I wouldn’t call what my garden is doing right now “going strong,” but there are still pockets of colour in my perennial beds, despite (and perhaps because of) numerous frosts. Here are a few of my favourites:
Alpine strawberries
The ubiquitous Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’
Lungwort – a new acquisition given to me by a co-worker
Sedum ‘Matrona’
Artemisia schmidtiana ‘Silver Mound’ – silver and gold now
Lady’s mantle – love that bronzed look!
Veronica penduncularis – isn’t that foliage awesome?
The scabiosa I posted about here is still bravely putting up a single bright blossom, and my blue flaxes are just ending their second flush. The thymes never let up all summer long and are heading into freeze up without a break (that’s never happened before). The Campanula rotundifolia ‘Olympica’ is on round number two, as is the Silene schafta. As for the annuals, my snapdragons and calibrachoa can still pass muster, while the wax begonias I received from Proven Winners seem completely unaffected by the cool weather.
I figured that my new liatris would not flower this year (I planted ten corms this spring), but they all sent up a huge amount of foliage over the summer so I will look forward to blooms next fall. I fall-seeded some perennial asters, sweet Williams and a heirloom larkspur so we’ll see how that little experiment turns out in…oh…eight months or so.
I put in three dozen crocus corms yesterday afternoon, to add to my expanding collection (I suppose it only expands if the squirrels don’t get to them first!). While digging around, I noticed that the scilla and some of the muscari I planted over the last couple of years are sprouting foliage like mad, completely out of season. If our confusing and lovely autumn weather continues, I may have spring flowers yet before the snow flies! 😉
Which plants are your favourites in the October garden? Have you had any surprises?
Happy Thanksgiving to my family and friends here in Canada! I hope everyone has a wonderful day filled with good company and delicious food!
Flowery Prose. 