September Bloom Day '14 - Digby, Nova Scotia

Crocosmia 'Lucifer'?

One of the best things about "Garden Bloggers Bloom Day" is the way it prompts a person like me to get out with the camera, post on my blog, and then surf the net to enjoy the blooms from around the world.  Thanks to May Dreams Gardens for hosting this monthly extravaganza!  

Above - Coreopsis, Sedum & Corcosmia
Below - Iceberg and Campfire Roses

 

An Aster (I won't attempt the new genus name yet)

So, here at my new home, in my new town, I have ready-made perennial borders all around.  We have started to make them our own... ripping out many hostas and bringing in some of our own things.  The blossoms this summer - on what was already here - have been quite good.  

Another Aster

Above - a little Echinacea
Below - a little Buddleja and a little Eupatorium
Yes, these three are all shorter cultivars.

 

It so happens that quite of few of these species in bloom today are new plants we have introduced.  The renovations will continue into the fall, I'm sure, including the planting of a few spring bulbs.  I've not seen any sign of a spring bulb anywhere in these beds.

Above - Achillea
Below - Hemerocallis and a late Lupinus

 

A vibrantly-blooming Strawberry, Fragaria

A Begonia that will soon need to be rescued from frosty weather

The last of the Phlox that have been blooming - lots of these in the beds on this property

Enjoy your bloom day!

Wildflower Wednesday: Pink, Pink, Pink, Yellow

At first glance this could be a geranium, but no... see the four petals, instead of five?  This is an Epilobium I see in the occasional ditch here in Nova Scotia.  E. hirsutum, Great Willowherb.  There is a healthy patch of it near my home, across from a farmer's market.  

Less showy, prominent, or common than Fireweed, E. angustifolium, Great Willoherb is still a good six or seven feet tall, alongside the cattails. (Well, I guess Fireweed is now Chamerion angustifolium... the nomenclature is always changing!)

It grows long, narrow seedpods, typical of its genus, that will open to shed their fluffy, flying seeds.  

   A bit closer to home, along our long driveway, a patch of Crown Vetch comes up each year.  I guess Coronilla varia (or Securigera varia) has been planted around the province, and gone a bit wild in places.  Does not seem to be spreading.  I've always been charmed by it and thought it a nice surprise to find.  

(Pay no attention to the Goutweed that the Vetch is clambering over!)

     When I wander into the adjacent, abandoned field, big clumps of Joe Pye Weed can be found.  I knew Eupatorium purpureum (or Eutrochium purpureum) as a wetland wildflower long before I saw varieties in people's gardens.  

 On sunny days I've seen it teeming with small, orange butterflies.  This dark, damp evening, only a few aphids and ants were enjoying this clump!

I always see it in the wild doing better than the bits in my garden.  The aphids seem to win on my property.  These wild clumps, with their roots in wetter places, fare very well.  

And, tramping back to the driveway, I find a new plant to me this summer.  At first glance, the blossoms fool one into thinking it's just the oh-so-common Bird's Foot Trefoil.

But this is growing like a vetch or other "pea," with tendrils at the ends of the leaves, with only two leaflets.  It's quite thick, matted, and luxurious in this abandoned field.  

This is Meadow Vetchling, Lathyrus pratensis, one more of the many, many introductions to North America of the Pea family, Fabaceae.

Check out Clay and Limestone for more links to Wildflower Wednesday in the gardening blogosphere.

Fall is the new Spring

Colchicum

Plants like 'Fall Crocus' keep the Cottage blooming.  In fact, it has been more colourful out there for the past few wet weeks than it was much of the dry summer.  No surprise there.  Some of the plants are those that finally show off, in this season...

Burning Bush, Euonymus alatus

White Snakeroot, Eupatorium rugosum 'chocolate'

Aster, Symphyotrichum ____

Some of the species are still blooming.  The Rudbeckia, for instance, got the old flowers cut off a few weeks ago, and perhaps this encouraged a whole new crop of flower buds.

Rudbeckia nitida

Actaea racemosa, Black Snakeroot

Some of the foliage is having spring now.  Not just the luxurious grass in the lawn I can't keep ahead of... the Italian Arum, invisible in August, is sending up its leaves now, which will withstand the cold Nova Scotia winter.  And a new Pieris is covered in flower buds, as if it is going to bloom soon.  I assume it waits for spring.

Arum italicum, Italian Arum

Pieris _______

Then there is the scattering of out-of-season blossoms that randomly appear.  Look for them and you will find them.

Dianthus, Pinks

Aurinia saxatilis, Basket of Gold

Kniphofia, Red Hot Poker

My hope is these will all thrive for a few more weeks.  Out at the Cottage we seem to get frost later than we do inland.  This morning (October 13) we have patchy frost at home.  I assume there is none at the cottage this morning. 

     May your frost come late to your garden this year!

October Bloomers

October brings some new blooms to the garden, while other plants keep their own show going on and on and on.  This Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate'  is just in it's glory now.  Nearby, the Aralia cordata 'Sun King' is blooming greenily, and the Chives still send up an occasional blooming stem.

The annual Nicandra physalodes keeps on blooming and going to seed.  Some of the local birds have even been feeding on the seeds, I think.

Campsis radicans, sporting some large green pods, looks like it will stay in flower until frost.  There.  I typed that word.  Here's hoping the first hard frost will be weeks away!

The male Holly, above, is blooming a bit.  But another spectacular bloomer for a great long time has been this Gaura that came from a church plant sale, with a common name I don't remember now.  I really had no idea what it would be when I bought it last year.  Now I wish I had more.

The gardening season continues!