Garden Blogger's Bloom Day ~ October 2011

Dahlia 'Peaches 'n Cream'

Some floriferous views from Gilmore Gardens!
Welcome to our Pennsylvania, USA garden (hardiness zone 5). We are fortunate not to have had our first frost yet this month. Sometimes the snow flies on October 1st! Most of the plantings are similar to those from September, but the asters are not to be missed this month. And my favorite are on the Shade Path garden, which lives between our home and the sidewalk...
 
The Shade Path:

Begonia 'Big Rex', white-flowered native aster (Doellingeria umbellata) and Digitalis grandiflora.

Our Shade Path is still stuffed with flowers. I know that its days are numbered, so I am trying to soak up the color so that it will last me until March. The native flat-topped aster (Doellingeria umbellata) floats like a cloud over the rest of the pink and yellow planting. The yellow perennial foxgloves (Digitalis grandiflora) have been blooming strong since I first sighted them in September (see their first bloom in June).

Sedum 'Frosty Morn' under Northern Sea Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium).

Dark-leaved annual begonias with chartreuse Sedum 'Acre' and under hung by the white flat-topped aster.

Evening light through the trellises around the Circle Lawn, at the end of the Shade Path.

Cherry Corner & the Front Walk:

Reds and purples have been the themes in the annual plantings this year for these gardens in front of the house.

Dahlia 'Heat Wave' has over three dozen blooms in the Front Walk this weekend.

Canna 'King Humbert' and Dahlia 'Heat Wave' with pink cosmos at their feet.

Canna 'King Humbert' in the October morning light.

Catmint (Nepeta 'Walker's Low') re-blooming under the dahlias. (See it in June.)

The Hill Garden:

View of the Hill Garden from the driveway.

Our Hill Garden gets the "best transformation" award (see it before). I so enjoy walking all the way around it and appreciating how the plantings have filled in the past three years. The bushes have more substance, as well as the perennials I have divided and seeded here. It is amazing to remember that it all came from about a dozen pots!

Rosa 'The Fairy' is pop pink in front of Sedum 'Acre'. Last year it bloomed for Thanksgiving in the snow (see it here).

Purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) that I seeded here, in front of Sedum 'Autumn Joy' and Canna 'King Humbert'.

Another shot of the pink tapestry on the Hill. Purple barberry bushes behind Rosa 'The Fairy'.

Seed heads of Allium tuberosum leaning over the lamb's ears, Sedum 'Autumn Joy' and barberry bushes.

Stachys byzantina, Sedum 'Autumn Joy', purple barberry, Canna 'King Humbert'.

My giant patch of lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina) all came from one pot just two years ago. It is happy here... very well drained and sunny.

The Driveway Garden:

A brilliant yellow backdrop for the Driveway Garden.

I could not resist adding a foliage photo for this garden. All of the mature maples in our back yard turn a brilliant yellow in October, which makes the perfect setting for the flowers that are blooming.

Miscanthus 'Dixieland' in front of purple Aster 'Peter III'

Loving my last grass purchase! I can't appreciate enough the lightness added to this boarder by the white variegation of Miscanthus 'Dixieland'... especially in contrast to the vibrant purple of Aster hybrida 'Peter III'.

Dahlia 'Peaches 'n Cream' soaring over the Driveway Garden.

We have one more dahlia in the gardens this year, Dahlia 'Peaches 'n Cream'. My girls prefer calling it the "candy corn flower", as the color graduation on its petals matches that of the beloved fall candy. (The front of this flower can be seen in the opening photo for this post.)

Pumpkins brightening our walk to the car.

Thank you for joining us for the October garden walk!
We are really happy with the garden this fall and hope that you have enjoyed it too!

A big THANKS to Carol at May Dreams for hosting GBBD! Visit her to see more flowers from gardens around the world!

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