Going, Going, Gone...November 2012 Blooms

The October Blue sky over the garden has been beyond incredible. So has the weather! Had the warm weather continued the garden would still have many wildflowers in bloom, but, after two days in the mid-seventies, wind, rain and freezes arrived to remind us that this is Autumn in Middle Tennessee.

The Japanese Maples in an homage to the Golden ginko down the street dropped all their leaves as if on cue. They had been stunning.

Almost every perennial in the garden is mush or toast, except for several Rudbeckia trilobas that refuse to quit blooming, a lone Gaura lindheimeri that is limping along, Helenium autumnale that is trying to bloom, the annuals I covered, and the very, very late blooming native ex-aster.  If you take anything away from this post, please note that R triloba and Symphyotrichum praealtum  should definitely be planted in your garden, both are beyond belief floriferous and frost/freeze hardy! The Bumbles and little bees with thank you.

Photo from November 15, 2012

As I sit here, looking over my photos and writing about the last of the blooms at C and L, I can only conclude one thing~This has been a delightful autumn, worthy of praise!

If I think about the extended bloom season, the stalwart asters, the stubborn rudbeckias, the loyal Bumbles...One plant stands out as exceptional and worthy of praise and that is  Hamamelis virginiana.

Just look at those flowers, they light up the garden against that Autumn Blue Sky!

xoxogail

Inspired by the words of Elizabeth Lawrence, “We can have flowers nearly every month of the year,” Carol of May Dreams Gardens started Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. On the 15th of every month, garden bloggers from all over the world share their garden blooms. So head over to Carol's to take the Mr Linky magic carpet ride to more gardens than you can imagine visiting in one day! 

 This is my November 2012 contribution.

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.