Bloom Day - October

They say that the real gardening season in San Antonio is the fall. My bloom day flowers are proof of that.


In honor of the cooler weather, here's Autumn Joy sedum. This is the first bloom cycle since I bought this plant.  I was expecting pale pink flowers, but I'm excited to see the red. I wonder if the flowers will turn pink when they open fully. Either way, I'm looking forward to running my hands across their fuzzy broccoli-looking tops.

 
In the same bed as the sedum, the asters are going strong while the moonbeam coreopsis are waning.


This coneflower is a late bloomer. I have three of these plants. Two bloomed on schedule in the summer, but this one is on its own schedule. It has two bright blooms while the other plants have brown, crispy stalks.


The last blooming plant in my new bed is black and blue salvia. Since it started blooming in June, it hasn't stopped. Sometimes it takes a short rest only to come back a week or so later.


Two of my edibles are in bloom. These peas already have full sized pods as well as little flowers that remind me of bonnets.


The blooms on the garlic chives have gotten so heavy, they've flopped to the ground.


In the front yard, the pigeon berry flowers have turned to fruit. If you're familiar with how nandina goes from flowers to berries, this plant does something similar.


Before the pigeon berries make their fruit, the flowers look like white cousins of the liripoe flowers - tiny blooms held close on thin stalks.


On my computer, the yellow centers of these purple shamrock flowers stand out. I hope that comes across on your screen too.


We do have fall leaf color in San Antonio, but don't look up; look at the groundcover. By the way, I saw at least 50 of these dwarf plumbagos in one-gallon pots at Wal-mart for $3 (half off). I resisted buying any, but maybe I'll go back for just three.


This prostrate rosemary makes me think of Christmas wreaths. I like the gray-blue-purple color of the flower. I need to paint a room. Maybe I'll match the paint to this flower.


Speaking of Christmas, the turk's cap has a holiday flavor too, like ornaments on a Texas Christmas tree.


I'm calling this a Lazarus mum. It was a table decoration at my 2009 National Night Out party. I put it in the compost, and it sprouted up in this bed. I guess it came up from seed.

The esperanza is another late bloomer. Everyone else's flowered all summer. These are its first blooms.


Finally, salvia greggii, a sure sign it's fall.

Happy bloom day. Head over to May Dreams to see what's blooming in other gardens.