I think it's almost "lights out" for the flowers in the Garden of Aaron this year.
Temperatures are forecast to drop in the coming days (40s for high on Sunday, lows in the 20s), but up to this point, unusually warm autumn weather to date has allowed some brave bloomers to strut their stuff right into Thanksgiving territory.
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| Mexican sage, Salvia leucantha, has bloomed for months from summer to late autumn. In recent weeks, it became a magnet for bees and other pollinators. |
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| Sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima), also a long bloomer, very popular with mini pollinators (hoverflies, etc.) |
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| Most of the hardy geraniums stopped blooming long ago, but 'Rozanne' hybrid geranium carries on with a few last flowers. Unfortunately, Rozanne doesn't have the same winter presence as some of my other favorite cranesbill geraniums. Where Geranium sanguineum and Geranium cantabrigiense seem more or less evergreen here in zone 6/7, 'Rozanne' has acted behaved like a true herbaceous perennial, dying back to the ground each year. |
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| This unknown Camellia sasanqua has had a great year. As you can see, if you pick a camellia with open, single flowers, you'll give the bees a banquet! |
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| A few of the flowers on this group of reblooming azaleas have been blasted by frost, but the shrubs are still putting on a magnificent show! |
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| OK, no flowers here, but the fall foliage on this Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) certainly shines on its own. |
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| No flowers here, but I love the pop of the red chokeberries (Aronia arbutifolia) against the variegated aucuba (Aucuba japonica) in the background. |
Thanks for reading and commenting this past year.
I'll continue to post in the weeks and months ahead, though most likely at a more lugubrious pace than during the growing months, but I do look forward to sharing information with you on plants I've added to the garden this fall, seeds I'll be winter-sowing and so forth.
Best wishes to you all (in the Northern hemisphere) for a warm and cozy winter season. And to you in the Southern hemisphere... Happy Spring :)
