It’s bulb planting time now. Actually – it is a little too warm still. Temps should be regularly around 60 during the day and we have been in the upper 60s to low 70s!  I only got a few bulbs this year.  Well, 50 bulbs, but that is a lot less than past years:

No tulips this time, only Allium. I got more of the purple sensation and the star of persia – 25 of each. I bought these from Tulip World as John Scheepers didn’t have the star of persia, which is the one I really wanted. I planted about 1/3 of them and will do the rest this weekend.

The front bed still looks decent for nearing the end of October:

Giant mum!  The one on the other side is finally starting to open up.

It’s a darker purple. No worries about frost for at least the next week so this should get nice and full.

This spring I bought 2 new shrubs to put in the dry shade bed, which I am standing by in the full shot picture above, so it’s not visible. I have one hydrangea there and the new ones are called Diervilla, aka bush honeysuckle.

The cultivar is Kodiak Orange and you can see why it has that name. These were tiny plants in the spring and probably tripled in size over the season.

Their mature height should be 3 to 4 feet. They are native to NY and good for many different growing conditions.  I also found out they are super easy to propagate. A twig broke off in transit and just for kicks, I stuck it in a pot, tucked that in a clear plastic bag and put it in a window that got morning sun. Lo and behold, it took root and started to grow! I planted that outside. Then we had a storm that knocked another twig off and I did the same thing. So now I have 4 of these bushes for the price of 2!  I’ve never had success with propagating before, so go me!  I loves me some free plants.

New snapdragon blooms:

The David Austen Othello rose sent out one more bloom:

Sorry about the bird poop on the leaf, but I wasn’t going to clean that off for a picture 😀

This is Polar Bear zinnia:

Lots of new buds on all the zinnias, too. This late warmth and no freeze should yield another crop of blooms.  It’s good for the butterflies. I see them every day in the garden. Right now it’s a lot of monarchs and painted ladies. I can go out every day and take a picture of them if I want.

Last stop is the pink picture of the day, which would be the giant mum – or the mum that ate Cleveland as I like to call it:

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