Also, while I will still be in New England in early November, I doubt I will have time to post this thread. So I am hoping that some one else will take over rather than just letting it die. I have found a large number of interesting plants on the Show us your gardens thread over the years that I have tried out in my garden.

My apologies for being so late this month. I am up to my eyeballs in moving boxes!

Babs hopefully one of us will remember to start this thread each month. I always follow this thread even though I don't always post (especially this season - a disappointing one!). I also look back at old threads -it's a great resource when one is trying to find something that blooms at certain times of year.

I wish this forum was as active as it used to be - it used to be hopping in the old days! And even more, I hope even after you move you'll pop in here in NE and say hi! Hopefully you'll keep us posted on your new gardens!

Sorry, still no photos. There's nothing photo-worthy in my garden. Some cosmos, a rose here and there, a few dahlia blooms, but overall the garden is tired and worn out from the drought (as am I lol)

:)

Dee

we will certainly miss you, NHBabs. i I hope you stay in the forum and share your Midwestern pictures!

i do not like Spirea japonica. After all my years of gardening, i I have not seen a spirea j i liked.

Until today.

i am rejuvenatingmating a pollinator bed I have mentioned throughout the years which I had really hoped would not need ANY work. HA! HAHAHA! Totally redoing it now and trying to remove the garbage bag type plastic that is at the base of the soil. (Sound of soft weeping.)

Earlier I moved some anise hyssop and planted it in a weedy spot in front of a horrendous spirea j. Now, in the last few days, the spirea has turned red and the anise hyssop looks gorgeous in front of it. I think I’m going to really like this old spirea! (I’ve moved the hyssop twice so it looks wilted and pouty. Wait till next year!)

Dee and Deanna, Yes I will come back and post totally off topic midwestern photos. But I aslo expect to spend some time in New England in the summer and fall, so will likely also post some local NH photos. I think that this type of forum is not as popular with younger folks, so we are dying off or moving away faster that we are gaining new members. The technical issues caused successive owners who don’t really value the platform has chased away a bunch of users as well.

Deanna, I like that combo! I am not generally a spirea fan, but I love Ogon which has white spring flowers, delicate narrow gold leaves all season that are highly sun tolerant and that turn red-orange-gold in late fall. As you can see from this photo, the branches are a bit weeping.

Apologies for the unkempt state of this bed. The only time I started work here this season, I was stung, so I have avoided it.

NHBabs, your picture didn’t load but I’d like to see your Ogon. I’ve seen it in pictures before, and it inspired me to get my Ogon, but mine does not get full sun. I still like it where it is because it has grown very tall as it reaches for more light and still stands out against the dark green rhody behind it, but it is not as yellow as it should be and I don’t remember it turning noticeable colors in fall. I might buy another one next year for the pollinator bed! RT, the Bretton Woods pictures are gorgeous!

This is our neighbor’s tree. After yesterday’s wind and rain storm these leaves will be on the ground. I took the picture to Thursday. Just beautiful!

Deanna, hopefully the photo of Ogon shows up now. It is only just starting to show fall color now.

Yes, I see it! I’ll watch mine now and look for good color change—I can’t remember if it did in the past.

On another note, are your Amsonia hubrichtii showing color? Mine were tiny plants ordered online and are now in their sixth year. I have never had good fall color on them. They get plenty of sun. I was going to shovel prune them but I’m just going to move them because I do like their flowers and foliage. Are yours changing color? I remember you saying previously that they change color more as they mature. I would think mine are mature enough now!

Deanna, I will check when I am next at the shop how the Amsonia hubrichtii looks.

Deanna, Hereis one of my Amsonia hubrichtii. We have had a couple of light frosts, so it is looking a bit sad, perhaps made worse by an overly dry summer and abject neglect in this garden bed.

Well, I can't believe Babs, it's already time for you to move. Must be an emotional time, such change! Excitement and other feelings. Hope everything goes smoothly for you and very happy for you that you will be closer to family. I'm counting on seeing you back here once you get settled in your new place. Doesn't matter to me where you're growing it, I will love to see you start a new garden where you are, New England or not.

