Fall is the best time to bee in the garden!

Sunday was the best day so far this fall for the gardener, the bees and the little asters to play and dance together. It was a wonderful October day with sunshine and a warm breeze. The soil was still damp from the deluge the week before and the shrubs and trees were just beginning to wear their fall colors.

The little asters were dancing in the breeze while Bumblebees flew from flower to flower.  I snapped hundreds of photos but, only a few were in focus. They refused to pose for me, they were caught up in their mad dash to collect pollen and nectar to supply their nests before the cold weather arrives.

But, the ex-asters (Symphyotrichums and Eurybias) were blooming their pretty flower heads off and they were the perfect subject!

If you are new to Clay and Limestone you might not know that the little asters were the first wildflowers I met at Clay and Limestone in mid October 28 years ago. Back then the yard was a weedy mess of non-native lawn grasses and native sedges and Danthonia (I had yet to discover). On the edges among the forsythia and bush honeysuckles were blue and lilac flowers that arched over the lawn and seemed to be covered with bumble bees and honeybees. They were dancing in the autumn breeze.

They completely captured my heart, so, I built my garden for those flowers and the bees.

I move them around, I scatter seeds, I let the wind carry the fluffy seeds wherever it takes them and I add new species that make sense for this garden. By September Symphyotrichum shortii, S cordifolium, Eurybia divaricata, S lateriflorum and S ericoides var. ericoides, S novae-angliae, S praealtum~Miss Bessie, S oblongifolius, S patens and S priceae have begun to bloom. They've spilled onto the paths, they've crept into the wildflower beds and cozied up to the chairs and benches all over Clay and Limestone creating a dancing blue cloud and a buffet for pollinators.

It's a lovely sight and you're welcome to stop by.
oxoxgail

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.

Not The Climate For Xeric

Agastache  rupestris  has survived for several years in a container

Xeric is an iffy prospect in the Central Basin in Middle Tennessee.   Our summers  might be dryer and hotter, but, our winters haven't changed. They are wet, wet, wet! That's typically when we get most of our rainfall.

'Grey Owl' Juniperus and Cotinus 'Grace' prefer dry roots

On average more then 20 inches fall from November to April; that's more then most xeric plants can handle.  It's the main reason for plant loss.  Wet, clay soil over limestone   drowns plants each winter. 

and these are the pieces of limestone I can dig out!

 On the whole, I  no longer buy plants hailed as xeric for this garden.  But, I do have perennials and shrubs that require dry roots during the winter.  Juniperus virginiana "Grey Owl'  likes it on the dry side, so, the soil is raised and  amended with a  shale product that  promotes  drainage.  Some plants that need  sharp drainage might spend their life in a large container~like  Agastache rupestris.  All the rest get planted in the garden and get a good mulching each year with leaf mold. 

Autumn mix of Solidago flexiculis, Amsonia hubrecktii, native ex-asters and Rudbeckia fulgida

If you take a walk around Clay and Limestone you'll see lots of familiar fall faces. That's because  many of our natives are  also natives of the Eastern and Southeastern USA.   But, we have a few special ones that are only native to the cedar glades and if I can meet their requirements I like to give them a try. 

There might be a few friendly exotics and agastaches from the Southwest, but,  this garden is a  Central Basin garden  through and through.  In fact, if you were to visit  a nearby woodland you would see  almost all the same plants in bloom.  Solidagos, Symphyotrichums, Verbesinas, Conoclinium coelestinum, Eupatorium,  Panicums, Little Bluestems and even Chasmanthium latifolium are all  Central Basin natives that thrive on my nearly neutral, shallow clay soil. 

 Goregeous aren't they!

 They're the payoff for our long,  long hot summers.

xxoogail

I am a day late for Bloom Day but, offer up this humble post and the blooming wildflowers for your enjoyment.  Please pop over to May Dreams Gardens, where our delightful hostess has links to more Bloom Day posts then you can imagine.

Winter Asters

,

 Asters*,  the stars of Autumn,  have a  have a second life at Clay and Limestone each winter. 

 Asters (as they were known then) and other endemic Central Basin natives grew with happy abandon in the forested woodland where C and L now stands.  Sixty years ago a neighborhood was carved from the woods and a house was built.  Homeowners came and went,  while  the asters grew quietly  on the woodland  edge.  Twenty five years ago this brand new  gardener fell head over heals in love with the blue clouds of flowers that were covered with bees and butterflies in the yard of her new home.  They  so captured my heart,  that I built a garden  around them.   I've allowed them to  root and seed  themselves with abandon.  Symphyotrichum shortii, Symphyotrichum cordifolium, Symphyotrichum dumosus, Eurybia divaricata, Symphyotrichum lateriflorum, Symphyotrichum priceae, and Symphyotrichum ericoides var. ericoides  have  spilled into the paths,  crept into the wildflower beds and  cozied  up to the benches all over Clay and Limestone.

Each fall they fade to  seedy gorgeousness.

They  spill over  into the paths, 

they creep into the wildflower beds and,

 they cozy up to the benches.
 

Where they have become the stars of my winter garden.

Isn't nature grand!

xxoogail

More on Clay and Limestone's asters
Little Asters Everywhere (here)
Natives For Fall Color (here)
This Is The Place To Bee (here)
Central Basin Wildflowers (here)

This post was written by Gail Eichelberger for my blog Clay and Limestone Copyright 2011.This work protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Little Asters Everywhere Fall 2010

It's that time of year when the garden is feeling blue...But, it's a great blue! It's a blue ribbon blue.
 

The little asters are everywhere in shades of blues, whites and lilacs.

Aster is the Greek name for “star,” and believe me, this flowering perennial is the autumn star in my garden.

Fall 2009

What a difference a year makes. This time last year the garden was saturated from 14 inches of rain in a three week period of time! (go here for last year's version) This year is very different. We desperately need rain,  but, the asters bloom anyway.

October 2010

Neither drought nor deluge can stop their blue show. They will bloom in this garden until a killing frost takes them down.

They're my practically perfect fall flower.

A bee mimic

 I love the clouds of blue that fill the mostly shady beds all fall.

They are endemic to Tennessee and the Central Basin where I garden. I fell head over heals for them the first fall we moved into Casa Cedar almost 25 years ago. They were a smaller blue cloud then, but, they so captured my heart that I built Clay and Limestone around them. I'm a "let them be" kind of gardener and encourage their colonizing ways. They've rooted and seeded  themselves everywhere. Symphyotrichum shortii, Symphyotrichum cordifolium, Symphyotrichum dumosus, Eurybia divaricata, Symphyotrichum lateriflorum and Symphyotrichum ericoides var. ericoides fill the central borders and beds.

They spill into the paths, they've crept into the wildflower beds and they cozy up to the benches. If you want a big blue look and have the space and/or tolerance for their green leafiness most of the summer, then, they are the plants for you! You can surely find a few for your garden with over 66 species asters found in the United States.

 They bloom for almost two months, grow in almost any soils, flower in the shade, tolerate drought or deluge, they are also larval host plants for many species of Lepidoptera and are visited by every bee, bee mimic, wasp, skipper and butterfly that lives here or stops by the garden. They are the primary nectar source for late visiting butterflies and bees. If we have a later than usual frost, they are often the only nectar source for the last bees.

Last fall I added Symphyotrichum patens and Symphyotrichum priceae to the GOBN and the Susans Border. Except for their different leaf form, S patens has a clasping leaf and S priceae has narrow needle like leaves, the flowers almost look identical!

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium with river oats

In other words, they are beautiful little asters and they are everywhere.


xxoogail