It's less than a week until Thanksgiving, and for the first time ever in my memory, we have not hit a freezing temperature yet this fall. I can't remember a time where we even made it to the month of November without at least one overnight freeze.
For someone who likes growing plants outside, this has been a lovely anomaly. I still have flowers blooming! Not a lot of them, but there are a few (not chrysanthemums). I actually just moved all my outdoor pots in for the winter yesterday, as the overnight temps are getting close enough to freezing to warrant it.
What was still blooming in my yard in October?
I got two new Dahlias this year, "Mystery Day" (above) and "Cornel Bronze" (below).
The flowers were huge, and the Cornel was formed as a perfectly round ball.
They were so pretty!
A friend of mine who loves Dahlias got me interested in growing more; I also love having something beautiful that blooms so late in the year, when most everything else is slowing down or finished.
Another new plant I got this year was this "Peacock Orchid."
It was a cool surprise; it bloomed in the middle of summer, and then again in the fall.
The foliage looks just like the foliage of gladioli, but the plants make multiple flowers.
One blooms, and then another, and then another...
My order contained ten bulbs, but since they're supposed to naturalize and multiply, I gave a few away to gardening friends, and planted the rest in different spots.
I'm hoping I'll get bigger clumps in the future!
The plant below is a variety of Goldenrod called "Seaside Goldenrod."
It bloomed into the beginning of November!
I saw it on the side of the road when I was running in Florida last February. It was very short, and I was wondering what it was, so I pulled it up and ID'd it.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that not only was it a Goldenrod flower, but it is a really pretty and non-invasive form of the flower. I have always loved Goldenrods, but they spread aggressively.
Not only is this not supposed to spread so quickly, but it's supposed to be zoned for where I live, so hopefully it will survive when I plant it in my yard.
I actually found one in North Carolina a few years ago, but it didn't survive when I brought it home.
This one is doing well in a pot!
I'm hoping I can grow a nice patch for my cut flower garden in the future.
This one was a surprise - I still have Tuberoses blooming today!
I planted them in pots years ago, and after the first year, I got foliage but no blooms. This continued for several years, till I finally googled how to get them to rebloom.
The answer?
Well, apparently it's hard to do, and many people said to throw the bulbs out and treat them like annuals. One suggestion was separating the bulbs, because they get crowded as they multiply.
So I removed a couple of bulbs and put them in the ground.
They both bloomed in the fall, with multiple flowers growing from each bulb.
Wow!
I'm curious if they'll make it through winter, as I don't think they're zoned for Tennessee.
I've always put the pots in the basement in the winter, and the bulbs have always survived.
So we'll see.
Tuberoses smell amazing. 💗
These last two plants, the Scarlet Sage (above) and Mealy Blue Sage (below) I also collected in Florida last February. These two are also annuals in my zone.
But they are blooming their little hearts out this fall.
I put a division of each in a pot and set it in my garage for winter; I'm hoping they come back for me in the spring.
Over the years my enjoyment of gardening has grown, and I never had many flowers after August. I've been discovering the plants that bloom into fall: Dahlias, salvias, asters, begonias.
I'm always planning my future garden in my mind, so I'll have to make sure to include a lot of the fall bloomers. I love having something to see in the fall. My hydrangea is blooming too.
I've never seen hydrangeas blooming in November before!
But freezing temperatures are in the forecast for next week, in fact, the overnight low is supposed to be 23 degrees ten days from now. I'll enjoy it while I can!
