Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – October 2026

Welcome to Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day for October 2026.

Here in my USDA Hardiness Zone 6a garden in central Indiana, not only has rain been scarce, but we’ve also had two days this week with record breaking high temperatures.

What has that lack of rain and addition of extra heat done to the blooms? Hard to say but I took a quick walk around my garden and found the usual suspects flowering, as they say, including this mum which is in the Pink Garden next to the garage. I planted it out last year and am pleased that it has returned and flowered.

‘Good mum! Now do that every year.”

Now, join me on a quick, virtual walk to see what else is blooming in my garden!

We’ll start in front and then work our way toward the back before ending up with a little surprise at the end.

Out by the mailbox, I love the combination of Verbena bonariensis and Signet marigolds. And so do the butterflies!

The rest of the front garden is just some Geranium ‘Rozanne’ hanging on for dear life, some little blue flowers of leadwort, and a few roses. Plus some pansies I planted out a few weeks ago. And a couple of giant mums on the porch.

Let’s move on to the Vegetable Garden Cathedral!

Yes, I do grow figs in the ground and yes, I get some figs that ripen. This one is ‘Brown Turkey.’ I also have ‘Chicago Hardy’ but it has much smaller figs on it. These count as a flower because the flower parts are inside the fig!

Next up are the Nasturtiums, which love the cooler weather, which we had before the recent heatwave, and will soon have again.

Can you believe that this rose has gone crazy all of a sudden? It almost always does this late in the season. I sometimes even have blooms on it in late November around Thanksgiving.

The rest of the garden is about what you’d expect: Japanese anemones, hardy begonias, toad lilies, lots of asters, some fading zinnias, more marigolds, a bit of goldenrod, and where it can sneak in, fleabane.

But the big surprise is, of course, a sweet little viola seedling that came up all on its own. So sweet. Did you know violas are my favorite flower?

That’s enough pictures! As I’ve been doing this past year, I’m listing all the past bloom days of October and comparing each one, quickly, to this year. This is mostly for me. I don’t expect you’ll want to chase down all these links!

2007 – I also featured pink mums, though they were in a container. Plus pansies and toad lilies.

2008 – I featured tomato blossoms, of all things, plus mums, asters, and anemones. Like this year, minus tomatoes.

2009 – I showed the Oxford Orphanage Plant, which is no longer in my garden.

2010 – I have the same asters today, though they are seedlings of the ones blooming years ago.

2011 – Petunias and marigolds? I’m going to say the garden wasn’t quite as far along but maybe it was?

2012 – I featured some roses I no longer have.

2013 – The garden was definitely not as far along as this year. And there’s that Oxford Orphanage Plant again.

2014 – Autumn crocuses were blooming, so the garden was further along than this year!

2015 – I featured purple hyacinth beans in flower and there were colchicums still bloom.

2016 – Featuring a dahlia, of all flowers. I never grow them now. Too much work!

2017 – About like this year, if you ask me.

2018 – More of the same, though I think the toad lilies had a good year.

2019 – I seem to have had an odd fascination with marigolds?

2020 – Once again featuring some marigolds.

2021 – The garden was not as far along, and I had a re-blooming iris blooming.

2022 – Seems I had more blooms in 2022?

2023 – I got all fancy and featured flowers cut and laid on paper to photograph.

2024 – Another fancy grid of flower pictures. Looked nice but too much work!

2025 – No surprise, the garden was kind of about the same as this year.

And that’s my contribution for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day for October 2026.

What’s blooming in. your garden as we arrive at the middle of October? How much color do you have in your trees? Have you had a frost yet? I’d love to have you tell us all about your garden as part of this meme. It’s easy to participate. Just post wherever you post online about your garden on or around the 15th of the month, then come back here to leave a comment with a link so we can virtually visit.

Always remember,

“We can have flowers nearly every month of the year.” – Elizabeth Lawrence

(One more note: If you’d like to keep up with what’s going on in my garden every week, please feel free to subscribe to my Substack newsletter, Diary of a Midwest Gardener!)