Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - September 2014

Welcome to Bloom Day in my September garden. Thanks to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting this monthly tour of gardens around the world once again.

Here in Southeast Texas, for the last two days we have been enjoying our first really cool and pleasant weather since spring. The official beginning of autumn is still a week in the future and yet one might almost believe that it has arrived early.

My mid-September garden does not have an abundance of blooms. We are in transition here. The summer bloomers are slowly shutting down and fall bloomers are just beginning. Still, there are some colors to be found in addition to the falling leaves.


Some of the color is provided not by blossoms but by berries. Beautyberries, in this case. This shrub with the white berries still remains mostly untouched by the birds, while the shrubs with purple fruits have already been pretty much stripped of their berries.
 Lantana is in its glory at this time of year.


Here is the cream and gold.

The purple trailing lantana.

And 'Dallas Red.'

Autumn clematis lives up to its name.
 The esperanzas, too, enjoy the late summer/early fall weather.

The mahogany esperanza.

And the traditional yellow, known familiarly as "Yellow Bells."

All of the basils look forward to autumn. None more than African blue basil, a favorite with bees. 

The butterfly gingers continue their bloom.

Turk's Cap - a favorite with the migrating hummingbirds. 

The weird little purple blossoms of porterweed.

Blue plumbago is one of my most dependable summer and autumn bloomers.

Crossvine is covered in these trumpet-shaped blossoms in spring but continues to send out a few of them right through the summer and fall months.

The salvia named 'Coral Nymph.'

The datura sends out a quantity of these creamy blossoms every night. By midday the next day, they have closed. 

Finally, the pineapple sage also is blooming, another boon to passing hummingbirds.
It may be that we have seen the last of our mid-90s F. weather with triple digit heat indices for this year and we look forward to mild days ahead. If those mild days can provide us with occasional rains - well, indeed, my gardener's cup will runneth over!

Happy Bloom Day!


Comments

  1. Your assortment of blooms is lovely for September and I especially enjoyed your large Datura blooms! It has been a record cool summer here with not a single day in the 90's. Enjoy your milder days ahead and Happy GBBD!

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    1. We've had some really hot days over the last several weeks, so we are really enjoying this cooler weather. Hope it lasts!

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  2. Everything looks wonderful, Dorothy. I have some of the same plants (inspired by you, I might add) but I never seen to have much luck with salvia. It never lasts in my garden.

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    1. Salvia can be a bit of a hit or miss, I think. The varieties that I grow mostly seem to do well most years.

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  3. I love your blue plumbago! Here it is an annual, and although I planted one plant last year, it's hard to find in the nurseries here. As an annual, of course, it never gets as big and beautiful as yours. Lantana is also an annual here--is yours perennial? But I definitely plant it every year; it's one of the few plants here that love the heat and humidity. Lots of other lovely blooms in your garden--hope the cooler weather is here to stay for you!

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    1. Lantana is a perennial here. It often goes back to the the roots in winter but returns in the spring.

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  4. I do love the Lantana, it's so pretty and I'll have to keep an eye out for some next year. Here in the UK we're enjoying another burst of Summer weather, but I'm sure nowhere near as hot as it's been for you. Wishing you cooler days and some rain ahead:-) .

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    Replies
    1. Lantana is certainly a winner here. It thrives in our hot and humid summers and blooms profusely in late summer and fall.

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  5. Ah, that Datura is stunning! We have a lot of the same plants here in Austin. I hadn't seen the Mahogany Esperanza before, it's lovely! Here's hoping the cooler weather sticks around... Happy GBBD!

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    1. I love the datura. You have to stay out late in the evening or get up early in the morning to appreciate the blooms, but they are worth it!

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  6. Your blooms are beautiful! Your Turk's Cap is very nice and a new plant to me. In my garden, the birds haven't figured out that purple beauty berry makes a delightful brunch so the berries persist for months.

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    Replies
    1. In most years that has been the case of the purple beautyberries in my garden, too, but for some reason this year the birds have hit them hard and early. Some of the shrubs are already stripped. I think the berries must be particularly delicious this year!

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  7. So many beautiful blooms! I have the purple beautyberry, but have never seen the white. Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
    Lea

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    1. I've grown the white beautyberry for several years now and I do enjoy it as a nice contrast to the purple.

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  8. Look at that Pineapple Sage! I used to have some, but the blooms never got quite as big as yours. As always I am in love with your Datura. Wonderful color you have going on, Dorothy.

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    1. That pineapple sage took forever to bloom this year. I had just about given up on it, but it is making up for lost time now.

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