It is finally starting to feel like fall here. After a weekend of 100 degree days, we are cooling down to the 70's. The drop in temperature signals the end of summer, and the fall bloomers get the spotlight. Please post your fall flowers here as they look in your garden, and in indoor arrangements. I would love to see what you use from your garden to tie your arrangements together. New for me this year are the taller and larger diameter dahlias. Here is Pennhill Dark Monarch.
I wanted to get home early enough to do an arrangement when there was enough natural light. But I got home too late, and here is a quickly thrown together arrangement. Not exactly what I wanted, but the light was fading fast and furious. I have a rather inexpensive camera, and the flash always washes out the color, especially the darker colors. So, I did not get the chance to tinker with the arrangement to get it the way I wanted. Paired up with it is Kevin Floodlight - a wonderful bloomer that is going on it's fifth week.
Another fall favorite for me is the Japanese anenome. These white ones are much taller than the purple ones that I have. I started out with just a few starts that a friend dug up from her garden, and it has spread throughout the yard. I keep them in check by yanking out about 90% of the whole plants after the blooming season.
I use them as filler in arrangements, but they are also great looking on their own. The blooms last for at least 4 days.
I'll have to remember that Japanese anemones can be used as cut flowers.
I have the white & a pink here.
Never seen a purple, have you any pics of that?
Lovely Dianne, I'll have to remember to find some anemones as they are a real nice cut. Thrown together or not those dahlias are beauties.
Here is one I made with the wacky gourds I grow.
This is one I made the other day with my salmon dahlias and more wacky gourds.
Here is one from the end of September, I love the colors this time of year, it is the only time I like the color orange!
Candee - I love the fall colors of your dahlias. I am going to have to get some next year. I guess you have to dig your tubers up and store them for the winter? I am going to just leave mines in the ground and see how they fare.
Teresa - I call my other Japanese anenome purple, but they are really purplish pink. So they may be the same as yours? Here is a picture from a month or so ago. They bloom earlier than my white ones.
And here they are massed together. They spread like wildfire here. I have to constantly dig out the sprouts. These purplish-pink ones only last a couple of days. The white ones are much, much better for arrangements. But, if you only want something for just one day for a specific occasion, it does look nice and elegant.
they are very pretty, much deeper colour than mine.
I don't know about in a vase but my pinks last days in the garden.
Oh how delicate they are and lovely colors.
Yes Dianne I am waiting for them to finish as they are still blooming like crazy and then must pull up the pots (I stopped putting them directly in the ground a few years ago as I always forgot some.) Now I bury the pots and then lift them and dump and wash and store.
That pink one is lovely - that one looks closer to the white one so it should last in a vase too.
Candee - what kind of pots and what size do you put your dahlia tubers in? Do you fill with regular garden soil when you bury them again (how deep?) in the spring? And do you have to divide each year as they multiply, or do you not have to divide that often? I lifted up some tubers that have been in the ground for about 5 years and it was really dense. But, they were the border dahlia types with small flowers.
Another fall standby is the sedum "Autumn Joy." There are a lot of varieties of Autumn Joys - ranging from light pinks to purples, with most of the colors darkening as the blooms matures.
This is the indoor shot. Hard to get a good representation of the color with a flash.
I took the vase outside the next morning to get a photo without having to use the flash. Needless to say, I did not bring this vase to work. I took the flowers, and put them into a generic metal vase. Still nice, but I really like the contrast of the pinkish-maroon flowers and gray pottery.
Roses are the mainstay of many gardens. I only have about 4 roses due to my limited yard space. One of my favorites is this shrub rose - which I always thought was a Cecil Brunner that I grew from a cutting that I got from a friend. I have been told that it is not a Cecil Brunner, but until I figure out what it is, I will just continue to call it that for lack of a proper name. This plant starts of with a blast of flower in May - as shown here
It blooms on and off all summer, and here it is in October, 5 months later. It supplies a nice splash of color as fall rolls in and most plants start to die off.
One nice thing about the fall growth is that the stems tend to be longer, making it possible to use a taller vase. The color is a little deeper and richer in the fall - more of a coral pink than the softer pinks of springtime. If any of you know the proper name of this rose, please let me know. One note of caution - this rose is full of thorns, on the stems and little thorns on the leaves. I had to wear a pair of gloves in order to comfortably handle the stems.