I have not wanted to post photos since my garden has looked so awful this year and I don't have the color that I normally do, but I have a little. This should be about the last of it though....Just under the wire for October. My trees are not completely colored up yet but the perennials and shrubs that do color have already done so.

The lawn filling in after bare spots after the drought of July/Aug.

I had to move some daffodils that were in the way of the Berms I'm building in my front bed. I was so surprised - these were miniature daffodils that haven't been in the ground more than 4 years? And they started out with 3-5 bulbs in two locations. I dug out two huge clumps and potted them up to put back after I rearrange the beds. From the start of a maximum of 10 bulbs - I ended up with 40 pots with 3-4 bulbs in each. Now I'm thinking what else is in that bed that I could divide and increase? lol Hyacinths and more Daffs. Tomorrow out comes the shovel and more pots.

The last 'Savannah' rose survived high 30s over night and tonight we may get 32F so I am reminded to head out and cut this bloom to bring in tonight. I smelled it today and it was really fragrant.

I had some Penstemon with pretty seedheads that the foliage turned pretty shades of red but, we had some rain and now they're just past their prime so I didn't take their photo.

Morning sky to the west

And then the sun lights up the trees on the far bank of the river

Followed by the trees lighting up on my side of the river.

The Fothergilla by the back patio is one of my favorite plants on this property. It is one of the first plants to bloom in spring, and one of the last plants to develop autumn color, always a mix of red, orange and gold. In less sunny spots is is more gold.

Thanks, PM2. i will definitely post totally off topic updates of the garden in Wisconsin. And i will continue to come to stay in NH for part of my summers and fall. it is just too lovely here!

In the woods, all the remaining color is the last of the beeches.

Wow that last photo is exquisite! You're like me and a lot of us I'm sure, I so enjoy the way the light filters through the trees. You have a lot more fall color than I do.

Wisconsin, I wonder what zone you will be in, isn't it further north than where I am in MA? Maybe not that much further than parts of NH?

NHBabs, it makes my heart glad to see you enjoying every last minute of your NH vistas. I am so happy you will be near family, and happy you are soaking in as much beauty of your time here before you leave. I have loved ALL of your natural scenes in all seasons! Fothergilla was one of my "must haves' and I never got one. Yours sure are beautiful! I hope the next person in your home loves the beauty you left behind. Your amsonia color looks about equal or slightly better than mine in previous years. Mine are more full than yours, and I think this year I might actually get some decent color finally...maybe (see below). Thank you for posting a pic.

PM, your yard looks amazing after the rains! You would never knew the experienced drought. Your mums look great. Are they perennial or annual?

This is the fist year I am seeing decent yellow in my Amsonia hubrichtii. Murphy's Law--must be because I just posted my disappointment in them. here they are with beautyberries.

I have a sapling witch hazel which I cannot figure out where to plant. It is in a pot, but this fall I got my first little flowers. I was so excited!

My "i hate gardening" friend has some monkshood. Boy, am i going to work on getting some of this beauty!

My Sheffield mums get smaller every year. I should divide them, but each spring it seems like they barely come back, so how do you divide that? I think voles damaged my asters, and then the deer pruned them way too late in the season. I am getting flowers finally, but they are all SMALL plants this year!

Caldendula reseeds so happily, and it blooms until frost. This is one reseeding annual I am very glad to have.

Finally, as the sun heads farther south to the horizon, it's glare on the water sparkles like diamonds. You can't see the sparkle, but I hope in this picture you can expand it and see how it shines.

Deanna - My Mums are perennial. I’ve had them for years and bought a few of them from Bluestone Perennials. Some I bought locally not knowing if they would be perennial or not. The orange one was a local purchase.

The white is called ‘Starlight’ and I have a butterscotch one that is a nice single so the pollinators can use it - called ‘Amber Morning’ and I have a lavender colored one called ‘Grandchild’ not pictured and it is not as vigorous as the others. They had a good year despite the drought - the two in the photo look very good because they were planted along the edge of a lasagna bed I built last fall. I was very surprised how well they did in contrast to the same variety of Mum planted in other areas of the same bed.

