September in the Northern Hemisphere

[amateuranthecologist]

Trichostema lanceolatum



Oenothera elata

[amateuranthecologist]

Asclepias fascicularis

[Leucogenes]

Here are two photos from today a North American Area.

edit by maggi to add plant names to the text so the search engine can find the photos

Liatris punctata (Colorado 2030m)

Solidago cutleri (east coast)

[Robert]

Oenothera elata

Hi Travis,

A nice set of photographs.    They are fairly common native species here in our part of California. I take it that the Oenothera elata is subspecies hookeri? This can not be ascertained by the photograph but it would be interesting to know. A general location would be interesting too?

[Robert]

I was home at our Sacramento, California garden for a few hours yesterday.



Cyclamen hederifolium is blooming everywhere in our garden in a good range of colors. For some reason the raccoons like to dig them up? They do not eat them so I do not know what the attraction is.     



Dryopteris arguta

One of our native dryland fern species. It is an easy grower in our garden and generally always looks good throughout the seasons.



Impatiens capensis

An easy annual that reseeds in our garden along with Impatiens balfourii. There are never many flowers at any given time on this species, but they are easy so I let the seedling grow here and there throughout the shady parts of the garden.



Aster variety ? Pretty. 

Our front border has been neglected for a number of years now. This and a few other perennial species are all that remain, but this is not surprising. There are also many spring and summer bulbs in this border. When I get home the first project will be to completely dig, enrich the soil with compost, and replant (hopefully before any of the spring bulbs have started into root growth). I will try to photograph my progress and the results as the border comes back to life next season.

[Robert]

A few nice plants in bloom at our Sacramento garden.



Cypella peruviana  Each flower lasts about a day at the best, however they are so beautiful they are worth planting anyway. This flower was blooming near a deep red Dahlia and the two looked fantastic together. Sorry the photographs of them together did not turn out. They were too far apart for me to get both in focus. 



Impatiens balfourii A great little annual that reseeds itself throughout our garden.



Deinandra corymbosa A native California annual. This species has started to reseed itself in our garden. I am extremely pleased as they will bloom most of the summer and well into the autumn.



One of our tall border Dahlias starting to bloom. I did not get their soil prepared this spring so they not up to par, however I am thankful for the flowers they are starting to produce now.

[Robert]

Our front border at our Sacramento home.



It has not been worked on for at least 3 to 5 years and there is not much left. This will be part of a before and after series. I will start working on renewing this bed in the next week. I hope to have it looking good by next spring.

I guess something useful I learned from farming is the production of large numbers of annuals very easily and efficiently. I will be using a soil block maker to product a large quantity and variety of annuals for our garden. The flowers are nice and the flowers will also attract birds, beneficial insects, butterflies, and a host of other good things.

[Hoy]

Seems you have many nice plants in flower, Robert, although you claim that your garden has been neglected for some years!

We visited the beach the other day just for a walk in the nice weather. (We have had a week of unseasonally warm and sunny weather!) Not much in flower there though as most plants have started preparing for winter.

Plantago maritima at Åkrasanden beach.




A foreigner - a common sunflower, possibly from a bird feeder.




Atriplex laciniata with silver colour in seed. The flowers are insignificant.




Atriplex prostrata. A weed but the fall colour is fine!




One of the few plants in flower: Cakile maritima.

[Matt T]

Autumn is definitely here. I missed my reliably-flowering Sternbergia lutea / angustifolia whilst I was away recently. Crocus speciosus ilgazensis was also over before I could appreciate them. Acis autumnalis goes on and on, with Allium callimischon to follow soon. There are lots of Crocus pushing up noses, promising blooms soon, with Crocus kotschyanus cappadocicus leading the way and Sternbergia greuteriana also in bloom. I have a lot of trips away in October, so I just hope I don't miss all the autumn bulbs! 

[ruweiss]

The flowers in the gardens get rarer, but Mutisia spinosa is a big surprise for me.
Raised from Argentinian wild seed it survived our (rather mild) winter and flowers
well; hope, that the resulting seeds are fertile.
It seems, that Campsis radicans enjoyed our hot, dry and long summer, it flowered
profusely like never before and forms many seed pods.

[Robert]

Seems you have many nice plants in flower, Robert, although you claim that your garden has been neglected for some years!

Hi Trond,



This garden bed can be viewed from our kitchen window. It has received some attention and is at least cleaned-up. In addition to being weeded, I dug most of the bed to remove tree roots and add compost from our compost pile.



This is the view from the kitchen. A few of the older plants were remove or transplanted elsewhere in the garden. On the left is a volunteer Salvia coccinea 'Lady in Red'. It looks awkward in this location, however I decided to keep it as I ponder its future use in the garden.



