Wildflower Wednesday September 2012

Welcome to my Wildflower Wednesday post, to see others go to Clay and Limestone, hosted by Gail who has lots of lovely blooms in the Aster family.    Not much blooming in the native category in my yard now, we still are waiting for the rainy season to start, it's very dry.  The Fireweed has finished and is about to blow.   The Chaste tree blooms make a nice purple-

The Pearly Everlasting is past its prime-

The Kinnikinnick, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, has bright red berries-

Lonicera ciliosa also had red berries-

And for some edible berries, a little past prime, some Berberis (Mahonia) nervosa-

and finally, some Salal berries.   I'll have to get some picked and make some gelatin with them.

Happy Fall!   Hannah

Foliage Follow-Up September 2012

Here is my first contribution to Foliage Follow-Up, to join in the other posts go to Foliage Follow-Up, hosted by Pam, who has a lovely silvery garden on display, and Mangaves, and Yuccas, oh my!  My more mundane plants include this group of variegated plants; Lonicera nitida, Vinca major, and  Zebra grass, Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus'-

Another grouping is Oreganos in various colorations; I love how tough they are, these are on a very dry ramp that gets almost no summer water-

My contribution to silvery is these small leaves of a Hebe pinguifolia 'Pagei'-

Another grouping of silver is this Hebe pimeleoides 'Quicksilver' with Santolina, accented by a Sarracenia leucophylla x rubra-

For some cool green with magenta highlights, a Cut-leaf Japanese Maple draped by a Schisandra vine-

Another combination of variegated Elaeagnus ebbingei and the burgundy tones of Berberis thunbergii-

And here with other plants added, a Nandina showing some fall color, a Bird's Nest Spruce, a weeping Mulberry, and some variegated Phalaris, which can overtake the weeds in a difficult area.

Enjoy your autumnal foliage, Hannah

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day September 2012

Welcome to my GBBD post, for more photos of what's blooming now from all over go to May Dreams Gardens hosted by Carol.    Nearly Fall, and the garden is very dry from our usual nearly rain-free dry season.  Fortunately, there are plants that can take that and even go on to bloom.   One of those that is exuberant is Agastache rugosa, one has even achieved 4' in height, having escaped the munching deer-

I started 5 Agastaches from seed last year but most did  not return, I hope this one, which grows on steroids, will do well next year.  It's disappointing that a non-native did better.

A plant that comes up towards fall and spread by itself is Anemone japonica, this one is slightly bi-colored, more visible from the back-
Another one, so dainty and cheery, and don't you just love flowers that take care of themselves...

Some of my most successful seed-grown plants are Achillea.  Here is A. millefolium 'Colorado', now 2 years old and making a nice clump, I should have dead-headed so maybe I would be getting more rebloom now.

The blossom up close has small florets-

but a wonderful surprise this week was blooms on my Achillea sibirica 'Love Parade', just grown from seed this year, which is an unusual soft pink and has larger florets on its smaller inflorescence, taken at the same distance away-

The foliage is also different, more with a ripply edge than the ferny foliage of most Achillea.  The first to bloom is in a very poor dry hardly watered location, too.

I started a couple of more 8/5, A. millefolium 'Cassis', a cherry red, and A. clypeolata, which will be a large silvery-grey foliaged plant with abundant yellow blooms.  The internal debate is whether they can make it through winter if planted out now.  I may plant part out as an experiment.

A few roses, mostly of the ground cover designation, are valiantly blooming, here is a spectacular red, Red Ribbons by Kordes.   Faun, Sea Foam, Lavender Dream, and Baby Blanket are some more of my favorites in this category.

And the ever irrepressible Betty Boop-

A final seedling success from last year, an Echinacea I hope will make a clump next year-

I hope you are resigned to the end of summer, part of me says Yes but the vegetable gardener part says NO!!

Here's one reason why- the lovely Eggplant Kamo in a pot-

Happy Bloom Day!  Hannah