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| Bees on nameless aster |
Welcome to Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day for September 2014.
Here in my USDA Hardiness Zone 6a garden in central Indiana, I don’t need to look back at past bloom day posts to know this is one of the best growing seasons we’ve had in some time.
I know it, the flowers know it, the lawn knows it and the bees and butterflies know it. We’ve been blessed with rain throughout the summer and the fall garden has never looked so fresh.
When it comes to September blooms, I learned along the way that we must choose late blooming plants on purpose if we are to have new blooms this time of year.
Otherwise we have to make do with floral flotsam left over from summer.
Here in my garden, the first of the asters, Symphyotrichum novae-angliae, are beginning to bloom. (Let’s call them asters even though the botanists changed their name. Okay?)
The aster above is a nameless passalong just beginning to bloom. Behind it, are even more passalong asters which won’t really reach peak bloom until the end of the month, around the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel.
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| Michaelmas daisies are just beginning to bloom |
Their bloom time is one of the reasons some gardeners call them Michaelmas daisies. Once their flowers open, bees and butterflies will flock to the blooms grabbing all the pollen they can before the first frost.
On the other side of the garden, another aster, ‘Alma Potschke’ is in full bloom.
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| Aster ‘Alma Potschke’ |
Those flowers really are that bright. The bees have no trouble finding it, or the nearby goldenrod, Solidago shortii ‘Solar Cascade’ and another aster, ‘Purple Dome’.
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| Aster ‘Purple Dome with Solidago shortii ‘Solar Cascade’ |
The bees are also flocking to the tall sedums, Sedum telphinum ‘Autumn Joy’.
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| Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ |
If being around so many bees makes you nervous, then let’s go sit quietly in the garden in an area where bees are less likely to congregate.
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| Seating in the garden |
Or maybe not. With the butterfly bush, Buddleia sp. blooming there, along with some lavender between the two chairs, we are likely to encounter bees here, too, along with some butterflies.
Instead, let’s go up to the patio and look across the garden and admire all the green.
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| Green as green gets in September |
There are other blooms to see, like Colchicums and toad lilies, but I think we’ll look at those some other day.
What’s blooming in your garden on this lovely day in mid-September? Join us for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day and share with us what’s blooming in your garden.
It’s easy to participate. Post on your blog about your blooms on the 15th of the month, then leave a comment below to tell us about your blooms and add a link on the Mr. Linky widget so we can find you. If you have any problems with the links or commenting, shoot me an email, and I’ll help however I can.
As Elizabeth Lawrence once wrote, “We can have flowers nearly every month of the year.”
Love the sunshine in your pictures and wow so much colourful bloom still! Wonderful!
Marian
Your gardens are still looking colorful Carol and I love the inviting scene of the two chairs! It certainly has been one of the best growing Septembers I can remember. Thank you for hosting as always!
Asters and sedums are so autumnal 🙂 Spring has arrived at my garden and I have lots of white and pink and ruffled flowers! Hope we have a great growing season like you did.
You are ahead of me with your asters and sedums Carol, only just opening in my south west England garden. Happy Bloom Day!
Asters and sedums are the mainstay of the gardens at this time of the month. I think we will all be calling them asters for a long time to come. Some of my Asters are only just opening, but others have been flowering for a long time now. Thanks for hosting once more.
Dear Carol, somehow I can not upload my image. Sorry I can't join your GBBD.
Dear Carol, it worked!
Every fall, your Bloom Day posts remind me that I need to try Solidago shortii here. It looks terrific with your purple aster. Happy Bloom Day, Carol!
Lovely asters. They're one of my favourite. Happy GBBD! I'm celebrating another plant that's tough as old boots – autumn anemones.
Still lots going on in the shade garden here in southern Indiana.
I love the collection of asters you have…and I also call them asters still since they ARE asters! Happy Bloom Day Carol….
Your September garden does look beautiful, Carol! Thanks to you and a few other bloggers who were writing when I started blogging, I learned how important it is to plant some fall bloomers. Not only do I appreciate the asters and other late blooms in my garden, but the bees and butterflies thank you as well.
Wow, so lush and green! Your asters look great. I planted a fall aster this spring that hasn't started blooming here, yet. Maybe now that the weather has cool a little, it'll get the message.
Those sedums are stunning, too!
Here's to a lovely start to the Fall season. Thank you for hosting Bloom Day!
You are right, Carol, we must intentionally choose plants for late summer/fall color and your beautiful asters, of which I currently only have one, have reminded me to get more! Yours are lovely and give a nice end of the season burst of color! Thanks for once again hosting. Happy GBBD!
I seem to have lost my lavender asters after last winter. Yours look terrific and I love the chair color against the surrounding plants.
Such a lush garden this September, but then, you've had rain! Your Michaelmas daisies are ahead of ours–they're beautiful. Thanks for hosting!
Love your September garden. It looks great! Thanks for hosting.
Seeing your Aster makes me realise that I must replace mine. It disappeared last year after flowering happily for several years. Thank you for hosting this great meme. I am sorry I have not contributed for a while. Ronnie@hurtledto60
Lovely! There's still so much blooming in your gardens, and I especially love your 'Alma Potschke' asters. Thanks for sharing! -Beth
I'm glad your garden is doing so well in late summer. I love the Asters! Thanks, as always, for hosting this monthly celebration.
I loved the color of your bright pink aster! That one is beautiful. I wish I could grow the butterfly bushes, but they don't seem to make it around here. I might try again and just heavily mulch it for the winter.
Thanks for hosting the monthly celebration.
Your September garden is positively glowing with colour Carol. No not yet another name change 🙁 I can't keep up with them. Thanks as always for hosting. Happy GBBD!
