Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - October 2010

Welcome to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day for October 2010!

Here in my USDA Hardiness Zone 5b garden October has so far brought us bright sunny skies, at least two days with record setting high temperatures, and very little rain.

Yet it is keeping its usual promise of ever shorter days, cooler nights, and changing leaf color.

When I look back at the bloom day post for 2009, I see two plants that haven't done as well this year, and have no blooms today - Endless Summer® Hydrangeas and Kalimeris pinnatifida ‘Hortensis’, also known as the Oxford Orphanage Plant or Double Japanese Aster.

Ironically, the asters shown above, Symphyotrichum novae-angliae, were the ones that I dug out in early July and transplanted to another garden bed. These are passalong plants from my aunt, so I am happy to see they survived.

Another aster doing quite well, blooming by the front walkway, is Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'October Skies'.

 Both types of asters were cut back by about half around Memorial Day, which encourages them to branch out, not up, making them less likely to flop over and increasing the amount of bloom on them.

In a nursery bed in the back yard, waiting for a permanent spot elsewhere in the garden is Dendranthema 'Cool Igloo', a trial plant from Blooms of Bressingham.

I did nothing to it and it managed to bloom quite nicely all on its own.

Elsewhere in the garden, the marigolds, Tagetes sp.  have survived with no extra water.

I don't know why people think of marigolds as a summer flowers. In my garden, where I direct sow the seeds for the marigolds in May, they never really start blooming well until mid to late August.

Finally, the Knockout® Rose, Rosa ‘Radsunny’ is still putting on a great show.

It's been blooming since spring and is still going strong. It's a keeper, even if you are like me and don't grow a lot of roses.

How is your garden blooming this month? Are you ready for a killing frost, the end of the show, or is fall the beginning of your second gardening season?

Whatever your circumstances and however your garden looks during these October days, I hope you’ll join us for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day this month. All are welcome!

It's easy to participate. Just post on your blog about what is blooming in your garden on the 15th of the month and then leave a link in the ‘Mr. Linky’ widget below, plus a comment to give us a hint as to what we might in your garden in mid-October. 

By the way, for those who have been participating in bloom day since its beginning, I believe this is our 45th month to do this!

“We can have flowers nearly every month of the year.” – Elizabeth Lawrence