GARDEN BLOGGERS' BLOOM DAY OCTOBER 2011

After suffering the worst heat and drought this summer the garden was finally blessed this last week with 2" of rain and a moderation in temperatures. Suddenly everything has revived just in time for bloom day.
Please join Carol of Maydreams, our host for bloom day, and other gardeners around the world, in sharing with everyone the flowers in your garden this October bloom day.

The soft leaf yucca, Yucca recurvifolia,  is now in full bloom.

It is the cornerstone of the sunken garden.

An immediate response by rain lilies to this last week's rain.

When they seed I always try to catch the seeds and put them in a more suitable place. Unfortunately these have fallen right between the steps in the front of the house. They were still there this morning which means the deer haven't found them yet.

Only one patch of these yellow daises will flower this year and they are the ones I have watered for the last 3 weeks.

Confused by the weather a spring flowering Coreopsis tinctoria is in bloom.

Red spider zinnia among small flowered yellow zinnias.

More zinnias. These grew from seeds planted in the spring.

Red ice plant?

Snapdragon vine, Maurandaya antirrhiniflora.

Society garlic, Tulbaghia violacea.

and still the gomphrena keep on flowering.

The Salvia farinacea, cut back 3 weeks ago, is blooming again.

Salvia leucantha, not its best this year but putting on a late bloom.

A pot of narrow leaf zinnias.

It is always amazing how colorful plants become when we have cooler weather.

Jewels of Opar, Talium paniculatum, a passalong from Philip, East Side Patch.

The Philippine violet, Barleria cristata. This plant dies back down to the ground every winter but reaches 5' before the end of summer. It responds to shortening days.

Gregg's blue mistflower, Eupatorium greggii.

Always lots of zinnias seeding in the gravel in the vegetable garden.

Mexican marigold mint, Tagetes lucida.

The one and only Japanese anemone, looking rather sad. The large areas of this plant in the English garden suffered from the dry summer.

Finally Verbena bonariensis.

If you live in the Austin area, I, along with several other Austin garden bloggers, will be posting tomorrow about a competition with a chance to win gift certificates to several Austin area garden centers.