Welcome to Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day for October 2019.
Here in my USDA Hardiness Zone 6a garden in central Indiana, we’ve had a couple of early morning frosts—right on schedule—and the garden is winding down rapidly.
Of course, that big “push” from a late-season dry spell has helped the blooms descend rather rapidly, in my humble opinion.
But I still have blooms.
I hadn’t grown marigold from seed in quite a few years. I remember now how late they continue to bloom. The other day I was admiring them and trying to take pictures of butterflies on them and found instead a praying mantis eating some kind of little butterfly/mother/skipper/miller.
Here for your enjoyment is the praying mantis.
And here is a sister insect of the one it was eating.
Shall we move on? (Yes, Carol, because this isn’t Garden Bloggers’ Insect Day!)
Also in the Vegetable Garden Cathedral where the marigolds are, some snapdragons are putting out the bloom.
I planted these snaps way back in late March. I love that they’ve given me nearly 7 months of bloom. I suspect they’ll go on for a while until we get a hard freeze.
Out in front, some Buddleia are still cranking out blooms. These have been attracting painted lady and monarch butterflies all fall. (These are Proven Winners Lo and Behold ‘Blue Chip Jr.’ which are fairly sterile and do not set seed.)
Nearby, leadwort is also still blooming. It goes by the fancy name of Ceratostigma plumbaginoides.
A not to be outdone in the “I can still bloom if you can still bloom” game, is Geranium ‘Rozanne’.
I’ll really have to hand it to the garden for having as much bloom as it does under the weird conditions of the last few months.
And that’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day in my garden. What’s blooming in your garden on this 15th of the month. Join in this long-standing meme and show us. Just post on your blog about what’s blooming in your garden, then leave a link in the Mr. Linky widget and a comment to entice us to visit.
And remember… We can have flowers nearly every month of the year. ~ Elizabeth Lawrence
Happy Bloom Day Carol! It’s hard to believe that the warm days of summer are over and that we are well into fall. You still have much to see in your garden and the bright blooms of the marigolds are really stealing the show. It’s pretty much the same here on Long Island. We have not had a first frost yet, and the last of the summer/fall blooms are still hanging on. As we go deeper into fall, enjoy the changing garden and all that nature has to offer!
I had a praying matis as well in my garden, it loved the Zinnia that is still blooming. we've has domes dips in temps too and I've had to bring in most of my flowers.
No frost here yet. We are having a wonderful leaf peeper season, and the annuals are doing great in my garden. I have been so happy with the zinnias and marigolds. We had lots of monarchs and other butterflies this year. Oh – I forgot to mention my hydrangeas are doing well, too.
Fortunately, frost is a foreign concept in my part of the country. Your snapdragons are utterly remarkable! Mine never last long – our marine layer inevitably promotes rust.
Thanks for hosting, Carol!
Still a few things blooming in October out here in the PNW…
We've had a couple of early morning frosts here near Seattle as well, but I do still have quite a few flowers to show.
It does feel nice to still have blooms. Thanks, again, for hosting, Carol.
I love snapdragons. Mine this year were not successful, I tried them from seed. It's best for me to just buy big ones at the local high school plant sale, let them do the work! Mine were teeny things.
Thanks for the Bloom Day!
Like you the geraniums are still going strong in my garden on my side of the pond. However, I have a surprise flower for your delectation this month, usually seen in gardens here from June to August 🙂
Happy Blooms Day everyone!
We have never witnessed frost conditions and will not ,but we still have chilled winters in time with blooms probably best of them from the year. Buddelia is majestically beautiful in masses.
Happy blooms day…have a great week ahead.
We are so fortunate not to have been hit by frost yet (outlying areas in the countryside have). I love marigolds and am a little surprised yours escaped the frost (I'm sure you covered them). I used to grow snaps years ago – when I lived in Arkansas they would reseed themselves. And yes, they were hardy. Enjoyed what is left in your garden.
Our gardens in the DC-area are really suffering in this prolonged drought, but I still have a few things to share on this Garden Blogger's Bloom Day
https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2019/10/drought-on-bloom-day.html
May the rains come soon and the frost hold off for a few weeks!
Ha ha. Talk to the hand.
But there really should be a Garden Bloggers Insect Day ….
That cut hand looks scary, so i LOL. I have witnessed many ambushes of praying mantis and crab spiders on butterflies. Imagine i was focusing my lens on the butterfly when suddenly it was attacked, then stopped wiggling already dead. then when the brain was eaten it let the body drop and sometimes it is still moving, morbid scenes in the garden. But that is the chain of life.
Now you remind me of planting marigolds, which truly is loved by the butterflies.
All that's left in our garden are some Rudbeckias and a few asters. The season of flowers is coming to a close.
Hi Carol, my mid-month flower reckoning comes later each month. At least there are a few flowers despite the terrible drought we've been in.
Carol, Like you, we've already had several frosts in Maine. But, like you, I still have flowers blooming in my garden (bless those asters!). At this time of year, though, the flowers tend to get upstaged by fall foliage.