Cold Climate Gardening

Unseasonably warm autumn
Thanks to our unseasonably warm autumn, many of September’s flowers are still lingering around. We just had our first frost on Saturday morning (13 Oct 30.4F;-0.8C) and the leaves haven’t really turned color yet, and usually by now they are almost all off the trees.
Cut back and came back
I had cut the mallow and yarrow back and they are reblooming. The phlox was deadheaded and sprouted four blossoms from the original stem. This particular phlox is blooming in a stand of ‘Bright Eyes,’ and I presume it is a self-sown seedling. It is taller than the surrounding phlox and a deeper pink, and I think I like it better, so I am going to see if I can encourage it.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Larkspur ‘Sublime Dark Blue’Ah, yes, Garden Bloggers Bloom Day has rolled around again. I always seem to have trouble finishing these bloom day posts on time. Even though I take photos for days ahead, the actual middle day of the month always seems to be a busy time. I should probably make it short and sweet, but making anything with words short seems to be difficult for me. I wanted to start off with larkspur, just to astonish all those Austin bloggers who seem to think it is a spring blooming plant. Are you kidding? Mine hadn’t even germinated for the April bloom report. Johnny’s is one of the few seed merchants that sells larkspur by color, and I always get this dark blue-purple to sow in the peony bed along with peony-flowered poppies, so there will be some color here after the peonies are done blooming. That’s the plan, anyway. Germination of both poppy and larkspur is always sporadic, and the poppies often look spindly.

Popularity: 14% [?]

May is always a busy month, what with birthdays (3 this month), Mother’s Day, a garden going to weeds, and homeschooling paperwork, but this past week had additional expected and unexpected busy-ness. It’s very easy to miss the spring ephemerals if you’re not careful. I know, because I’ve done it before. And if you go traipsing off in the woods, it’s very easy to use up whatever time you had to spare for blogging. Been there, done that, too. Well, dear readers, here are some posies to make it up to you. Violets in purple and white, and false strawberry (Waldsteinia fragarioides) in yellow. I actually grow a yellow violet on the north side of the house, but it bloomed and went by before a photo was snapped.

Popularity: 23% [?]