What's Blooming in October?

It's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day once again and thanks to Carol of May Dreams Gardens, we get to see what's blooming in gardens around the world. Here at Our Little Acre, in Zone 5b, you might think the garden is finished with its color display, but not quite yet...

The Delphiniums are reblooming, and have been for the last couple of weeks. Over a month ago, I cut the spent flower stalks down to the ground while noticing new growth at the base of the plants. They rewarded us with several new flower stalks that make it seem like summer again. The white ones are especially frilly, but the purple ones are my favorites, with their white bees.

In her new book, The Perennial Care Manual, Nan Ondra says Delphiniums will rebloom if conditions are ideal. I guess they like it here, because these Delphinium x elata 'Magic Fountain Series' semi-dwarf plants have done well for me from Day One, unlike other varieties I'd tried previously.

The mums, of course, are still blooming beautifully. I'm kind of on again/off again, as far as mums are concerned, but we've got some in such luscious shades that sometimes I just stand and stare, drinking in the pure hues of salmon, brick red, and deep rose.

'Amor Coral'


'Clara Curtis'


'Red Dandy'


'Matchsticks'

As I posted Tuesday, the Toad Lilies (Tricyrtis sp.) are in all their glory, while the Asters (Symphyotrichum sp.) are winding down.

Endless Summer® Hydrangeas are loaded with blooms, but they're a bit darker in color than they were earlier in the season. Now would be the time to snip their heads off and bring them inside to dry. They'll keep for years like that.

The Gaillardias and Geranium 'Rozanne' are all still blooming strongly, as are the annual Zinnias, Calendulas, Cosmos, and Marigolds (Tagetes sp.). The Marguerite Daisies (Argyranthemum) are still in full pinky goodness, too.


Coreopsis 'Redshift' has become much more red than its 'shifted' color of summer, pale yellow. Likely the cooler fall weather accounts for this.

Several other Coreopsis are still blooming, such as 'Full Moon,' 'Moonbeam,' 'Limerock Dream,' and 'American Dream.'


Several of the Coneflowers (Echinacea sp.) are still pushing out blooms. 'Coconut Lime' has nice, full blooms as does 'Purity.'

Echinacea 'Purity'

New to the garden this summer was Eupatorium altissimum 'Prairie Jewel.' It's got misty, speckled foliage, started blooming its white flowers a few weeks ago, and is still going strong.

Eupatorium altissimum 'Prairie Jewel'

Sedums are still in bloom, but none more beautiful than October Daphne (Hylotelephium sieboldii). Stems sprouting from a single point are a spray of rose-tinged succulent leaves with typical deep pink blooms.

Sedum, October Daphne (Hylotelephium sieboldii)

One of my favorite summer bulbs is what used to be called Acidanthera bicolor. The taxonomists really outdid themselves with this one when they renamed it Gladiolus callianthus. Notice the similarities? Me neither. Let's just call it a Peacock Orchid, which is what its common name is, even though it's not really an orchid. Whatever it is, it sure smells nice.

Peacock Orchid (Gladiolus callianthus)

Several of the roses have been putting on some of their most beautiful blooms of the year in the coolness of fall. 'Joseph's Coat' Climbing Rose, which was planted earlier in the spring and seemed to stagnate most of the summer has really taken off this fall. I'm anxious to see how it does next year. If it grows as quickly as one of our other climbers, 'Morning Magic,' we'll have a real show from it. I failed to take a photo today, but its blooms look just like the one shown here from August.

Rosa 'Joseph's Coat'

Last week, I had to bring plants inside so they wouldn't be damaged by frost and many of those are still blooming, in fact, the Brugmansias are loaded with blooms. Those are still in our garage, because they need to be sprayed with Neem Oil before I bring them inside. White flies seem to always be a problem, so hopefully I'll keep that to a minimum by spraying before they come in for good.

Others blooming are Alstroemeria 'Princess Zavina,' (that's the coral bloom seen in the photo at right), several Pelargoniums, Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost,' and one of the Amaryllis (Hippeastrum) I dug up last week is putting up a flower scape.

While we're currently experiencing temperatures that are 15-20 degrees below normal for this time of year, the garden seems to be unfazed by it.