Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - November 2016

How fair is a garden amid the trials and passions of existence.  
- Benjamin Disraeli

Gardens are comforting places, places that can remind us that Nature goes on amidst all the "trials and passions" that human society can visit upon us. My garden has especially been a place of comfort to me in recent days, a place that I have turned to often for solace in troubled times. 

The garden is well into autumn now. Leaves are falling and mornings are brisk and cool. Daytime temperatures have been in the 70s F. But still the last blooms of autumn hang on. Let me share some of them with you. 


The bronze chrysanthemums that lived in a pot by my front entry last autumn were planted in the ground when they stopped blooming and now they are blooming once again.


The bronze Esperanza, too, is still putting forth blooms.


As is the yellow variety of Esperanza, called "yellow bells."


White mistflower is very attractive to all kinds of pollinators.


And so is the coral vine. Its blooms are always covered in bees. You may be able to see some of them here.


The purple trailing lantana is at its best in the fall.


The Cape honeysuckle rested for a while but now it is in full bloom once again.


This ornamental pepper sports fruits in many different colors, a veritable bouquet.


And here is 'Cashmere Bouquet,' also called Mexican hydrangea, a member of the Clerodenrum genus. It can be highly invasive.


Firespike is just now beginning to get going with its blooms.


Crossvine is a profuse bloomer in the spring but it also puts out a few blooms in the fall.


And Turk's cap is an almost year-round bloomer in my zone 9a garden.


I never, ever have any luck with lavender, but I never learn my lesson and I keep trying. This one at least is blooming for me and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I may have finally found a winner.


Speaking of winners, blue plumbago never quits unless we have a killing frost. In that case, it rests for a while and comes back strong in the spring.


'Old Blush,' an antique rose variety.


Pink Knockout rose. Many of my Knockout roses have succumbed to rose rosette disease over the past 12 to 18 months, but this one so far seems to be immune.


The ground cover, wedelia, sports a profusion of these little yellow daisy-like flowers.


Firecracker fern is covered in its firework-like blossoms these days.


The lemons are ready for harvest. There's a bumper crop of them this year.


Mandarin oranges are ready, too. We have plenty of them, also.


Several of the weird little blooms of the shrimp plant are hanging on. These blooms can last for weeks.


Pink oleander is getting in one last flush of blooms.


An over-zealous garden helper pruned off all the blooms on my hamelias several weeks ago. What was he thinking? But the undaunted plants are now putting out more blooms and they'll probably be covered in them again by the time we get our first frost.


The tropical plant, jatropha, will bloom until first frost and then go to sleep to awaken again in the spring.


What would autumn and winter be without pansies to brighten our gray days?


And, of course, I must have some of my favorite winter flowers, the sweet little violas.

And so the garden winds down its year but continues to bloom. One can only hope that the gardener will be able to do the same.

Thank you, Carol of May Dreams Gardens, for hosting this monthly meme, and thanks to each of you, dear readers, for visiting my garden this month.

Happy Bloom Day!

Comments

  1. Hello Dorothy, i looked at your About section to see which country or state you are in, i didn't find it. That is because most of your plants/flowers are also here in the hot tropics, except for pansies and violas, unfortunately they are my favorites. And we cannot grow that here. I also love the color of that shrimp plant, i haven't seen that here except the yellows. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then I should probably update that section. I am in the United States, southeastern Texas, zone 9a. We do grow quite a few tropicals here.

      Delete
    2. Thanks Dorothy, as well as for visiting my site. I guessed you might be in Texas as i know we almost have same plants, although you can grow those violas and pansies which i can only see abroad. They are my favorites, even cross-stitched them in my hand towels in the past. haha

      Delete
    3. Pansies and violas are lovely in cross-stitch, aren't they?

      Delete
  2. I am so happy to visit your garden. I expect the gardener to still be there in the spring with all its glories.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for sharing all your blooms. Now that we in the North are going into our flowerless season (unless you count snow as a flower), we will draw on the southern gardeners for solace.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our average frost date here is December 10, but who knows when it will come this year? We should still have flowers for a bit longer.

      Delete
  4. Beautiful!
    Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!

    ReplyDelete
  5. So many pretty blooms! And the ornamental peppers look like Christmas' lights. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My daughter made the same observation about the peppers.

      Delete
  6. I love optimistic gardeners - your comment about never learning your lesson with lavender but keeping on trying is spot on! Enjoy all those lemons and mandarins... I am more than a little envious of those crops! Happy GBBD :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think most gardeners are by nature optimistic. Otherwise we would probably all give up immediately and curl into a fetal ball. As for me, I have killed countless innocent plants over the years, but I keep trying!

      Delete
  7. Your November blooms are beautiful and you have many of the plants I admire for your climate, the shrimp plant being one of my favorites! The sight of fruit on your trees at this time of year is also a wonderful sight.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It has been an especially good year for citrus of all kinds this year. I think everyone on my Christmas list is going to get a basket of lemons and a few oranges for gifts.

      Delete
  8. I love to see the variety of plants you have--many of which will not grow up here in Washington state. :) We share a love for pansies and violas, though. Such hardy, cheerful little flowers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed, that is the word that comes to mind whenever I think of pansies and violas - happy. They look like happy little faces.

      Delete
  9. It's always a treat to see all your different blooms, Dorothy, especially now that winter is setting in here and I won't have much of anything in my own garden. How nice to have lemons and oranges in your own back yard! Like you, I have found that spending time in the garden has helped somewhat to cure my worry and concern this past week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At the very least, it offers a brief respite and refuge from the troubled world. Nice to worry about weeds and aphids instead of whether our country as we have known it will survive.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

Open Season (Joe Pickett #1) by C.J. Box - A review