Blooming and Growing in October

Swamp sunflower, (Helianthus Angustifolius) Beautiful small, yellow sunflower blooms in late September on plants that are 4-6 feet tall.

Confederate rose starting to bloom.

For those who don't know confederate roses here is what the flower starts off as then turns that red over about a day. Believe the name comes from a battle where the flowers started off white and by the end of the battle they were blood red.

What a beautiful pic, CoreHHI. Thanks for posting!

Shoe

Picture wasn't focused right but my Senna surattensis is starting to bloom.

Pretty! My Confederate Rose always blooms later than everyone elses .. don't know why. Love the Senna .. if you save some seed, throw some my way please .. I think a mixture of the surattensis and the alata would look awesome!

X

This is the year of the "late" for me .. seems like a lot of plants are blooming really late!

This pretty little morning glory, Ipomoea hederacea is a "wild child". Came from out of nowhere. Definitely collecting seeds.

I've got a second plumeria that finally decided to bloom after 3 years of nothing. I was on the verge of trading them away.

The Bush/Tree morning glory, Ipomoea carnea is getting so heavy with blooms that I've had to prop it up!

And the zinnias are really outdoing themselves .. still a bit miffed that only about 1/5 of the flowers are candy striped.

X

My Ipomoea carneas are full of flowers right now too. Yours is a lot more purple than mine.

As far as seeds I can send you some in probably a month, easy to grow from seed but I'm not sure how hardy they are. You can be the next hardiness tester for the surattensis. I had a seedling hit about 25 degrees one night not sure how much colder it can handle.

I'm gonna wait and see if the alata is hardy ... it's suppose to be, but if not, no big deal since they go from seed to bloom in 1 season. Would be nice though! Want some alata seeds?

X

BSD - I love seeing H. angustifolius in the fall - the bright yellow flowers really stand out nicely against the blue October skies. But, I have a sort of love/hate relationship with this plant. Love the flowers, but during the summer it's just another weed, and it spreads very aggressively via stolons. Unless you have a lot of room for it to grow it's really difficult to keep it in check. (I'm just posting this as a warning to those of you with small yards who might be thinking about trying to grow this beautiful beast of a plant :)

LOL, been there, done that.

Tom, is that "swamp sunflower" the same as Maximillian? It sure looks like it. (Or maybe Maximillian is a cultivar of H. angustifolius?)

Shoe

Tom:I agree with you that they can be a bit invasive. You have to keep them in check and just give alot away. You are also correct that this is not a plant for a small garden.

Horseshoe: They are similar but have a different growing habit. I have the Mazimillian also, and the blooms come out from a 8-10 foot stalk. The plant then falls over but they continue to have flowers that bloom. The angustifolius grows 6-8 feet tall but keeps its upright habit. The new growth will come from the base of the plant. I do not think that it self seeds. This is the more compact of the two plants.
Check this out:


http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/131861/

Thanks, BSD. That's what I have, too, (H. max). And you're sure right about them gaining height then falling over.

Thanks for the clarification of the two.

Happy Gardening!

Shoe

Made a mistake!!! Helianthus A. DOES reseed so you will have alot of plants to give away. They look alot like a weed so I probably was pulling them up. They appear in the summer but it is the end of Sept. before you see the blossoms. Usually if you sit in my flower bed for 3 month before you produce something ---you are a weed.
Sorry for the misinformation.

X, so great that the plumeria is blooming! Congrats!

Core: Love that Confed. Rose!

BSD: Is this the same as the Swamp Sunflower in your first pic? It fits the description and s growing wild all over the place in a vacant lot.

Deb

Debin: I think they are all listed as helianthus but there are many different species. The ones that I see growing around Conway ( in the woods and on the roadsides) look like the same blooms but seem to grow on a much narrow single 3-4' stem. Wonder if you take the same plant and put it in a more controlled enviroment with frequent watering and fertilizer that you get a plant like mine. I think they are all beautiful and if anyone would like seeds I'll be glad to send you some in a few months. My sister gave me two plants which are the ones I have posted. She says they reseed profusely so be careful what you ask for.

My Bougainvillea brasiliensis 'Raspberry Ice' which is kept in the greenhouse is blooming .. I love this plant. The variegated foliage and raspberry colored flowers are so beautiful, just a mound of color.

X

Beautiful, X!

Spanish flag morning glory

My favorite hedychium, Daniel Weeks. It's been blooming since August and it's got more stalks coming up.

Turks cap.

That's a pretty MG, B&J; never seen that one before.

I also have some hedychium gingers blooming - don't know the name of this one.

This message was edited Oct 15, 2009 6:39 PM

This orchid's just getting fired up, but with the temps today, I'm afraid I'll have to bring it inside sooner than usual!

What a gorgeous orchid!

Thanks, B&J! This and a white one (both dendrobium), sit out in the garden all spring/ summer/ fall, where I provide benign neglect. They're so happy there, that I hate to have to bring them indoors for winter.

These impatiens are loving the cooler damp weather this week.
Deb

Spanish flag (Ipomoea lobata) is a morning glory? Thought it wasn't. Latin not so good on my end BTW.

Core, you're probably right. I call anything that starts with Ipomoea a morning glory.

Around the Summerville arearight now, there are these blue flowers all along the sides of the road, along with the Goldenrod and the Swamp Sunflowers. They never seem to be somewhere that I can safely pull over to get a better look. The shape of the plant adn the blossoms is something like a large verbena or small lantana. All seem to be about 2 ft tall at most and are a cool, almost cornflower blue, maybe a bit lighter.
Anyone know what they are?

Deb

Probably some kind of Aster, they are blooming everywhere right now.

I have wild ageratum that appears every year about this time, too. It's very pretty and blue. Much taller and more airy than the nursery ones that I see.

Aha! Found a patch I could get to.
I believe it is ageratum?
Deb

It does look like an ageratum. What a pretty color.

Hey, it's Halloween night... and that means it's the end of October. So it's time for an end-of-month image dump. I meant to post some of these sooner :

First is Hedychium 'Daniel Weeks' with a fat praying mantis. This ginger still has 3 stalks blooming even this late in the season.

Next is my fall-blooming native aster. Not sure what species it is but the butterflies and bees love it.

Here's a Monarch butterfly feeding on the aster. I've also seen Painted Ladies, several type of Skippers, and the ubiquitous Cabbage White.