Blooming in October

There's always a downtime in early summer when the short-lived spring blooms are done, but the later blooms haven't started yet.

However, come July, the celosia are delightful and the purple hardy geraniums have filled in nicely.

Unfortunately, the middle geranium began petering out (I also MAY have put on some fertilizer that I later saw specifically says "DO NOT USE ON GERANIUMS" oooops...)

Thankfully, though, it all of a sudden shot out a tuft of green leaves from the middle, so I think it'll be ok next year.

So here we are in October: warm, sunny and full of color!

The pots on the deck did alright; I found some new flowers that kept their bloom almost full time (the deck is intense sun all day, so I've found quite a few that struggle...well...perhaps if you water constantly, but that is not my - uh - shall we say, forte?)

I also tried out some perennials, so we'll see if those survive.

I got a sweet william which was rather, well - sideways. I'm very curious if it continues that way or grows upright like the one in my wildflower border. It put out pretty blooms all summer, so not complaining!



My friend gave me some seedlings and seeds of zinnias. I'd never grown zinnias, but I am a FAN!

They are beautiful and lasted all summer!

Looked great with the bees balm which the hummingbirds LOVE!

 I found this little fellow in my edible garden one day; must have fallen out of the hanging basket above. Aww! Maybe he'll re-seed himself!




Some things are still beautifully full, but many others are winding down.
And then there are those that are doing both; browning and succumbing to the colder nights we've had, but also thrusting out a single, beautiful, spring-like burst of color!

So long as these 70 degree days keep coming, I'm not complaining!