It’s time for the next big show of the garden. The last hurrah, a final and hopefully, long curtain call before the very, very end.
Yesterday, our high temperature was 83. Today, our high was around 70, which was the temperature at 6:00 AM and then it went down from there as a cold front moved through and brought more rain. If we are to believe the 10 day forecast, we will not see temperatures above 70 until mid-next week. Time for a jacket!
But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, there are still at least 6 or so good weeks ahead before it gets really cold. And in this next 6 weeks, we are going to see some amazing colors, like the color of this aster pictured here.
For most of the spring and summer, asters are just one of those plants that is straggling and weedy, and I wonder why I put up with it. Not only does it not look all that great, it self sows itself pretty well.
But then as other plants begin to fade, ta-da, these lovely purple asters start to bloom. I’ve heard them referred to as Michaelmas Daisies because they generally reach their peak bloom around September 29th, which is Michaelmas or the Feast of St. Michael. And these blooms will soon be covered with all kinds of butterflies. It’s an amazing display.
This is probably Aster novi-belgii. It’s also a passalong plant that I got from my aunt, who said she got it from my dad, but I don’t remember him growing these. I’ve hauled starts of this plant around to three different houses now, and I know two of my sisters have it in their gardens. (This picture, by the way, is actually from my younger sister’s garden, not mine.)
This is just the start of the end, a whole new season to enjoy.
I also love those Michaelmas daisies, Carol! My favorite was “Hella Lacy”, a passalong to my IL son, so it’s still growing up there. I bought ‘Wonder of Staffa’ here, which is budded but not blooming. We finally had a real rain last night, so I’m expecting some kind of a show of blooms here, too.
Annie
Oh yes, a big show. Each day an other aster is blooming in the moment!
Sigrun
Gorgeous flower pic.I heard them called michaelmas daisies too.I wrote about the literary garden and that was one flower the lady had read about in a historical english novel..
I love your optimistic outlook. I think fall is my favorite season. In spring we are so busy we don’t have the time to savor it. While winter, not my favorite season, does follow fall it’s quieter at the nursery and we can enjoy the changing colors and cooler temps. We also have a second planting season here in fall so we see a little spike in business after the long hot summer.
I have upgraded (?) To the new beta-Blogger and it won’t allow me to post with my Blogger i.d. so I have chosen this method. They say it will be fixed soon.
Oh, and by the way I love the new photo!