End of October Project Week (and Garden Photos)

 
At work, we have to finish up our vacation time before November 1st--otherwise we lose it!--so I took this week off.  My plans were to relax toward the end of the week, and get lots of projects completed during the first part of it.  Dad came up Monday to help me finish walls, fix a broken storm window, repair some flooring, fix my garbage disposal, seal up some cracks in my front porch posts... the list goes on and on.  There's so much I wanted to get done that I knew I would have to be as busy as this guy:

Since he was driving up his new truck, Dad also brought me this old hutch (rescued and refinished by my grandfather decades ago) that has lived in their basement for many years.  I painted the inside "Gentle Sky" blue, and was amazed to see how nice all of my pottery, thrift store finds, gifts and antiques look together in it:

The glass in the other door is broken, and I'm on a mission to find some old glass (with the lovely rippling and the occasional bubble that the other one sports) to replace it.  But I'm still enjoying it in the meantime!  Dad left yesterday, after getting most of the "expert work" finished and teaching me many things along the way.  He left me with the follow-up work, like priming and painting the newly caulked and repaired porch posts, that I could handle alone.

As you can see, today was a beautiful fall day, and the garden was lit up with fall color that made the primer coat look even more pale and boring by comparison!  So I gave into temptation and took a bunch more photos to share... you can see them below.  I hope you all enjoy them, while I go back to even more painting.  (This time, the kitchen/cabinets and trim around the big picture window... argh!  :)

From the front steps, the feature corner bed is obscured by 'Rotstrahlbusch' switchgrass

From the other side, the slanting sun brings out the warm greens and silvers of this same bed. This "elephant ear" kalanchoe will have to be dug out and brought in soon.

So will this Mexican/Cuban oregano, which has happily sprawled across miniature carexes.

More of the miniature carexes (left) with the fall tones of a peach heuchera and 'Purple Dragon' lamium.

Turning slightly south, the bright spears of 'Golden Sword' yucca pick up the fall colors of 'Hameln' pennisetum and 'Blue Ice' amsonia nicely.

And I love the color and textural contrast between 'Hameln' and my oakleaf hydrangea in the fall.

Last but not least:  A pineapple lily update.  In the past month, my 'Sparkling Burgundy' eucomis has put up some new foliage... which will soon die back until it emerges again (I hope!) in the spring. As long as this doesn't stress the plant too much, I hope it does this every year--I love the fresh burgundy rosette against the older, greened leaves.  :)

A Late and Tired October Bloom Day

It has been busy--very, very very busy--at work lately.  All work and no play leaves this gardener feeling as washed-out as my poor passionflower seems in the cool pre-dawn light:

She probably feels a little overworked, herself, because she's carrying that side of the driveway bed almost single-handedly in the bloom department for the month of October.  Further down, the chocolate eupatorium blooms against the yellowing 'Sioux Blue' sorghastrum nutens:

A few stray alpine strawberries and self-sown verbena bonariensis are blooming in that little strip, but the majority of the interest there is in leaf shape, texture and color... and most of that is as cool as the temperatures have been lately.  There are a few exceptions that warm up the garden, though.  Like this hot-blooded canna lily:

And the amaranth, which looks cool in the shadows, ignites with warm reds when touched by sunlight:

Pretty soon, the only shades of color in the garden will be grays and browns... which will make the indoor blooms seem even sweeter:

That's all of the photos for this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day (and Foliage Follow-up)... for more posts on these great topics, visit the links!
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Also blooming in my October garden:  Random tomatoes, various basils, Russian sage, tall yellow snapdragons, calendula, my variegated tall sedum, two other cannas, native honeysuckle, two kinds of pink anemones, two kinds of agastache rupestris, caryopteris, pennisetum, 'Black & Blue' and 'Lady in Red' salvias, cimicifuga/actaea racemosa, brugmansia, 'Vista Purple' salvia, 'Rotstrahlbusch' panicum virgatum, my Meyer (improved) lemon, 'Bonfire' begonia, 'Dragonwing' begonia, and more than a few weeds...

A Red October

A few weeks ago, I cut some browned flower stalks from my 'Lady in Red' salvia with the intent of sowing seeds from them in the spring.  As I read more about saving seeds from this particular salvia, I was a little bothered by the mentions of the color not coming true from seed... particularly because multiple gardeners commented that their seedlings bloomed in some shade or another of ugh, pink the color I like least in my garden!


I decided to table my decision on the salvia seeds until this spring, but I wondered if the plant would just reseed on its own in my garden.  This week, I noticed that 'Lady in Red' has already given me a few answers to that question!  Here, a properly red seedling mingles nicely with 'African Blue' basil, sweet potato foliage, and brussels sprouts:

This was a great spot for a pop of red--I'm going to have to remember how good these guys look together next spring!  A few more seedlings that haven't yet bloomed chose this less fortunate spot under the peach tree, where my double bloodroot has recently retreated back into the ground:

It looks like at least the one on the right in the grouping above will be a slightly lighter color, unfortunately.  I may just have to sow the salvia seeds I saved in pots, and then let them grow large enough to see the bloom color before I plant them. 

Those seedlings that do not show up red will get composted, because I typically don't light too many lighter colors in my garden... but I have to admit that the light yellow snapdragons that I planted this year were the perfect way to brighten up this spot:

They are mingling with the purple-tinged foliage of eggplant, left, and the bright gold of 'Golden Delicious' pineapple sage.  I grew the golden sage in a much shadier spot than normal this year, because it was touchy for me in full sun in the past, and it has responded by putting out tons of lush, bright leaves.  (No blooms, but that's okay--I don't like the red-yellow combo there anyway.)

Another plant that is typically thought of as full sun, but that does better for me in more shade, is the canna lily:

I'm very stingy with the watering, so it's no wonder the moisture-loving cannas are happier in more shade.  I think that kind of balances things out for them.  Behind, you can see one of the self-sown 'Hopi Red Dye' amaranth that self-sow here every year.  I always let the amaranth sow where it wants, and never bother to move the seedlings when they show up... but I'm kind of hoping that these two mingle again in the future. The colors play off of each other very nicely.

As you can also see in the photos above, there's still plenty of sunlight to enjoy this afternoon... so it's time to go back outside and take advantage of it!  Hope that everyone across the country is having a similarly beautiful, sunny fall weekend.  (Everyone except Gail that is--she keeps saying how much they need rain there in middle Tennessee, so I'm hoping that some found her!)