BloomDay October 2015
Though much of the garden is exhausted from the rampant growth of summer and persistent drought there is still plenty of bloom action. Our nighttime temperatures are nowhere near winter levels and days are still climbing into the 80's.
Roses continue to grow and bloom..
Madame Isaac Periere
Brass Band
All Salvias are flowering in various stages, for this month it seems Waverly has the most action going.
The Tracheliums were flopping badly in August , so I cut them all quite low , not expecting much other than a bit of fresh foliage; all are reblooming now .
This grama grass -Bouteluea 'Blonde Ambition' -was planted quite late from a mail order nursery liner, and I didn't expect blooms this year at all ..only a few , but damn they're cute.
Chocolate Cosmos has performed well this year , a new edition to replace a tired and woody Santolina.
My biggest surprise though, is the rebloom on this unnamed Sanguisorba from Far Reaches Farm. I don't typically deadhead Sanguisorba but in this case it was in the way of an area I was reworking so all the bloomed-out stems and ratty foliage were taken down to the ground , and to my surprise I have new clean foliage and 4 or 5 new bloom stems . Who knew ?
Be sure to visit May Dreams for more October blooms , and happy Bloomday to all !
Roses continue to grow and bloom..
Brass Band
All Salvias are flowering in various stages, for this month it seems Waverly has the most action going.
The Tracheliums were flopping badly in August , so I cut them all quite low , not expecting much other than a bit of fresh foliage; all are reblooming now .
This grama grass -Bouteluea 'Blonde Ambition' -was planted quite late from a mail order nursery liner, and I didn't expect blooms this year at all ..only a few , but damn they're cute.
Chocolate Cosmos has performed well this year , a new edition to replace a tired and woody Santolina.
My biggest surprise though, is the rebloom on this unnamed Sanguisorba from Far Reaches Farm. I don't typically deadhead Sanguisorba but in this case it was in the way of an area I was reworking so all the bloomed-out stems and ratty foliage were taken down to the ground , and to my surprise I have new clean foliage and 4 or 5 new bloom stems . Who knew ?
Be sure to visit May Dreams for more October blooms , and happy Bloomday to all !
I'm considering grama grass and just checked them out locally, looking abysmal in gallons, green growth mixed with lots of dead growth, so I passed. Possibly better to start with smaller size/plugs? Madame Isaac P. looks flawless.
ReplyDeleteI mail ordered mine from Digging Dog ..and then bought two more when I went to their fall sale last weekend, so yes they were plug size. On the other had, if you bought a gallon I bet you could divide it and increase your investment value !
DeleteMadame has received supplemental water this year , the only one of my roses that was so lucky. She was grateful !
Will I ever get to see your garden in person? Hope so...
ReplyDeleteWell you are welcome any time Loree(except right now when it looks exactly like crap) but I warn you it's not nearly as interesting as yours! I'm re-doing two large areas this fall so who knows what it will look like next year..
DeleteEvery year Bouteluea 'Blonde Ambition' is near the top of my must-plant list, and yet I still don't have any in my garden. Next to Mexican needle grass, which we shouldn't really plant intentionally, it's the best grass to mix with succulents, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThat sanguisorba looks great, too. I assume it's handling the drought OK? From what I've read, it prefers a fairly moist soil.
I have to agree Gerhard re: succulents and 'Blonde Ambition' especially after seeing how terrific it looked mixed in with the agaves at the R. Bancroft last weekend ! I have a bit of a Sanguisorba collection and have tried to site them in areas that might retain moisture longer whenever possible, but they don't get watered any more frequently than any other of the herbaceous perennials in my garden, which is once a week at the peak of summer.
DeleteImpressive rebloom on the Trachelium! Maybe I need to try it, after all.
ReplyDeleteI've never cut it back so far in summer Evan, maybe that was the secret. Plus we have had nothing even approaching cold nights here so far. Annies says zone 7...
Delete