The appearance of the above bright beauties (Zinnia ‘Purple Prince’, Tithonia ‘Torch’ and Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’) on Garden Bloggers Blooms Day this October is, like last month and even the month before, very misleading as they and other blooms are few and far between in the garden. Nevertheless, they are joined by a number of other individuals to give lingering pleasure at the tail end of the season. Thank you to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting this monthly meme, and do pop over to her blog to find links to what is blooming in other people’s gardens.
Here, there are more bright beauties in the cheerful Tagetes ‘Paprika’ and the bright autumn leaves of Persicaria ‘Red Dragon’ with its completely insignificant white flowers (I forgot to capture the more striking blooms of its cousin P ‘Firetail’):
Similarly dependable but not showing off in the same way are Anemone japonica ‘Honorine Jobert’ and Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’:
Yet more reliable blooms are Campanula poscharskyana and Sedum spectabile ‘Autumn Joy’, both of which seem to flower to their own timetable:
Plenty of froth remains on the ‘Candy Stripe’ cosmos and Ammi visnaga in the cutting beds……
…. and a few blooms remain on the roses (Madame Alfred Carrière, The Fairy, Pink Perpetué, Munstead Wood):
There are odd late flowers on Clematis alpina ‘Foxy’ and (slug-munched) C texensis ‘Princess Diana’, and an increasing number of flowers and fat buds on C cirrhosa ‘Freckles’…..
….. and pretty flowers on the recent division of a friend’s tradescantia (possibly ‘Osprey’?), a young Astrantia ‘Bloody Mary’ and lingering blooms on some of the sweet peas. I have tied string round the stems of these last ‘Mollie Rilestone’ flowers to identify them and save the seed once they have finished:
Cataloguing October’s blooms in this way makes me realise just how many things are still flowering in the garden (and I will have missed some, I am sure), but believe me they really are few and far between, albeit little gems in their own right.
Rambling in the Garden 
We do appreciate these lone blooms, don’t we? Almost more than when they bloom profusely. Your Ammi visnaga gives me hope for next year when I hope to have it in the cuttings garden. I already have some little seedlings of Ammi majus in the greenhouse. What is the difference between the two; have you grown both?
I had grown A majus once before, but was growing both this year as a comparison trial for Which? Gardening. The majus flowers were used in https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/in-a-vase-on-monday-cutting-edge-technology/ but didn’t last long in the vase and the petals dropped on the plants as the flowers aged. Visnagi was much later flowering and have tighter less white flowers but the flowerheads keep their shape after they are ‘spent’ and I will be able to use them in vases for a long time yet, I am guessing. I will grow visnagi for definite next year, but probably not majus – perhaps I could be sowing them now?
Julie at Peony and Posies mentioned starting some in autumn, as does Sara Raven.
I sowed sweet peas in the autumn last year, but this year I must have more than a dozen different seedlings on the go – I am definitely breaking new ground now! Some are at the stage where I could possibly plant them out….is it worth the risk, I wonder? They could have been planted outside directly in the first place but I chose not to. Will include some A visnaga.
You have so many flowers still in your garden, it is looking quite summery. I think the warm weather is keeping plants sending out new flowers, that and the rain of course!
Good to hear from you Pauline – yes, lots of rain, but some warm sunny days inbetween like last Friday and today.
Gosh, you still have lots in flower Cathy. I am determined to try Tithonia next year, was that easy to grow? I planted Madame Alfred Carriere this year, a couple of blooms so far, but loving her very much already.
I am very optimistic about tithonia for next year – and do read about Jenny’s tithonia on her GBBD at Duverdiary! Yes, it was easy to grow, even the first batch germinated well, and only failed to thrive because of the compost. My Mme AC is probably my most floriferous rose – but the flowers are often way out of reach so worth training it over something to keep it at a height where it can be appreciated more readily!
They may be few, they may be far, but they are lovely. Didn’t I hear that scarcity raises the value of things?
Great way of looking at it, Ricki (are you one ‘i’ or two?) – and I certainly value them!
My horticulturist friend always adds the extra i from force of habit. I liked it so much that I adopted it as my new handle, I figured if I did that, the R should really be lower case.
Thanks for explaining that – I shall try and remember to use the extra ‘i’ and the lower case ‘r’!
