October Delights

As always I and so many others love seeing your flowers....thank you. I planted two small Lemon Queens in September 2010 and they performed so well starting in late August and then all through September 2011. With enough space they are outstanding plants. Of course I look forward to seeing them again late next summer.

Tired? Wow, I think it looks great! Are these current pictures? My helianthus and phlox are long gone, and my monkshood is half done, and even my asters are pretty much finished up. So your garden is wonderful to me!

Thank you for sharing these pictures. With a snow storm supposedly on the way tomorrow, it's nice to see these blooms.

Dee

Very nice! I wish I could find a source here for Herbstwalzer. Favorites are aconitum, leucanthemella, and Triomphe de Gand (have to scroll back on those names). Really nice pictures--your maritime climate is quite different from here.

Diggerdee, some of the pictures were shot mid-October, so they are no longer 'valid'. It applies to : Helianthus Lemon Queen, Carina, Triomphe de Gand, Aster amellus and sedifolius. The rest is still holding on. There is a number of plants which still are pushing a flower or two, so not a big show. Among others Echinacea Irresistible has a fresh flower opened, spasmodic rebloom on Rudbeckia Herbstsonne, Helenium Luc, Heliopsis Asahi and others.

Some more October delights:

Sanguisorba Stand Up Comedian still looks ornamental:

There are 2 asters novi-angliae on the next picture. The taller lighter one in the background is new for me. Its name is Wineflower, so I've been expecting something red(dish). I have never drunk wine in that colour.From Austria. It is the best one of novi-angliae I have ever had. The tallest but the best standing up!!! It is actually a better version of Barr's Pink, without the mildew and floppiness. The other one is Andeken an Paul Gerber, also good.

Chrysanthemum Mandarine. I have had it for 4 years. Needs support to look best.

Rebloom on Helenium Luc. A fresh and an old flower to compare

Chrysathemum Rumpelstiltzchen. The best in this colour. Selfsupporting.Up to 60 cm tall.

Chrysanthemum Ester. 6 years. Remember it started blooming in the end of August. It is still blooming.

Chrysanthemum Poesie (poetry). The best white hands down.It starts rather creamy , but opens fully to pure white with yellow eye. Selfsupporting. It was 'discovered' as a nameless plant in the gardens throughout Central Europe. No wonder it was awarded some medals.Up to 70 cm tall.

Aster turbinellus Leaflet. Needs support.

Enjoy! There are still some to come.

It still looks great to me. After 18 degrees last night even the last bloomers are toast now.

Anyone can have a nice garden in June, but October is another story. Looks great! I didn't know there were that many different helianthus. I've got lemon queen and maximilian, but max is such a flopper.

Absolutely LOVE that white sanguisorba! It could be used anywhere. I've got the pinky one, but that white one is now going on my must have list. Too bad you're not local :-)

'gottagarden' I love these pictures as well but you wrote:

"Anyone can have a nice garden in June, but October is another story."

One must consider that these outstanding gardens are in zone 7. I would imagine zone 7 in October might be similar to a zone 5 in.....September?

Hostaholic, my latest bloomers are not even started yet.But it is not always they make it before the winter. I will cull some this year if they do not make it.

I have some very late and very hardy chrysanthemums. But are they worth the space if I only see flowers on them each third year or so?

Gottagarden, there are more helianthus species/varieties, but several have terribly running habit. I have some pots with Helianthus mollis which I propagated from seed. I have to ask you Americans : does is have running habit??? If so, will it come back if dug up?

A propos sanguisorba: I have found some pictures of an American species Sanguisorba canadensis. Does anybody grow it?? Is it really so beautiful like on the pictures? Does it run? Can it stand up??

Some more shots:

Third year in a row there is a branch on Rhododendron Tamarindos , which opens some flowers late in the autumn.

Meconopsis cambrica still pushes some flowers. We are talking about October 29th.

Chrysanthemum Bronze Elegans .It has many aliases, the original name is most probably Herbstbrokat. Very hardy. This one, Mei-kyo, Nantyderry Sunshine and Purleigh White are mutations of the same original plant.

Nantyderry Sunshine. Sport from Bronze Eleganse.

My own mutation from Nantyderry Sunshine. It is indistinguishable from Mei-kyo.

Chrysanthemum Purleigh White. Survived winter flood. I think it is indistructable.

Chrysanthemum Schweizerland. The colour is smoky, but the plant is hardy and stands up nicely.

Chrysanthemum Citronella. The best yellow so far.

Aster laevis Anneke van der Jeugd. This is an aster equivalent of Thalictrum rocherbrunianum. Very thin stems but the plant is standing up. Garden visibility of the plant is rather small, because not many flowers open at the same time. Too airy. But it is healthy and does not occupy much space , so I've kept it.

There are some more to come, but not many.

So, nobody knows whether Helianthus mollis is a runner??

Last shots from October:

Chrysanthemums Rosetta and Yvonne Red Yellow. Both on trials. Supposedly very hardy.

Vernonia sp. A clone selected by a German nurseryman for outstanding sturdiness. It stands up perfectly, but the flowers do not mesmerize me. Too few open simultaneously, and the colour is not intense enough for me. If it would not bloom in October, I would not keep it.

My own seedling Chrysanthemums. Hardy:

Optimistic Echinops( Echinops naivus??), thinking it can make it before the frost.

Centaurea atropurpurea. It has most flowers in August,and then it just keep sending a few now and then.I keep it for its unusual colour.

A view from the other end of the garden:

Foliage on phlox Purpurkuppel. We are talking about October the 31st. Not a single fungus caught! It stands in a very windy situation (I'm 35 km from the North Sea; if you do not know what constant wind means, it is a very good place to learn)

Echinacea Irresistible. I wonder what kind of statement it wants to make by blooming now?

Aster /Phlox combo:

My favourite red Chrysanthemum Brennpunkt (the flowers are wet here so they're hanging down). Very late but blooms each year. Tall but stands up well. I keep a piece of it in the greenhouse in case it dies in the winter.

Lonicera with forgotten name. My wife bought it because the description said: 'the most fragrant of all'. Well, it turned out it has absolutely no detectable fragrance.

I hope you enjoy! There will be much less to talk about in November.

I found this on helianthus mollis :The root system is fibrous and rhizomatous. This plant tends to form dense colonies, in part because the root system exudes allelopathic chemicals that inhibit the growth of other species of plants. I have no first hand experience with this plant though.

I couldn't finish looking at all the photos. So rich. Got garden envy and indigestion at the same time. Not to mention frustration I've never seen 3/4 for sale at any garden center and I'll have to search on line when it is not the end of the work week and late at night as well.
Marie

Thanks all for lovely comments.

Hostaholic, thanks for the info. Recently I have been studing the issue of allelopathic properties of some Centaureas. According to some experiments, it was not decided with certainty whether other plants misthrived because of the chemicals or just because of 'starvation' caused by the plants in question. Up to now I have observed that an aconitum growing very close to Helianthus Triumph de Gand was in bad condition. But it could also be ascribed to winter damage. But I also know another thing. I have a bird feeder with sunflower seeds. There is no grass under the feeder.

Does anybody know anything about Sanguisorba canadensis as a garden plant???