I have the dwarf Amsonia ‘Blue Ice’ and that has a different leaf effect and very little fall color. The past two years I’ve had no fall color but I see this year some of the inner leaves are starting to turn yellow. I think the ammonia hubrichtii makes more sense if you are looking for fall color, but it is a larger plant and I decided not to make room for it.

Exciting to see blooms on your Witch Hazel. That is one shrub I have often thought of adding and never got around to it. Monkshood and Calendula are nice additions to the garden. LOVE your photo of the water!

Such nice photos everyone! My garden is recovering a bit from the terrible heat and dryness but it's really nothing to look at still lol. As of today my monkshood is in beautiful bloom, my montauk daisies are doing okay. My asters peaked early and are over with already.

Once again the stars of my fall garden are some annuals which I always think of as summer blooms lol. I've got some seed-started calendula too, just a small pot on my patio, and it is doing well still. Zinnias still going strong. My cosmos is just lovely (well, the few plants that hung on through the drought). Years ago I posted a thread about pink in the fall garden that generated a rather lively discussion. Pink in fall often seems counter-intuitive to me. I feel like it looks out of place but I love it so much, especially when my cosmos always do so well in fall. (I did plant a bed with callicarpa and pink and purple mums to have a dedicated space for pinks lol).

PM2 I planted Grandchild as well and agree - it's just not very vigorous. But I have problems with mums in general. I've gotten to the point where I do not cut them back. They always decline whem I do. So I let them do their thing and just have mum blooms in August. (which doesn't bother me when they are pink haha!) If I want mums in fall I go buy a few pots to stick on the front steps.

I've also had a white rose in bud for WEEKS lol. I'm really hoping it will bloom before the cold does it in. My Julia Child has been blooming and the other day in the rain it had the most ethereal color - apricot with pink tints. Then I saw another bloom a few days later in the setting sun and it was glorious yellow. I tried to get photos of both but the camera just doesn't capture it.

:)

Dee

Hi Dee, I’ve barely gardened this year and most of my garden looks it. [g] I’m making myself feel better by focusing on preparing for next year and trying to ignore the mess.

A number of my plants peaked early too. My asters in particular. You and Deanna are lucky to have Monkshood, I added it and I saw it bloom once or twice and then it disappeared. Just as well as our daughter’s dog, Babs, who we dog sit for, is always putting everything in her mouth.

I don’t grow enough annuals and you always do, so I like to be reminded how much annuals add to your garden.

That’s funny that you tried ‘Grandchild’ too. I love the color combination with the orange Mums, it’ too bad. I thought I lost it this year, but it kept going and actually bloomed underneath a large cosmos that collapsed over that area late in the summer. So I dug it up and saved it and ended up with two plants. But - I saw another Mum on Bluestone that is a larger plant and is about the same shade of lavender and I may try it.

I always cut mine back, but I make sure I leave enough lower leaves below the cut. Mine still end up too tall and floppy and still not early, even in full sun. My ‘Amber Morning’ is the last to bloom and just opened up last week.

Glad you are enjoying your ‘Julia Child’. First year, each year it should get better too. Compost and Alfalfa Meal in the spring with a good mulch before the heat of summer and you should get a good showing.

Some beautiful photos from everyone. I miss my Julia Child rose.

I’ve got a few late flowers: the last of the Phlox (somehow managed not to let the groundhogs massacre them this year)

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium, which is my favorite aster:

And a witch hazel from the woods behind my house:

Nekobus - nice to have something still looking good before winter sets in. I am just enjoying a few last roses to bring in the house.

I didn't realize that Witch Hazel blooms in the fall. I thought there was one that blooms in early spring?

PM2, the fall blooming witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiiana, is our local native. There is one spring blooming wich hazel, H. vernalis, is native to the SE US. But most of the spring blooming witch hazels that are planted in gardens are hybrids of a couple of Asian species.

Okay, now that fills in the blanks Babs - Thank you! I guess I just can't get excited about a shrub that blooms in the fall. 🤷🏻‍♀️ There's just so much fall color it kind of gets lost. I have a Clethra - Sherry Sue that blooms in September and I basically don't pay any attention to it at all. I'd really appreciate a February or early March blooming witch hazel, but don't really want to use one of the Asian hybrids as pretty as some of them are.