Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - September 2015

Autumn seems to have come a bit early to my Southeast Texas garden this year. According to the calendar, it doesn't arrive until next week, but if you ignore that clue and just concentrate on the weather, you would swear it has been here these last few days. We have had glorious, sun-filled days with temperatures in the 80s F. It has been wonderful! 

More wonderful still, some of my plants are putting on a late flush of bloom just in time for Bloom Day. 


Pineapple sage has been a dependable bloomer all summer long.

More members of the sage family - autumn sage in front and the purple in back is 'Mystic Spires' salvia.

A few of the oxblood lilies are still blooming.

The inland sea oats are blooming, also, although you would hardly know it unless you gave them a second look. Those "blooms" will become a bit more colorful and noticeable as autumn advances.

Crossvine puts on its big display in the spring, of course, but, like many spring-blooming vines, it also gives us a few flowers in late summer/early fall.

The abelia blooms throughout the summer

Purslane continues to add color to its back porch planter.

The jatropha is beginning to bloom, too. Those long, narrow leaves are lemongrass which lives next to it. 

Bi-colored 4 o'clocks.

And fuchsia 4 o'clocks.

A few of the milk and wine lilies continue to send out the occasional blossoms.

Orange cosmos.

The cypress vine is loving the cooler weather.

The old pink crape myrtle continues to bloom.

As does the watermelon-colored crape, seen here against an autumn-blue sky.  

Butterfly ginger smells heavenly.

Yellow lantana.

Purple trailing lantana. The white berries on the plant in back are beautyberries. 

Wedelia.

Marigolds, of course. Gotta have marigolds.

The coral vine is just beginning to bloom. In another week, it should be full of these pink flowers and the bees will be ecstatic. 

It's called red milkweed, although it looks more orange to me.

And yellow milkweed. Monarchs seem to prefer the orange (red) - maybe because it better matches their wing color.

Blue plumbago.

Hamelia patens, also called hummingbird bush.

Yellow cestrum, a butterfly and hummingbird favorite. 

Pink oleander.

One of the last blooms of the year for 'Pride of Barbados.'

And the last rose of summer this year may well be a 'Molineux' because this plant is putting on a show for me just now.

How is your garden doing here at the almost changing of the seasons? I look forward to seeing what you have in bloom and I thank you for visiting my garden this month. Also, as always, thanks to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting us. 

Happy Bloom Day!

Comments

  1. Eighty degrees? Oh for temperatures in the 80s. I am so cold, I have my thermal vest on! Your plants look wonderful - I especially love that sage combination - such strength of colour; and the Abelia is so pretty. Enjoy your wonderful weather - and happy GBBD!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, here in the subtropical Gulf area, 80 degrees is considered a cold wave at this time of year. Our "summer" usually lasts from May until October.

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  2. What a fabulous array of blooms. And I agree with Sarah on the weather. It's been a lousy summer in parts of England.
    I can just imagine the scent of the butterfly ginger.. I have a similar one which has sat and done nothing for the last couple of years. And then we took a big tree down and it received more sun. Miracle! It has flower buds.

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    Replies
    1. The scent of the ginger is lovely. Enjoy yours when it blossoms.

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  3. Beautiful!
    Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
    Lea

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Lea. It's another beautiful late summer day here and I do plan to enjoy it!

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  4. So many beautiful blooms. Enjoy them! :-)

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    Replies
    1. This is just about my favorite time of year and I do enjoy every aspect of it - including the late blooms.

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  5. Time for red blossoms and the purple haze of Autumn, which comes slowly to us.

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    Replies
    1. It tends to be an off and on thing here for several weeks, usually into October, but this week has been nice and autumny so far.

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  6. Welcome, Sofie, and congratulations on your new blog. I will definitely visit you there.

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  7. So many lovely blooms, Dorothy! I enjoy seeing so many different ones that I'm not familiar with because they aren't hardy here. But I do recognize blue plumbago, which I sure wish I could grow. Your lantana looks beautiful; mine is just now taking off, a little too late in the season here. The same with pineapple sage--about the time it blooms for me, it gets zapped by the frost. Glad you are finally getting some cooler temps!

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    Replies
    1. That's the wonderful thing about Bloom Day, isn't it? It's always so much fun to see what other gardeners around the country and around the world are growing.

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  8. Wow that crape myrtle is absolutely stunning! I just got my plants this summer so they are tiny compared to that. I love all of your pollinator friendly plants. This year was my first time setting up a butterfly garden. Thank you for giving me some great ideas to add to it next season :) Have a lovely weekend Dorothy.

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    1. Congratulations on getting your butterfly garden started. Butterflies need all the help we can give them and what you are doing is very important.

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  9. Hi Dorothy...just catching up on posts! You still have lots of blooms in your garden The Crape Myrtle, Lillies and Sage collection are beautiful! Happy gardening!

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    1. The blooms are winding down, but we'll still continue to have some up until first frost. Today, our temperatures are in the low 90s again and first frost seems quite a long way away!

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  10. I am late to comment, but better late than never :-)
    You have lots of nice flowers for autumn colour, some of them are not familiar to me at all so it’s interesting to see new plants and flowers. Next year I definitely WILL grow cosmos, I have said it before, but next year I have no excuse :-)

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    Replies
    1. Cosmos is definitely a favorite for the butterfly garden. Butterflies do love it.

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  11. Your garden looks very similar to what we have in California. We've had some nice weather too. Up and down though. We're going back into triple digits for the weekend. Then back down again. I gave up on trying to follow any type of gardening rule to plant this at this time or plant that... things just grow whenever they feel like it in my climate and the only thing I have to worry about are these days when it gets too hot! I am looking forward to Fall though. Those orange Cosmos would be perfect for my front porch mixed with the Pumpkins I'm going to get as soon as it cools down. :)

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    1. Yes, I think our gardens and our gardening challenges from the weather probably have a lot in common, Danielle. Thankfully, we at least have had sufficient rain this year, but one never knows what to expect next, except that it will probably be hot!

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