Your arrangements are lovely Dianne, I really like the one with the gray pot and bowl.
I put my tubers in 1qt. plastic pots from the nursery (saved from previous purchases). I just dig a hole the size of the pot and put them in. I pot them in regular soil or sometimes use some potting soil or a mix of both, doesn't really seem to matter. Whatever I have on hand.
When I pull them up this time of year, I just wash them off and separate the really big ones and let them dry then into a grocery bag to the basement until next season.
Candee - did you mean to say 1 gallon plastic pots? Some of the tubers are quite big for the 1 qt pots. How deep do you put them? And with regular watering of the garden, the water penetrates the pots via the holes at the bottom and from the top? I got and am getting more dahlias this year, and am looking for the best way to grow and maintain them. I do not want to dig up every year and was hoping to be able to dig and divide every other year.
Yep meant 1gallon pots. I just put them in the ground the size of the pot which is about 9" deep and about 6-8" diameter. I don't do much watering after the beginning of the season, just let nature take its course. I water them regularly when first planted cause they like it a bit moist to start but after that nature takes over. It does make it easy for digging as I never have to worry about splitting a tuber with the shovel. I just loosen the ground around the pot and lift.
I think every other year to divide would be fine, I seldom divide mine, just lift and store and the following year plant the same, sometimes overwintering they drop off the main stem by themselves as it seems I always have more than I thought I stored?
Another installment of dahlias here. I got 8 dahlia plants this year, and I have been thrilled with them. I am now a dahlia fan. The dark purple is "Storm Warning", the white and purple is Ferncliff Illusion. I did not know that they were similar shades of purple until they bloomed, so it turned out to be a good pairing.
And here they are in a vase. These dahlias have been great in supplying fall arrangements. The main bloom of some of the larger variety is a little too big for general arrangements, but the secondary blooms are a fairly good size.
I love the big white but can't figure out how to use them in an arrangement like you say they are sooo big.
That is beautiful with the dahlias and the rose.
I put my big white in a bowl.
Has anyone tried them under water? Sounds pretty.....just don't know if they would last.
Zinnias is another flower that I have seen in many fall arrangements, but was never organized enough to remember to plant the seeds in time for it to grow. But, this year, I managed to put some seedlings in sometime in Mid-June, and planted some seeds in July. Both produced flowers, and they are still going strong. This is definitely a keeper in my garden.
an overview amongst other plants
and in a vase. They are supposed to be good reseeders, so I hope that is the case for me.
gardenia from my in-laws garden, looks a bit worse for wear as I had it tucked behind my ear before taking it inside & floating it in this little heart shaped glass dish
Dalfyre, gardenias are so pretty and the smell, wish we had DG smell software. Bloom looks really big.
Soilandsand, my lions tail is still trying to bloom, we have had two really frosty mornings but it is close to the house and has so far still standing. We have had so much rain, if we could get some sunny days I think it would pop with color. This morning was the worst frost, so I will see what happens. Course I may not have any other blooms to put with it.....
I feel your pain there happ - I made two last arrangements a week ago Sunday and which I had cut every bloom as I had loads of zinnias and dahlias still out there but got a really heavy frost that night and all was lost. I had one huge bed of 4' salvia that was just wiped out as well and it was close to the house. Dang
Thank goodness for Dalfyre with spring just sprung. And Dianne as well with that everlasting bloom weather and such a lovely vase! Both of you are bringing sunshine my way on yet again another dreary rainy cold day!
Yep, we appreciate all those opposite continents that bring us pictures of such lovely blooms, while we make it thru the winter.
late spring here & my anemones & ranunculus are looking good so I thought I would pop a few in a vase & see how well they last...
the vase is a brass one, part of a pair that my father gave me many years ago.
back to front...
this is where they came from
How pretty, dalfyre, those are just beautiful. Having a vase with a memory makes it so special. I love my vases but the ones that are given to me make them even more special....
Very elegant, Dalfyre. I love those two types of flowers.
first time I have grown them so I am on a bit of a learning curve with them.
Transplanted two today - they were looking sick so I hope they survive.
I put them next to a healthy looking one in a different garden, completely different soil & conditions on opposite sides of the driveway.
Anyone who can actually grow those ranunculus is very special in my book. I just cannot get one to survive past getting it home! Beautiful dalfyre!
