Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - October 2009

 

I love the light in fall, low and golden. October is a soft transition in Northern California, when just about anything can happen (like spring-blooming Cerinthe major doing a repeat performance).

Any significant frosts are months away, and I'm still picking tomatoes and peppers. Hopefully these bright blooms & fruits will cheer up my fellow bloggers who have already tucked their gardens in for the winter. Enjoy!   ~Click any photo to enlarge~

Loropetalum chinense 'Plum Delight' is putting out its new foliage along with its fringy flowers.
 

Rudbeckia 'Indian Summer' has been blooming since June; what a winner!

I think that I shall never see an orange as orange as a pomegranate flower; I never realized that the dwarf variety blooms just as the standard kind is ripening.

Limonium perezii might keep going through winter if it's mild; but a hard frost will melt it.

My Echeverias have quadrupled in size and will just continue to multiply...

Right up there with the Rudbeckia for favorite new plant of the year: Stachys 'Primrose Heron.' Just look at the texture on those leaves! The 'pinked' edges are killer!

This little dwarf Crassula may not survive the winter (or the attentions of the woolly thyme) but that cherry red color has been a lovely little accent all summer (this is only a couple of inches tall)

Still my vote for hardest working and easiest to care for combo in the garden: Lantana and 'Fragrant Frosty' scented geranium. They'll keep it up for at least another couple of months.

The Fuchsia is slowing down, but will retain a few blooms until Thanksgiving.

Lots of action in the vegetable garden; Marjoram flowers mix with Sage and Thyme.

Salvia elegans (Pineapple Sage) doesn't even start blooming until October; it's nice to have something fresh (and, evidently, tasty!)

Rosemary 'Majorca Pink' is a nice upright variety (~4 feet tall) with unusual pinkish blooms.

Almost too beautiful to pick! I have a gorgeous crop of pomegranates this year; wonder what I should do with them?

Lucky shot of the month! I was waiting patiently for the bee to lift off the Salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue' and had a surprise guest!

Another favorite new plant this year, Begonia fuschioides, which has been quietly blooming just like this in a shady corner of my courtyard since April.

Another nice plant friendship; Begonia richmondiensis and Coleus play nicely together.

Nicotiana sylvestris (aka 'The Monster') has been quite the overachiever this year, topping eight feet easily and producing enough seed for a monster invasion. The evening garden would not be complete without its lovely, lily-like scent.

And lastly, my happy and forgiving Plectranthus has put out its second flush of bloom (after a drive-by pinching!)

Thanks for joining me in my October garden, and also to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for her ongoing support of this lovely tradition. I suspect that we mild-climate gardeners are relied upon to keep things blooming through the winter; will do my best!