Autumn Garden Round-up

My garden always seems to look best in Autumn.   After the heat-induced slumber of August the garden responds to the cooler weather by greening up and blooming like mad for three months.  By the end of November blooms begin to fade and the plants prepare for winter dormancy.  To celebrate a good year in the garden and because Garden Blogger's Bloom Day always eludes me, I'll post two days of blooms from the last few weeks.

The best place to begin a round-up is with the wheel garden in the back yard of course.   Just finishing its first full season, I am thrilled with how it has worked out and grown so beautifully from a rocky patch of dirt this time last year.

Looking toward the shed from the house, Gregg's mistflower, pine muhly.   The large plumes catching the light in back are the "mystery muhly" which was incorrectly tagged as Lindheimer's muhly and has worked out well in the garden.



Gomphrena 'Strawberry Fields' along the path on the left and Gomphrena 'Fireworks' just ahead with zinnias.  Gomphrena takes heat and drought beautifully.  The grasses in the center of each wedge unify the planting scheme and orange zinnias around the inside of the circle unify with color.

Color schemes are easy for me, I don't consider them when planting.   Just for fun I'll call this analogous reds with blue complement.

The butterflies swarmed the Gregg's mistflower all season

Mystery muhly with Ruby Crystals grass in the foreground.  I planted a Ruby Crystals grass on both ends of each wedge. Yellow wildflowers, Zexmenia, and Zinnias for color along the path.

Looking south across the yard, the creek is on the right, deck and screen room left.  The green "lawn" is horseherb which is either a flowering native groundcover or a weed depending on your point of view.  Beyond the oaks you can see the neighbor's black iron fence and the beginnings of another round garden to eventually complete the picture.

Closer view with Fernleaf lavender, Adagio grass, Ruby Crystals grass in the front left.



This view looks northeast from the creek across the Buffalo grass lawn to the fence along the front yard.  Along the wood fence is a small fenced garden to keep deer away from some plants.  The gravel path on the right continues to the front gate.  The wood fence will be replaced and the borders extended around the lawn.

A closer view from the creek with yellow annual wildflowers left and Zexmenia right.

Fragrant mistflower blooms with Zinnias in early November.

A few months ago I discovered a young cat living under the deck, we fed her and, since attempts to find an owner were fruitless, she has stayed around.  She's a sweetie and we enjoy her even though I am allergic to cats.  I think she matches the garden nicely too.



Tomorrow I'll post blooms from my other gardens around the front and back yards.