Bloom Day

It's always a little funny to me when people say they "went looking for blooms for Bloom Day" since I can usually see all the blooms in my small garden standing still and without turning my head. That is certainly true this month.

This one really stands out under overcast skies. I grew most of my dahlias from seed and I'm surprised I actually planted this one in the ground given its red+yellow colors. It will have to go.



Fortunately, it only has one flower because it's growing in the shade.



We have other fuchsias blooming. F. fulgens



and F. 'Miep'.



I'm excited to see some fall asters, although I am not excited about fall. This is Aster lateriflorus 'Lady in Black'. I got two of them earlier this year from Mostly Natives in Tomales.



The cultivar name refers to the foliage which is dark, or would be if I grew mine in fuller sun. It's still dark, but not as dark as it could be.



This a prairie native from the American mid-west, not a California native. Piet Oudolf includes it on his list of "late flowering perennials that have good foliage in the earlier part of the summer" along with Eupatorium purpureum, Helianthus salicifolius, Tricytris formosana, and Veronicastrum virginicum (Designing With Plants, page 76).

This looks more like a California aster although it too is an eastern descendant of Aster novae-angliae. I put it in the garden very late so it just has one crop of flowers at the top of a teetering stem. Hopefull it will still be here next year to show us what it's really all about.



When does Verbena bonariensis give up and go to seed?



I'm ready to cut it back. I feel newly anxious for neatness in the garden and the long, leaning stems everywhere are getting on my nerves. (Of course, I can't cut them back because the bees and butterflies still need something to eat when they visit every day.)

The yellow in the background is Rudbeckia triloba.



I probably can cut back the leeks because the flowers have made seeds already.



In case you're going to tell me that leeks are biennials like someone did on Twitter last night, please don't. Leeks are perennials and you can Google that if you want.

Speaking of vegetables, I'm just about done with my Magda squash experiment on the front steps. It was a big success and we'll do it again next year.



No varmints attacked the plants as they bore fruit on the front steps like what happened in the backyard. We got an okay crop for three plants considering how downright cold it was most of the summer. At this point the leaves are getting ratty and moldy. When morning sun is in their face it really shows their age. In the garden I would start new plants and phase these out, but it's late September and I really should be back in school. But those asters, whatever they are, belong in the garden for sure. I love them. I need to find out the name.

On the subject of asters (again), Tithonia diversifolia has some flowers and lots of bulbs. You'll be seeing a lot of it here for the next few months.



Unforch, the flowers are high up this year and I don't get the chance to enjoy their chocolate scent.



That's okay. I'm not going to complain.

Also blooming: Cestrum elegans and Madia elegans, the flowering maples, Tibouchina urvilleana, two passionflowers, Asclepias curassavica, Huechera 'Marmalade', and this totally wonderful Sedum album 'Nigrum' in pots on the front steps.





The sun is coming out now as I finish my Bloom Day post. That would have been nice a couple hours ago when I took all these pictures. Maybe you had better lighting in your garden for Bloom Day, or you can find better lighting going in any of the other 78 gardens (and counting) participating in Bloom Day this month.