Fall ushers in the beautiful colors of leaves, but it chases away the blooming flowers that cheerfully splashed color across my gardens and lawn throughout the summer. My potted annuals continue to provide vibrant color.
A few weeks ago I replaced the waning summer annuals in my flower boxes with mums, the garden workhorse of fall.
These mums (They could be asters; I’m not sure of the difference) are planted in my St. Francis garden. They’re the brightest spot of color there now.
The butterfly bush
and the roses are making a valiant last gasp. But their days are clearly numbered.
We have a plentiful supply of sedum that makes a statement in the fall garden,
and quite a few Liriope muscari, or Lily Turf, both variegated and non. They add a nice subtle color for the observant.
And all of sudden these charming white wildflowers are blooming along the woods’ edge.
The vanilla marigolds we planted in the empty space ravaged by our chameleon ivy eradication, have filled in nicely this year. I like them so well I may just plant them next year and skip the perennials in this particular spot altogether.
The Mandevilla that I planted in the garden continues to bloom like the one on the deck in the first picture. The Moonflower vine growing up the left side that I planted from seed did not produce any flowers until
September 29th when I noticed this bright spot from my kitchen window.
A single solitary flower. Isn’t it gorgeous? I like it so much, I’m thinking about trying to plant moonflowers in a big pot on our deck, which is full sun, and allow them to climb along our railing next year. It’s worth a try, anyway.
What’s still blooming where you are?
Christine M. Grote 
So pretty!
We’ve still got bougainvillea, lantana in several colors, yellow bells, and a bit of Russian sage.
You’re in a temperate climate aren’t you? Didn’t I see photos of blooming plants through the winter last year from you?
Yes, we have some flowers through most of what we call winter here in AZ. It almost makes up for the 115 degree temps in July and August (but not quite!). 😀
Stunning photos, Christine. We have moon flowers in our garden, as well. I love this time of year.
Hugs,
Kathy
Did you get very many blooms? I wonder if I didn’t because it wasn’t in full sun. Is yours? I just read that moonflowers are poisonous, especially the seeds. I don’t suppose you’ve been snacking on the though.
Thanks for sending A Frank Angle my way. I love his name.
I loved seeing what’s in your yard. There’s still a lot blooming here. . . first frost isn’t for a few more weeks. Not many bees or butterflies anymore though.
Nancy
I don’t know remember what part of the country you live in. I don’t think we’ve had a frost here yet. I saw a beautiful butterfly yesterday that I didn’t know the name of. I went to get my camera, but it had gone when I got back. They’re hard to photograph anyway.
The butterflies move really fast! When I did the ones at Williamsburg a few weeks back, I put my camera on jpg (vs. raw), cranked up the ISO to 800, and put it on continuous shoot. I threw away about half of them, but I got a lot of keepers. Raw doesn’t record fast enough on the camera card when you’re firing rapidly.
Richmond Virginia
That’s good to know about shooting on raw. I’ve done the same thing when I’ve tried to catch the hummingbird.
In Richmond you’ll have nicer weather a lot longer than us, I suppose. I’d love to get back to Williamsburg.
Lovely! My gardens are just abut dead!
Ahhh. Once that starts happening, I’d just as soon get it over with, clean it up and wait for snow. 🙂
The butterfly bush is still going, as is the vitex, bee balm, and I found a couple new coneflowers, too! The geranium still has a few blooms, and a hanging basket of petunias has come back to life.
I don’t know what vitex is. I need to get some bee balm and coneflowers, but I’ll have to find a place for them. I don’t have a lot of room to be creative here. I had a variety of plants at my old house in what I tried to fashion as an English cottage garden. The new owners, dug it under and planted grass. 😦
I love the fall and the changes of colour.
I often wonder if you relate seasons back to life whether we are in our fall, or as we call Autumn years?
It’s interesting that you reminded me of that. I’ve always heard that. And I think we must be in the autumn. I guess in some ways I’m glad I’m out of the heat of summer. It’s my least favorite season. Fall is an interesting mix of color and sadness, isn’t it? How appropriate.
I love the fall mums but they also make me kind of sad because we all know what follows fall in Iowa…..a long cold windy snowy winter. I really need to move to a warmer climate again…lovely pictures, Christine!
Well, maybe you do, but don’t give up the seasons. I can’t think of anything worse than having summer year-round. But that would just be me.
I do love your garden photos, Christine! They are beautiful. I’ve always wanted to grow moonflowers! So, as ever, I’m envious 🙂 We are managing to still harvest a bit from our very weedy overgrown garden, though… beans, eggplant, and peppers. It’s a race with the deer and frost, though!
Thanks, Julia. I didn’t actually grow moonflowers in the plural. I grew a single moonflower, but loved it very much. I wonder if you just don’t have a long enough summer there. It took all the way until the end of September before I got a bloom. I wonder if you could find started plants, or start them yourself in a greenhouse. Nice project.
I think Mark’s vegetable garden is pretty well shot. He put a fence around it this year and that kept all the little critters out so we had a lot of tomatoes. The deer didn’t seem to bother it.
It’s hard, and not that rewarding to keep up with weeding a garden at this point. That tumbled down, overgrown look is very ‘in’ for fall gardens. 🙂
Love the flowers next to the bunny in your St. Francis garden! WOW!
They’re a nice little spot of color. I can see them from our kitchen table.
Absolutely gorgous photos. I love gardens but have not been up to par this year so my gardens have been neglected. We are hoping for rain soon as have really had none to speak of since June which is quite unusual for Washington State. Thanks for sharing.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve not been up to par this year, Renee. I hope whatever has got you a little down is moving on. This was a bad year for gardens all over, I think. We had pretty much of a drought through the summer. If not for a few reliable work horses in my perennials we were have had barren ground. Is it fall there now?
Your garden is still very beautiful. 🙂
The mums and pansies are blooming here now, and some kind of little white flower that I haven’t identified yet sprung up at the back of the pond near the woods. It looks vaguely like lily-of-the-valley without the leaves. The asters and goldenrod are starting to turn brown, but there’s still some color left from them.
I love getting these little snapshots of fall from everyone. Thanks.
You do have a lot of color, Christine. Right now my garden is spotty until a couple of weeks from now when the mums and asters will light up the garden.
You must be somewhere warmer than I am. Or maybe colder. Hmmm.
The garden is still lovely!
We’re getting frost regularly in the nights, so it won’t be long before the plants are through for the season.
We’re just starting to get a dusting of frost on high ground, but it won’t be long now. The birds are migrating through.
What beauty, and such peace I see… Thank you for sharing ..
Thank you for stopping by, Sue.
What a glorious Garden you have! Gardens, they are soothing, even when they slumber. Here via Frank, and I’m enjoying your photos.
Thanks for stopping by Victoria. Frank and I enjoyed each others photos of Italy the other day. I’m really looking forward to spring and flowers this year. The snow is melting here today. Thank goodness.