I have added a few plants, however I am disappointed that I do not have any annuals ready at this time to plant. In California many of the natural floral habitats that I enjoy combine trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals. So for me a landscape without annuals is incomplete. I never do mass plantings of annuals as typically seen here in California. I also use seldom used annuals, such as in the case of this bed, Collinsia sp. , Corydalis sempervirens, Mimulus guttatus, etc (from the spring-long gone now). Their seed has fallen in this bed and they will germinate when the weather cools.

This bed will most likely look good this spring, however now without annuals is seems very incomplete to me. There are many early spring bulbs such as Iris reticulata, Camassia, and Erythronium that will come into growth this winter/spring. I also have used many, but not exclusively, California native species. Iris hartwegii, I. macrosiphon, Heuchera micrantha, Lilium pardalinum, Polemonium californicum, Potentilla flabelliflia, Dryopteris arguta are a few. Anyway for me, this garden bed is a good start.

[Hoy]

The flowers in the gardens get rarer, but Mutisia spinosa is a big surprise for me.
Raised from Argentinian wild seed it survived our (rather mild) winter and flowers
well; hope, that the resulting seeds are fertile.
It seems, that Campsis radicans enjoyed our hot, dry and long summer, it flowered
profusely like never before and forms many seed pods.

I have seen a few Mutisia in Argentina and always wanted to grow them at home but never managed to get flowers.

[Hoy]

Hi Trond,

This garden bed can be viewed from our kitchen window. It has received some attention and is at least cleaned-up. In addition to being weeded, I dug most of the bed to remove tree roots and add compost from our compost pile.

This is the view from the kitchen. A few of the older plants were remove or transplanted elsewhere in the garden. On the left is a volunteer Salvia coccinea 'Lady in Red'. It looks awkward in this location, however I decided to keep it as I ponder its future use in the garden.

I have added a few plants, however I am disappointed that I do not have any annuals ready at this time to plant. In California many of the natural floral habitats that I enjoy combine trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals. So for me a landscape without annuals is incomplete. I never do mass plantings of annuals as typically seen here in California. I also use seldom used annuals, such as in the case of this bed, Collinsia sp. , Corydalis sempervirens, Mimulus guttatus, etc (from the spring-long gone now). Their seed has fallen in this bed and they will germinate when the weather cools.

This bed will most likely look good this spring, however now without annuals is seems very incomplete to me. There are many early spring bulbs such as Iris reticulata, Camassia, and Erythronium that will come into growth this winter/spring. I also have used many, but not exclusively, California native species. Iris hartwegii, I. macrosiphon, Heuchera micrantha, Lilium pardalinum, Polemonium californicum, Potentilla flabelliflia, Dryopteris arguta are a few. Anyway for me, this garden bed is a good start.

Robert,

You certainly have many different ones! And also many native ones    I do use some natives but I do not have that many to choose from.

In the garden I do not like to move plants and the result is that some plants (the ones that the slugs don't destroy) completely swamp other. The slugs always take their toll and I never know which will survive when I plant out new ones. 

When you say .".. annuals ready ..." Do you sow them in pots and plant them out? I usually sow annuals in situ to avoid root disturbance.

What are your worst weed? Here species of Epilobium always pop up en masse everywhere and in my woodland Circaea lutetiana is a pest. I also use ferns in the garden and Dryopteris filix-femina is also a weed!

[Robert]

Trond,

I sow many annuals by scattering the seed. This brings many surprises that I like. I also make and use soil blocks and transplant annuals this way too. Soil blocks have little or no root disturbance and I can very easily produce many transplants this way. With soil blocks I can place the plants where I want them and often the plants are large enough to survive the slugs (we do not have them like you do!!!!!).

In our Sacramento garden Bermudagrass is a problem. The rhizomes can get under large trees roots or a concrete foundation and can be nearly impossible to remove. The rhizomes and stolons can resprout from the smallest pieces too. 

In the fall-winter Allium triquetrum, Oxalis pes-caprae and Oxalis purpurea are major pest. The 2 Oxalis + Oxalis corniculata (a container pest) are such pest I would never dream of planting "ornamental" Oxalis species. I sure this is my loss, but I have dug so many Oxalis bulbs I never want to see another again. 

Clearly I put much effort into our garden and play around with different combinations to find plantings that I like. I do like informal gardening schemes. I have never liked mass plantings or straight lines of boxed hedges, but then there is something for everyone. 

I enjoyed your photographs from your beach hike! 

[Hannelore]

autumn starts obviously.

Hannelore