Autumn

(September, October, November)

The past few years I took my vacation in August and when I started work again the beginning of September, for me the summer was over and autumn was there. Also we had two very warm and dry summers, which makes the trees drop their leaves early. A lot of plants finished flowering, although some seem to go on for ever. My roses still produce flowers, ger. nodosum never stops and some plants just started.
Like Calamintha nepeta 'Nepeta' jpeg 19 Kb, a cloud of small light blue flowers, exuding a minty smell when the leaves are touched. A plant like this is also called a 'weaving-plant', the transparent growth can be used to make a connection between more compact ones, or to form a nice background.

Another late flowering beauty is Anemone vitifolia 'Robustissima' jpeg 16 Kb, the Japanese anemone. It 's a very strong plant, but you have to watch it, it can spread out a lot. Even more beautiful is a white variety Anemona hybrida 'Honorine Jobert', white flowers with a yellow heart. I planted one last year to brighten up a shady corner, but so far I have not seen any flower(bud)s. Maybe it needs more time and will flower next year, or it does need more light, in that case it has to go.

A small one I have had for years, is Liriope muscari jpeg 13 Kb. I like the grassy leaves, and the flowers of course, but I have seen them only once. Its sister, Liriope graminifolia on the other hand does very well, lots a soft pink flowers, that make blue berries afterwards. They stand rather close together, so why they behave so differently I don't know.
There are not that many perennials that flower this time of year. So I was happy to find Tricyrtis formosana jpeg 13 Kb, its flowers have very nice purple markings. It needs rich, moist soil in light shade, so I thought it would be perfect for me. Well, for two years it was, then it died. That's gardening for you, never take anything for granted!
Everyone knows the autumn-flowering monk's-hood, I had two of them. One is overgrown by my Japanese anemone (alas, looked very nice flowering at the same time), but Aconitum carmichaelii jpeg 17 Kb is still doing fine. Their lilac-blue color combines perfectly with the soft pink flower spikes of Cimicifuga ramosa 'Atropurpurea' jpeg 19 Kb, that is growing next to it. This is also a late flowerer, but the large feathery leaves have a dark brown-green color, forming a contrast with the strong hosta leaves on the other side and therefore interesting throughout the season.

Autumn is also the time of the spiders. I cannot open the door and go outside without walking into some sticky threads, ugh... But don't they look pretty with the sun glittering on the dewdrops and the bright pyracantha berries jpeg 25 Kb ?
And in October, maybe November if the weather is all right, you should plant your spring bulbs.

A last view of my garden in October, looks a bit sad, don't you think, but I keep in mind that just a few months away everything starts all over again, with new possibilities for different plants and exciting flowers . A garden is never finished, it is changing all the time, and the winter is just the time to make plans for the next year.

Well, I will try to keep you up to date about what's happening here, so check out the changes every now and then.