My Fall Garden – So Faded & Forlorn, But Beautiful!

Even though it is colorful, my fall garden flowers and plants are suffering from cold and frost and it is depressing. The fall colors of yellows and oranges and even blazing reds are beautiful in the leaves and trees . And I love the mums and other fall flowers which are still blooming, but I find this time of year to be a time of reflection and sadness.

I am a spring and summer person overall. So it is not surprising that approaching the cold time of the year is just not a happy time. I know that I will need to put the garden beds to sleep. (I am speaking of flower gardens and perennial beds since I am not a vegetable grower. I just have no luck with vegetables. Maybe someday I will try. Next spring?)

And no more making hypertufa? Well, I may get a warmish day or two to work on a few projects, but putting it all away for the year starts my mind whirling about making this or that mold or some new idea that it is just too cold to start. Disappointing, right?

Favorites for this year

One of my favorite plants has been the Bottle Gentian. I had moved it to the sunny side of the house and it has gone gang-busters this year. Check out my YouTube channel for a video soon to show you how well it has done. Each branch has so many flower buds. Most of mine remain closed but some do open here and there. Love this intense blue flower which blooms even in the snow.

Honorable mention to my Balloon Flower. It always performs for me and has become one of the mainstays of the garden. I love the tallness of the plant and its reseeding capabilities which keeps me constantly with new plants. Great perennial with almost no care except to deadhead.

I cannot forget to mention the annual Alyssum. Love its faithful growth with no work for me at all. I just sprinkle seeds like I did for my long planter this spring and I still have an abundance of blooms which cascade over the sides of the planter. What more can I ask of an annual?

Failures (somewhat) but I will try again

I loved my Red Hot Poker in the spring and while it is in bloom. But for my small garden, it is just too overwhelming of a grower for the rest of the season. I only bought one small plant at a Master Gardener Plant sale a few years ago. But now I have a large clump of plants which have quickly swamped a peony and the mums that grew in the same area. It is just too large of a plant for my small garden.

I guess transplanting is in order. Where can I put it though?

As happens each year, my hydrangeas have not done well. I have three hydrangea bushes and two of them just stagnate. They don’t really get big and they don’t bloom. I have them in a sunny-part-day, shady-part-day location, but they really don’t grow much and rarely bloom. I had one bloom between the two bushes a few years ago. No, I am not a hydrangea grower by far.

However my other hydrangea, the lace-cap variety, does well in its location. It flourishes and has grown quite large and blooms well. It is near two white pine trees and is mostly shaded except for the morning hours. Sure wish I could get the other two to do as well as this one.

I was not pleased with my hardy geraniums this year. It’s the Johnson’s Blue variety and they didn’t seem as vigorous and didn’t bloom as well. Maybe they just get tired or worn out in the same area each year?  I may move them next spring. Or dig them and let them overwinter in a pot to be transplanted? Not sure which I will do.

But more about that dilemma later.

Check out the  video.

My Fall Garden - Saying Goodbye to Summer Flowers

I am showing all these plants and but stay and be sure to watch other videos. If you have any questions, I would be glad to answer and I would love to hear your answers to my problems  and how you may have solved them.

Meanwhile I will just mourn the passing of the gardening season.

I will go play with my indoor garden! Yeah, that’s it!