if they reached maturity soon.

I'll close this late October post with a wish for you to have a Happy Halloween! I'm ready for a little candy. Meanwhile, Ian is looking forward to our cold front.