It still looks almost summery with those hangers-on! Your clematis flowers are all lovely. I removed my last zinnias today, and earmarked which summer pots need to go, but the geraniums are still looking quite good.
The first two clematis shouldn’t really be flowering, Cathy! Hmm, pots are another matter – I didn’t think to include them today, but there is life in some of them although I need to decide if I am going to do any winter pots. Will you?
Probably one for the front steps – I have a few all-weather pots on the patio anyway, with heuchera, sedums, violas etc.
I still can’t get over the fact that you have sweet peas blooming so late in the year when mine were gone in May. I’m wondering which of these blooms I’ll see in your vase come Monday too.
No sweet peas, Kris – and no further clues! 🙂
Plenty of flowers, wonderful! Wonder whether I should be brave and give Freckles a try? Pity is that most of the sheltered spots are occupied. Where do you grow it? Cosmos are great at this time of year and flower forever if you dead-head them.
Surely you could find a sheltered wall or tree or something for Freckles? My previous one has flowered all through some snowy winters and I have a glorious photo (not up to your standard of course!) of snow thawing on the flowers in the Feb sunshine…
I love your little Anemone Japonica; I had one flower last month and was surprised as I though they were spring flowers. Wet and windy here and so far haven’t made it to the garden to photograph my very few blooms. My Cosmos has all finished now and has mostly been pulled up. I will definitely grow it again next year as it does flower and flower as you say.
Although the A japonica is hardly little – they must be 3 or 4 feet high – and they were much earlier this year and flowered for less time than usual. The cosmos shows no sign of stopping! We had a wet and windy start to the week but some lovely days since
Ah – I think I am getting my anemones muddled up. Mine was a little one, like the little wood anemones that usually flower in the spring. We had a great gardening day yesterday, but getting very windy now.
You have had an amazing summer and fall in yo0ur garden; we have all had a pretty amazing year…Love the photos.
Thanks Charlie – and writing the blog ensures you notice these things even more than usual
All very pretty, indeed! You and a few other bloggers have me thinking about tithonia in my own garden next year. I love the Anemone–I just planted a couple different pink cultivars here and look forward to them growing large in the coming years. Some of my Cosmos dried up (it was a DRY fall here), but some others are still going strong, despite being trod down by some critter. The Candy Striped ones are pretty–not sure I’ve seen them here. You are right, any flowers in October are gems!
Thanks Kimberley – and of course gathering all the pictures together like this looks especially good! It’s fun to keep looking out for surprises – like the sporadic late clematis flowers
This wonderful warm weather goes on and on fooling plants into believing that it is still Summer. Lovely to have roses and Clematis still flowering but I am not sure what Freckles is doing out now. It must be seriously confused. Lovely H. Annabel is such a joy, it has been looking fantastic for so long now.
A friend of mine sowed some Ammi in August for next year, as she thought, and it is looking fresh and wonderful now with white Antirhinnums and dark red Dahlias. I forgot to ask her when she sowed the Antirhinnums, but perhaps a late sowing is a good idea to extend the season. I suppose it only works if there is no frost to ruin everything.
And last night it was 16 degrees C here – as mild as the daytime! Interesting to hear about your friend’s sowings – in my post today you will read how I am chancing planting some seedlings out. I have just ordered some more A visnaga for an autumn sowing – but you say your friend’s flowered within 6 weeks or so….?! My antirrhinums were sown in Feb and I struggled to get them to germinate, so if I have some spare seed I will try a later sowing next year. It’s all trial and error I suppose, and second guessing the weather!
Glad to see you have enough warmth to bring out another flush of blooms, though it does have an autumnal feel with the raindrops. I wish “freckles” would stand half a chance of growing here, I love the blooms!
Freckles is quite hardy as it can bloom through winter, but I don’t know what minimum temps you would expect in your garden…
October blooms are so precious Cathy and you have some real gems. I love the colour of ‘Munstead Wood’. Have not come across astrantia ‘Bloody Mary’ so off to find out more forthwith.
I can’t even remember where Bloody Mary came from, Anna, and yet I usually know the origins of all my plants!
Wow Cathy so much still blooming and available for your vases…it is getting sparse to none here now.
Not a lot of most things though – but never fear, there will be vase!