Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - September 2008

September is a chameleon. Sometimes it feels like the continuation of summer, and other years there is a decidedly autumnal feeling in the air throughout the month.

My front yard garden is a mix of late summer and early fall right now, with the fresh blue flowers of caryopteris and 'Black & Blue' salvia providing a counterpoint to the browned seedheads of oakleaf hydrangea, and the leaf colors of carex buchanii and various heuchera:


Tawny flower spikes of 'Hameln' pennisetum are just beginning:


None of my miscanthus look like they will be flowering any time soon, but the 'Sioux Blue' sorghum grass appears to be throwing up a few flower stalks. 'Rotstrahlbusch' switchgrass has been blooming for weeks now. 'Aureola' is not yet, but 'All Gold' hakonechloa is sporting some frothy inflourescence action:


I like that different cultivars of the same plant bloom later; it seems to extend the show. My unknown Japanese anemone cultivars are still resolutely staying in bud, but my first 'Party Dress' flower is starting to unfurl:


Behind it, you see 'Northern Halo' hosta and golden oregano. I usually cut back the golden oregano throughout the spring and summer when it gets too tall and flowers... so I never noticed the pretty cascading flower form before. It's nothing as showy as some of the ornamental types, but I enjoy it:


Also cascading, in a way, is the native honeysuckle vine, lonicera sempervirens. It does not have fragrance like many of the invasive Japanese honeysuckles, but the bloom time is outstanding. (And it's not invasive!) It has been in bloom off and on throughout most of the summer--and check out these beautiful warm trumpets of color against the glaucous foliage:


More fun foliage effects can be found in the backyard, where the 'Ichiban' eggplants continue to bloom, even as the plants are heavy with fruits that dangle over and into my lazy Little Bluestem grasses:


The allium senescens var. glaucum, whose common names are German garlic or curly onion, is almost done blooming. I need to do some mulching around this area, maybe with some rock to better show off the fun, twisty foliage:


Another allium, garlic chives, are still blooming in the backyard as well. This is my one garlic chive plant in a row of regular chives, so I'm thinking about relocating it to another space in order to remember which plant is which:


Nearby, the hardy blue plumbago continues to bloom. I'm hoping that this week's cooler temps will provide a tinge of red to the leaves finally--I love it when the blue flowers contrast with the red foliage:


The linaria aerugimea was cut back hard a month or so ago, and is rewarding me with lots of miniature, snapdragon-like flowers:


My 'Matrona' sedums are beginning to darken from their soft pink flowering color, and the "October daphne" (sedum sieboldii) is almost spent, too:


The sedum cauticola is still in bud, however. Here is 'Lidakense,' spilling out from a pocket I made in a retaining wall and sprawling all over the s. album below:


And here is the regular species, creating an illusion of water (I hope) below one of the industrial shelves that make up a pathway in my backyard:


Also cool in blue tones is my chocolate eupatorium, ready to burst into flower with a backdrop of blue sorghum grass:


Those are the main highlights from this Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. You'll find the rest of the list below, and please make sure to visit May Dreams Gardens for links to what's in bloom around the world on this September 15th!

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Shrubs, trees, vines and grasses: Caryopteris 'Petit Blue' and one other, 'All Gold' hakonechloa, 'The Blues' little bluestem, 'Hameln' pennisetum, 'Rotstrahlbusch' panicum virgatum, lonicera sempervirens. (In bud: 'Sioux Blue' sorghastrum nutens. Other showy color: pyracantha berries, 'Dortmund' rose hips, spent flowerheads of oakleaf hydrangea)

Perennials: 'Walker's Low' catmint, 'Party Dress' Japanese anemone, golden oregano, 'Othello' ligularia, mom's passalong lamium, echinops ritro, 'Matrona' sedum, linaria, 'Summerwine' achillea, alpine strawberries, artemisia, ice plant, 'Caradonna' salvia. (In bud: unknown cultivar of Japanese anemone, chocolate snakeroot, sedum cauticola and s. cauticola 'Lidakense')

Annuals, houseplants and vegetables: 'Ichiban' eggplant, 'Hopi Red Dye' amaranth, various snapdragons, 'Yubi Red' portulaca, self-sown 'Banana' portulaca, crown of thorns, abutilon megapotanicum, purple setcresea.
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