October in the Northern Hemisphere

[ruweiss]

This enormous Pyracantha coccineus grows in front of a house in
our neighbourhood, a fine sight with so many berries. Birds will
love it in the winter.
Aster ericoides "Snow Flurry" with many small flowers. We saw
this plant at first in the Botanical Garden of Brno, it is still rather
unknown in our region and had to wait a long time until we could
obtain it.

[Leena]

Some Colchicums from today.
'Neptun'
'Autumn Herald'
C.autumnale 'Album'
'Herbstkugel', this has very unique shape of the flower among my Colchicums, and nice pale colour.

[Stefan B.]

A very interesting collection of Colchicums, Leena
They overbloomed very quickly for me because we have an unusually warm and dry autumn... But I expect a few more new additions to bloom in pots.

Colchicum autumnale var. album plenum

[ruweiss]

Leena and Stefan,
Beautiful Colchicums, thank you for showing

[Gabriela]

This enormous Pyracantha coccineus grows in front of a house in
our neighbourhood, a fine sight with so many berries. Birds will
love it in the winter.
Aster ericoides "Snow Flurry" with many small flowers. We saw
this plant at first in the Botanical Garden of Brno, it is still rather
unknown in our region and had to wait a long time until we could
obtain it.

Quite an amazing sight this Pyracantha Rudi! It must be a form with yellow fruits. I remember them with orange berries mostly; here in Canada are rarely cultivated, and probably not cold hardy in our region.
Unfortunately our Aster ericoides 'Snow Flurry' has disappeared from most garden centers.

[Gabriela]

Beautiful Colchicums Leena and Stefan. C. autumnale Album has finished blooming here and the very warm weather (up to a few days ago) also made the 'Waterlily' and 'The Giant' to 'explode' and will fade faster than usual. I am now waiting for Crocus speciosus to appear after the rains.


Because of warm weather we don't have the usual bright fall colors yet, various species are still in flower: Allium thunbergii 'Ozawa', Lomelosia olgae and a Dahlia offering night 'shelter' to the bumblebees.

[Leena]

Thank you all.
September was also warmer than usual here this year, and even 'Rosy Dawn' started to flower already in September. Usually it flowers in October.
Stefan, your white double Colchicum is beautiful. I planted it just couple of weeks ago, it hasn't come up yet. Many times they don't flower well the same year when planted, but I hope to see it flowering well next autumn.

Aster ericoides 'Snow Flurry' is also very pretty, but it flowers here so late that it never does well (I tried it once, and also a friend had it, but gave it up). I don't know why, but almost all autumn flowering plants flower later here than in more southern (warmer) countries.

Gabriela, what a nice Allium, and good to have flowers for bumblebees.

[MarcR]

Gabriela,

Beautiful display; but, even more impressive is the care and attention you must have given them!

[ruweiss]

Begonia grandis (syn. evansiana) grows well with me without
any special care.
Bergenia ciliata can reach huge dimensions, the flowers in very early
spring are mostly destroyed by late frost.

[Stefan B.]

I love the fall colors of the leaves…





Disanthus cercidifolius



Nandina domestica



Paeonia rockii



Tree peony Pea Green - Dou Lu

[Gabriela]

Thank you Leena and Marc.

A. thunbergii is a bit too late flowering, even in  this part of Ontario we can sometimes have a flower display with snow. For a fall flowering Allium
in cold region A. pseudojaponicum is much better, starting in August.

The fall foliage is always so beautiful in some species Stefan!
We had an unusual warm weather until recently and the trees are far behind comparing with other years. My Japanese maples are still green!

[Leena]

A. thunbergii is a bit too late flowering, even in  this part of Ontario we can sometimes have a flower display with snow. For a fall flowering Allium
in cold region A. pseudojaponicum is much better, starting in August.

Thank you for the tip! I have Allium wallichii, which flowers in September here, and it has been hardy now for several years. It was grown originally from seed.

I also love autumn colours, but this year they are not very good here, possibly due to warm and wet September.
First frosty nights have come. The first picture is from one morning last week.
Rest of the pictures are from today. Asters and yellowing leaves of Ranzania japonica and Glaucidium palmatum.

[Rick R.]

Allium thunbergii always blooms into the snowfalls every year for me in Minnesota.  Flowers freeze-dry, and stay throughout the winter.  I agree with Gabriela, A. pseudojaponica is a good late summer substitute.  (Thanks for the seed, Kris!)  A. sacculiferum is another good choice, whose bloom time is midway between the other two for me.  It prefers at least some shade, too.

I suppose this pic is why the aster Snow Flurry has its name.

[Mariette]

Beautiful pictures from all!

Leena, You show a wonderful array of colchicums! ´Herbstkugel´seems very attractive, and C. speciosum ´Album´ is one of my favourites, too.

Gabriela, ´The Giant´is one of the best colchicums with me, I wouldn´t like to miss it. Special, floriferous and reliable.

After 300 mm rainfall in summer, an army of slugs devoured almost all flowers of my colchicums. Only C. autumnale and pannonicum seem less tasty for them.

The more I enjoy the flowers of the late crocusses now, this is Crocus speciosus ´Semedo´.



Crocus goulimyi isn´t hardy everywhere in Germany, therefore I´m glad that it is for me.



I like the subtle white tints of Crocus goulimyi ´Sikea form´. 



Some Germans are able to grow nerines in their borders, I have to keep it potted. The begonia was bought as B. taliensis, but is something like B. asperifolia, more likely.



A reddish flowering seedling of Roscoea purpurea.

[Mariette]

This enormous Pyracantha coccineus grows in front of a house in
our neighbourhood, a fine sight with so many berries. Birds will
love it in the winter.

A fine plant! Once I took this pic of a pyracantha in Istria, which grew over a wall. It had very unusual long-stretched panicels of stalked yellow berries, the panicles being around 60 cm long. I wonder what species this beautiful specimen is?