Some Fall Blooms

I took a walk around the house today to get some pictures of what's blooming here in early November. The knock out roses, both the pink and the yellow, are still blooming. This is not unusual as I typically have blooms on them until early December and our first hard frost.

This Beauty Berry (callicarpa japonica) spilling through the split rail fence is at it's peak.

And while the Coral Bark Japanese maple isn't in 'bloom' it is quite beautiful this time of year!

What follows is a sampling of my sasanqua camellia collection. Not a collection so much as an assortment.  These shrubs do really well for use here and are very adaptable to our climate. They grow well in both full sun and part shade. No real pest problems to speak of. One year I had an outbreak of leaf gall (swelling and toughening of the leaves). I spent some time picking the affected leaves off, being careful not to touch the unaffected leaves. That seemed to have solved the problem.

 Snuck  in an Encore azelea bloom here in this picture.

This is an Oakleaf hydrangea. The leaves are a brilliant burgundy. 

Here we venture out into the veggie garden where we have some carrots and beets growing in the foreground. You may be able to make out the golden leaves of Simpson's black seeded lettuce in the background.

Here's a row of radishes. 

And here I've planted a much more reasonable amount of garlic this year. Last year I went way overboard and had far more than I needed and the bed got overrun with weeds. This year,  I might have around 50 plants.

Here you can see some of the strawberries I transplanted last weekend.

I am trying to let these broccoli plants go to seed this fall. I am hoping to be able to harvest my own seed to plant again in the spring. It may prove to be a waste of time, or free seeds, we shall see.

I am experimenting with growing some hard winter wheat this year. It looks pretty much like grass you find growing in your yard right now.

And the dogs enjoy eating the tender young shoots.

The bees get active on the warm days like this weekend. We are supposed to be up around 70 degrees for our high all weekend. 

You may be able to make out my blackberry plants in the picture below. I planted these 2 winters ago, the deer like to graze on them so I haven't had any berries yet. 

Here are some crimson clover seedlings coming up in one of the garden beds. I plant it as a cover crop to nurish the soil. I'll turn it under on the first dry day after mid-March. I want to give it 5 weeks or more to break down before I plant the summer crops in this bed. 

Here you can see I've cut down the asparagus stalks and top dressed the bed with a couple inches of compost. This one bed with 24 crowns is plenty to feed DW and I for about 6 weeks in spring. 

First Hemerocallis of the season

Well, the early daylilies have started to bloom. Stella De'Oro are usually the first bloomers of the year. I only have one clump of Stella De'Oro here in my gardens  and while mine are not yet in bloom because they are getting too much shade, most of my neighbors' are. Here are a few of my other day lilies that have started to bloom:

If you happened to see the pictures I posted earlier, of my Jackmanii Clematis, here is another picture of the clematis on my fence and you can see how many more blooms it has now, over when the last picture was taken back in April.

This is some Victoria Blue salvia that I have growing by the koi pond.  It is a carefree plant and it's flowers are long lasting.

I took a brief walk through what used to be my shady side garden. That was three large dead trees ago. I have had the dead trees removed, and for now the garden gets more sun than it was intended. Most of the plants are capable of adapting. The 'Bloodgood' and 'Coral Bark' Japanese maples do well in the shade or sun. As do the osmanthus, the camelia sasanqua & japonica, iteas, 'Encore' azaleas, and many of the other plants in this garden. Even the hostas look nice in spring, but in a few months the sun will take its toll on them and they will start looking worse for the wear.

I have allowed some Tulip poplar seedlings to grow int this garden, and they should grow quickly to bring shade back to this garden. And they serve as a host plant to butterflies.

The Virginia Sweetspire (Itea) is in full bloom now. This is a truly wonderful plant that can serve many purposes. It can be planted in wet areas, sun, shade and will perform well.