Gardens-In-The-Sand

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – October 2013

I don't often post at the right time to participate in the GBBD, and even less often do I remember to mention the list...

Plenty of pretties in the garden, even with a return to the dry stuff. Pictures need to be taken in the am, as afternoon pics show wilted plants... Mid-day photos have that washed-out look that we get from that harsh sub-tropical sun.

Ageratina altissima

Be sure to click the pic to enlarge...

This plant is said to be poisonous, that if the milk goats/cows are permitted to graze this pretty, we could get very sick or die from the milk! I don't have dairy animals...

conoclinium coelestinum

I always like to post these lookalikes together, they bloom at the same time, and are often found in proximity of each other... but they don't seem to be related...

cyclamen hederifolium

I forgot to post this giant swallowtail in last week's post...

Cloudless Sulphurs

Plenty of sulfurs at this time of the year... My reds tend to be ablaze of yellows... every time I walk past.

gulf fritillaries

still plenty of these guys as well....

This beauty seems to be a dwarf version of switch grass, but it doesn't increase like switch grass... I'm going to try dividing...

helianthus angustifolius

These sunflowers continue to be show-stoppers... The photo fails to do them justice...

I feel like they're breath-taking on the side of the road when I drive into town... and the mowers are busily churning out brown stubble for our viewing pleasure... just as fast as they can....

Why hasn't the government shut-down put a stop to that???

Why doesn't the furloughs affect this bad stuff?

boltonia asteroides

Not a flower...

Sunflowerz n stuff

Hummingbird visiting tithonia...

I hadn't been seeing these guys... was happy to spot this one yesterday.

helianthus angustifolius

Be sure to enlarge pic to see the depth of this planting! Will post additional pics as the blooms continue to open...

Planted this patch of sunflowers from seed (well... sunflower tops scattered across the top of the soil) last Autumn.

Fence post lizard...

Checkerspot sex

Really liking these bluestem flowers...

Nother bluestem flower.

These eupatorium flowers don't look like much, and most people pull them for weeds.... but they certainly attract the pollinators, and one more thing... They're scented!

Was tryinna get a decent pic of the wasps recently, and noticed an unexpected fragrance in the air... nothing to account for it... xcept for the eupatorium!

I'd totally bottle the scent... if I could do so without harming the flowerz...

Even the dawg fennel is scented... not as nice as the eupatorium serotinum... but scented all the same.

Thai basil

ageratina altissima
Not quite fully opened...

Tassel flower (Emilia fosbergii)
Not especially an autumn flower... has bloomed most of the summer.

tibouchina semidecandra
Marginally hardy here, but easy to propagate...

I brought out some stems last winter when I cut it back in another garden in Macon... Shoved the stems into the soil... and walked away. Pretty much the same way that I propagate the brugmansias...

hemiboea subcapitata

I used to grow gloxinia in my previous personal garden, but they aren't winter hardy here in middle GA, and required replacing each year...
these hemiboea need protection from deer, but are otherwise perfectly suited to the climate.

gesneriads are some interesting plants, as seen here

Finally, how about a bit of autumn leaf colour?

popcorn tree (Sapium sebiferum)

Labels: algeratina, basil, butterfly, emilia, eupatorium, grass, hemiboea.sapium, hummingbird, lizard, sunflower, tibouchina

Autumn Naturals

It seems like people often complain about the lack of Autumn colour in their gardens... Prolly their own fault... kill the pretty flowers and plant turf... yuck!

It's been my experience that I always have lots of Autumn colour in my Georgia gardens... That's when everything blooms and the monarchs show up...

Aureolaria pectinata, Southern Oak-leach

Heterotheca subaxillaris, camphorweed

Croptilon divaricatum, slender scratch daisy

Silk grass aster (pityopsis aspera)

Leaf detail

Chrysopsis gossypina, cottony goldenaster

licorice goldenrod, covered in luv-bugs...

clinopodium georgianum

cudweed (Gnaphalium sp.)

Goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis)

Patch of goldenrod

Monarch visits solidago.

agalinis purpurea

With caterpillar...

Beauty berry (callicarpa americana)

salvia azurea

Evening primrose (Oenothera biennis)

I didn't think there was a need to mention this... But after Linda Furry Jones (southern rural route) posted about her allergies... I guess I better.

I suffer from hay fever too. The goldenrod is NOT the culprit!

Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia)

(click the pic for larger size)

This stuff is causing our distress!

Get rid of the ragweed, and keep the goldenrods.

Ragweed is wind pollinated, goldenrod is pollinated by insects.

Bugs n butterflies... again!

Mating rituals in the lantana

Gulf frit joins the party...

Gulf fritillary luv

Aw man!

Can't get a bit of privacy around here...

Now, this is just crazy...

The verbesina virginica is popular....
Monarch and red-spotted purple share a nectar source.

Red-banded Hairstreak visits the yellow.

The butterflies took a while, but they're visiting the ironweed...

I'm thinking spice bush swallow-tail... but those dark form tiger swallowtails are practically indistinguishable from the spice bush... so... still looking for an easy way to tell them apart.