Late Season Moments- Oct. and Nov. 2024

Our record breaking summer rain was followed by a very dry period which in my opinion limited the beauty of our late growing season. This year we lost our beautiful silver culinary sage, a lemon cypress, and a few Immortality Irises to the extremely wet weather. There were good moments in the garden though. The meadow style garden next door still had blooming zinnias in October which attracted monarchs and a clouded sulphur butterfly. I thought this was a perfect seasonal moment.

I decided to relocate some of our bushes this autumn. The hydrangeas are now behind our garden bench which receives part shade when the cherry tree leafs out. They suffered in the summer heat in their old location. Hopefully, the tree will give them the right amount of shade to help with heat stress. This was formerly a bed of liriope which was fine, but it was time for a change. I also carved out a little corner for the columbine seedlings that originated from Julie's gardens in Ft. Wayne. The seedlings have been in pots for a couple of years. I hope they like it in their new home. I think they will look great in this "magical" part of the garden. I have a few garden sprite statues dotted around this area which becomes deep shade as you venture to the far back.

I'm envisioning blue to pink blossoms poking through the bench next year. You can also see the recently transplanted Arctic sun dogwood to the right of the bench. This is the plant that sprouted from one of our three dogwoods after a few years. The blue pot has white caladiums in the summer. This autumn I transplanted a small Japanese anemone here.

The plan is to have green foliage in the pot during Spring and Summer. The hostas and columbine will have the color early in the season. Then we'll enjoy the bright pink anemone in the late summer to early autumn.

Three Arctic Sun dogwoods in their autumn glory. I purchased them years ago from White Flower Farm.

I've planted two variegated Jazz Hands loropetalums where the hydrangeas were. One of these plants was receiving too much shade in its original location to keep its variegation. The smaller bush is the new plant. Sadly, the Black Lace sambuca that was in this bed died this year. I won't be planting another one. This was my second one that died. They are beautiful, but don't seem to cope well with our extreme heat these days.

The older loropetalum sits behind two white azaleas. This area receives morning to early afternoon sun. When the sun swings west around 2:30 this area becomes shade. I'm hoping that next year it will be variegated again with more sun exposure. That's wild woods oxalis on the bottom right.

This is the new Jazz Hands bush. The bright green bush to the right is a Miss Lemon abelia. I think the color contrast will be quite nice.

I am starting to have a good collection of potted mums around the herb bed. Our mild winters seem to suit them. They return with lovely blossoms each fall. This also saves me from having to buy so many new plants for a temporary period.

I always feel guilty discarding a plant. (That includes poinsettias.) That vine between the pots is a passion vine. It has managed to find a home between the flagstones.

A couple of weeks earlier on Oct. 17th, this pale yellow mum which fades to almost white was in bloom. As you can see the potted Veronica were going strong. The white Ping Pong gomphrena was also doing well.

This mum has pretty flowers, but I need to give it more sun during the summer next year. The legs were quite bare even though the blossoms looked fine.

You know I have to include a Moon Shadow moment in this blog. I am happy to say that this sasanqua seems to be extending its bloom time like the Yuletide camellia. Yuletide blooms from October through December in our front garden. The Moon Shadow bush needs to fill out more, but it is getting there. It is at least six feet tall now.

Let's turn to the holidays for a moment.

Halloween night was a welcome distraction from the pending elections. The neighborhood had a good turn out. The weather was mild and the Elgin St. block party was in full swing. So were my chocolate candy cravings. You can see the leggy mum by the bench with the jack- o -lantern. Also, note that the lantana hedge on the left is still green on Oct. 31st. It's stopped producing flowers though.

I included the Halloween snapshot for a reason. The three pumpkins on the bench have become food for possums and squirrels. I haven't had that happen before. Normally, no one bothers the pumpkins. I put them on the compost bin after Thanksgiving.

I don't have the heart to remove the last two pumpkins yet. The squirrels are enjoying them so much! It is Thanksgiving a week from today so who am I to remove their feast?!?

Happy holidays and gardening everyone! Most of our gardening will be raking for awhile. We have tons of pine straw everywhere and leaves. We are happy to keep the leaves for compost. In the case of the deciduous forsythias they are self mulching when they lose their leaves. Thank you Mother Nature!