Happy September Bloomday, I'm so glad you had a great growing season this year, seems well deserved.
Rain does make a tremendous difference. Your asters are beautiful. Happy Bloom Day and Thank You.
I love the picture with the chars and the bed of liriopes!
Aster season is just great! Yours are just ahead of mine. Anything to extend the summery season of colour is good. Thanks again for posting and hosting.
Love the Michaelmas daisies. Must remember to get some of those and some nice liriope for this place. Thanks for hosting this!
Your sedums must get enough sun to keep them upright. I love them but they lay down on the job here. Asters are so beautiful this time of year. Love em. This has been a great growing year here in IN.
Oh, your Adirondack chairs! What a perfect spot to sit and enjoy nature!
Thanks Carol! Looking good!
Looking great, late summer and so many gardens still look fabulous!
Woohoo-I finally made it in under #100!
I would sit with you in those chairs, and I'm sure it would be lovely among the butterflies and the bees. 🙂
What an amazing thing to hear a gardener say, the best growing season ever. Happy to hear it, Carol!
I love asters and try to add them to my garden each year but they keep disappearing. The only one that keeps reappearing is wild and weedy. It has little white flowers. I envy your asters!
Beautiful things in your September garden , Happy bloomday !
Happy GBBD. I love wild asters – they are common here in upstate New York. Now I may look for some cultivated ones. Glad you've had a banner gardening year after the one you had last year.
I love Aster Alma Potschke. I wonder who she was. How nice to have something so lovely named after you.
Thank you once again for hosting GBBD
I'm going to blame you for all the asters I bought today. 🙂 Happy Bloom Day my friend.~~Dee
I'm featuring an aster family member too this month – the native Boneset. Pretty, but can be a re-seeding thug. Enjoy your bloom day!
What a lovely way to share what's blooming where. I so loved seeing the pictures of Oklahoma. Oddly, I never think of that state, so it was fun and refreshing! Thank you so much for doing this. Motivator to take some pics. (I did include my workplace and link, but not to promote, just to give credit for the one picture, sorry garden fairies.)
Like you, we have also had one of the best growing seasons in a long time (makes wonder what this winter is going to be like). Despite this, I have spent little time in the garden, preferring the seat of a kayak, which is where I took all my Bloom Day shots from. Thank you for hosting!
It's all lovely, a great September garden.
Your butterfly bush looks lovely against those two green adirondack chairs. I can just imagine you sitting there, sipping a frosty cold iced tea!
Happy GBBD…is anyone else as tired as I?
It has been a fabulous summer, hasn't it? Thanks, again, for hosting!
I planted asters this year for the first time, but they do not seem very happy. I plan to move them to a diffeent location where they will get some sprinkler water. We would love some rain here. I can't remember the last time it rained!
September = Blue Asters. But you knew that.
Sorry Carol, but somehow a post from June 2014 came up instead of my current post. I hope you can direct me as how to correct it! So sorry!
Ha, it is hard to find a spot in my garden without bees buzzing all around, too! Oh, well, it's a good sign! We had a good amount of rain at the beginning of the summer, but haven't had much rain in the last month. It's nice when you don't have to get out and water so much!
Hi Carol, that's a good point about planning for fall flowers. More Asters I guess… 🙂
Actually, the holdovers seem to dominate in our yard. Some of those flowers just keep going…
Carol, Your September flowers are looking lovely. The weather has turned decidedly fall-like in Maine, 5-10 degrees colder than average for this time of year. Every night without frost is a gift of one more day of blooms. -Jean
Happy GBBD Carol, loving your asters and longer shots of your garden. Enjoying Sedum Autumn joy here in Scotland with you 🙂
As usual, a late entry for Bloom Day. Amazing to see how much is still thriving in my garden, apparently oblivious to impending doom.
Your garden looks like bee (and butterfly) heaven. Good to hear you've had some rain to keep everyone/everything refreshed and happy.
Your asters are lovely! Thanks for hosting – and say hello to your garden fairies from me!
Your garden is amazing as always. Thank you for hosting yet another great GBBD! So many wonderful gardens to explore!
It's great to have so much in bloom this September. Thanks for hosting 🙂
I am 'away' and have no posting to show my asters, but I love seeing yours, and all the other blooms on Bloom Day.
I would love to relax in one of those garden chairs and soak up the beauty of your September garden. P. x
Nice shots!
I hope to be able to share some of my floral photography soon. I have a page on my site that you can use to share your home url (rather than that of an individual post). You can share it so that folks will be able to find you each week.
Take care, and have a great week!
Sue
We were blessed with an almost perfect amount of rain here, too, as well as not too much heat. It's been a gardening season to remember with gratitude!
Everyone's gardens are looking lovely this September! We have had a very wet summer and Houston is looking more like it's old green self!
We're having the driest start to September for 50 years on our side of the pond, though I see our Michaelmas daisies and sedums seem to be in synch with yours 🙂
A late GBBD entry from me – it went up on the 15th, but I was away at the time, so popped in as soon as I got home to add my post to your list.
I'm about a week late to the party, but I couldn't let that stop me from taking inventory of my September blooms in Texas. Thanks, as always, for hosting! – Rebecca
I'm a little late, too, but there is so much beautiful fall colors now here in the Northeast I had to share my link with you. Thanks so much for hosting this informative blog post.
I loved all your photos and the color of the pink aster is amazing! I'm going to look for that one.
It doesn't look like the first comment I made went through so I'm trying this again.
Thanks for hosting the monthly Garden Bloggers'Bloom Day. It's nice that we're able to see what blooming in other parts of the country/world at the same time.
Your photos were beautiful and I love all your asters. I'm going to see if I can find the Alma Potschke. That one is awesome.