Enough To Make Me Smile on November Bloom Day

Welcome to Clay and Limestone where just a few days ago fall was a golden glow.

The colors are receding into a beautiful sea of brown leaves.....But there are still smiles to be found hiding here for us to find. (all photos enlarge)


Does this flower make you smile?

Callirhoe involucrata - Wine Cups (N) moved into the garden last month and continues to bloom...I hope it settles in and isn't put off by our wet winters. Winecups prefer good drainage and don't like to be moved once they send their tap rot into the ground.


Phlox paniculata 'Laura' (N) also joined the gang this fall...a very strong flower color....we are remaining open to her possibilities.


The Salvias~~
Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue' blooms lightly all summer, then really shines in the fall...another survivor of frost. Gotta love that south facing hill!

Salvia "Dreamsickle' also managed to survive our first frost! This cutie will seed about the garden.

One more Salvia that survived frost! I think the salvia has a bit of that magic we've talked about!
It also lives on the south facing hill that protects it from light frost.

I have come to really love the salvias...they are hardy and reseed each year. Just be sure and give them good winter drainage.


I've recently read that Cyclamen hederifolium is so hardy it may be regarded as no-maintenance, & so extremely long lived that tubers in excess of a century old have been documented. (Paghet's Garden). I don't know if they will live for a century in this garden, but they have been here for more than 15 years and continue to thrive and spread... sometimes popping up many feet from the original spot. They make me smile, how about you?

Echinacea purpurea...My beloved Purple Coneflower after being trampled by the deer who came calling on the Bur acorns.

The Asters~~
One of the many native asters that blooms profusely from late summer until ...now!
This native is beloved of bumbles and other bees.

I'm pretty crazy about it myself.

Aromatic Aster/Aster oblongifolius

Late fall visitors like butterflies and bees rely on the asters for nectar for the long trip south or food for the nests.


Even a Susan (Rudbechia hirta) has to rebloom for the last Bloom Day flowers at Clay and Limestone...

she is a bit bedraggled but it is November. Another Rudbechia has joined the family

smaller flowers and with distinctive basal leaves~~~please say hello to Rudbechia triloba.

A few cutie pie flowers...part of the Sorbet series of Violas

I love their little faces and velvet colors.

So nice in the garden all winter a long.

This one is my favorite!

Finally, one last flower who is so new to the gardens that she lives in a plastic bag...

Isn't she a beauty...a gift from a neighbor and not yet planted. We haven't an identity for her but, she seems much like one of the Korean Chrysanthemums. She is well over 3 foot tall and has beautiful foliage. My neighbor assured me that she was indestructible; then told me where to plant her!

Thank you all for joining me in a celebration of the blooms still here in the garden...if you want to see more blooms, please head over to May Dreams Gardens. On the 15Th of each month Garden Bloggers from around the world meet and greet one another at May Dreams Gardens. There the talented hostess, Carol, greets new arrivals for the Bloom Day celebration. Thank you Carol.

Hamamelis virginiana

Gail

To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival. Wendell Berry