Bloom Day! October 15, 2009

Bloom Day in October? Everything is winding down. There are plenty of flowers to show, but they seem to be the last ones on each plant.

Toad lily:Petunias underneath a butterfly bush:
Lavender has been putting up spikes since mid-summer:
Clematis jackmanii returned for a huge rebloom:
A pink dahlia, backlit by the sun:
The color isn't quite right with the flash, but a darker dahlia still looks good too:
The temperatures may dip below 32 this weekend, bringing a lot of this to a screeching halt. I've been digging in bulbs for spring, and pulling out the tropicals. I've still got to move all the orchids in, it's time to hunker down.

Berries and seeds

Another joy of fall: the berries and seed pods from the end of the season.

Barberry berries are subtle and hard to see, but a vibrant red.Hardy hibiscus is looking pretty wasted by now, but the split open seed pods are really cool.
Of course, this is the season to shine for beautyberry. Utterly nondescript the rest of the year, it pumps out unnaturally purple berries in fall. Love it!

Sedum flopping, bugs at work

My beautiful tall sedum has flopped all over the driveway bed. Oddly enough, the one in the most sun is doing this while the others that get part shade are fine. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?What the center of the sedum looks like now:
On a part that was still relatively upright, this mantis made short work of a yellow jacket. Good work!
A moth takes advantage of a new flush of blooms on the butterfly bush:
In mid-summer I diligently sprinkled seeds from open-pollinated columbines on some bare dirt and I now have lots of columbine plants emerging! I can see why people get hooked on starting from seed - it's very satisfying to see plants arrive "for free."

Signs of fall

The weather was distinctly cooler today. Poking around outside yielded this geranium: one leaf gone brilliant red.The witchhazel has turned a few leaves (and just dropped some others, while some stay green).
There are a ton of buds! But some have started blooming already.... and they're coming out yellow. Which is weird: this is witchhazel 'Diane' and it has definitely bloomed red in the past.
Anyone ever seen a witchhazel bloom the wrong color?

Beautiful, dangerous Datura

I bought a purple datura at the farmer's market this spring. I love the flowers...The seed pods start off looking a little like blackberries....
Then grow into something a little more grotesque...
The overall effect of the plant is cool. New flowers are constantly developing, and old leaves slough off to reveal jet black stems...
It is, however, extremely poisonous! (Click here for the wikipedia entry, or here for the comprehensive entry in Erowid - the online encyclopedia of drugs) Just something to know about before you run out to get one.