I read this morning two different cold fronts are moving in today. Some drizzle was predicted but the day has been sunny with a big, blue sky full of white puffy clouds, and it is a bit breezy on this 65°F. afternoon. There is a frost warning for tonight and by Saturday we are advised temperatures could drop down near freezing for the first time this fall.
It seems a good time to record the blooms in the garden.
Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower) Near Cornus florida (Flowering Dogwood)
Aster
Aster
Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ (Herbstfreude) (Stonecrop)
Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ (Herbstfreude) (Stonecrop)
Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’ (Catmint)
Rosa ‘Iceberg’
√ A spider appears to have captured an insect on the Tradescantia.
Tradescantia (Spiderwort)
Penstemon mexicali ‘Pike’s Peak Purple’ (Beardtongue)
Pansy ‘Majestic Giant Purple’
Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’
Achillea filipendulina (Fern-leaf Yarrow)
Pelargonium (Geranium)
Pelargonium (Geranium)
Camellia sasanqua
Hedychium coronarium (Ginger lily)
Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage) (foliage:Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’)
Angelonia ‘Purple’
Also Blooming
Waning: Helianthus angustifolius (Swamp Sunflower), Rudbeckia fulgida (Orange Coneflower), Lantana camara (Common lantana), Zinnia
Light Rebloom: Lavender, Thymus serpyllum ‘Pink Chintz’
Blooming: Dianthus, Alyssum ‘Easter Bonnet Violet’, Salvia splendens (Scarlet Sage) – Red Salvia, one of the bearded Iris varieties, Verbena bonariensis (Tall Verbena)
Just beginning: Chrysanthemum
Oddity: one Leucanthemum x superbum (Shasta Daisy)
pbmGarden 
We have to make the most of these late blooms before the weather brings it all to an end. You have some lovely salvias, do you have to bring them in for the winter or do you take cuttings?
The Black and Blue salvia overwinters so I feel lucky not to have to bring plants indoors. The Red Salvia is considered an annual here, but this came back from last year.
What a pretty pink and white sasanqua. There is a similar one at the SC Botanical garden that is scented. Is yours fragrant? We have a frost warning too. Goodbye blooms!
Yes, it has a lovely fragrance. Unfortunately I don’t know the name of this one. I keep my fingers crossed the weather will be a little more mild than predicted so we can have those blooms a few days longer.
The camelia is gorgeous.
Thanks Judy. When that camellia starts blooming I always want to start adding more camellias–so fragrant.
Wow! A lot of colors there and the Ginger lily is still blooming! We hardly have anything left out there, just colorful leaves.
Hi P&B, yes that Ginger lily has slowed down considerably in blooming but the cold weather will signal the end for this year. It performed beautifully this year, loving all the rain we had. I’m looking forward to some colorful leaves soon.
There’s still a lot to catch the eye in your garden. Here there are just the asters and foliage now – even the sedum has turned very dark and the stems have started yellowing. Your white aster is very nice. Is it a tall one? I think I need more asters of different heights.
The white aster photographed well but overall it looks weedy and I’ve actually been trying to pull it out. It gets about 3 feet tall but runs around through the garden border in all the wrong places. It looks innocent enough in the photo though!
Your coneflowers are so pretty. They seem to have longer, thinner petals than mine. I think some gardening group has named 2014 the year of the Echinacea.
Thanks. I searched and found it is the National Garden Bureau, which I should learn more about.
I no longer have the label for that particular coneflower but it must be a hybrid. The petals are indeed thinner than those of my others too. The color is stronger as well. I tried some of the fancy hybrids at one time, especially the “sunset” colors, but none survived.
Your Aster looks like it has very good foliage, mine are all horrible below the flowers. I hope you didn’t have such a cold night as expected; this makes me even more surprised about your Gardeniars. how low do your winter tempertures go?
Hi Christina. The aster looked especially fresh yesterday, but it’s a thug, not innocent at all. Don’t know the name.
It got down to about 36 degrees F. and is supposed to remain about 15 degrees cooler than yesterday (in the fifties). Winters are variable and I recall one Christmas that was 0 degrees followed by the next Christmas of 70 degrees. The Gardenias are rated as hardy in my planting zone 7b, but I’ve heard they can be killed to the ground in severe winters. Sometimes they will regenerate. I would be sad to lose them.
Such richness still and I’m amazed that your Echinaceas are still looking so fresh – fingers crossed that the frost stays away for a while yet.
Annette, I looked back through some pictures yesterday and found there were still blooming Echinaceas in mid-November last year. I do hope they last that long again!
Susie
I’m surprised you still have Echinacea and spiderwort blooming. We’ve already had frost a couple of times, and the temperature tonight is supposed to go down to 30 F.
So much blooming…here it has been cold at least a week so lots going to sleep as we get even colder at night and move toward a freeze.
Sad to see the plants dying back. We had our first frost last night and I still had reblooming irises today but the Angelonia was very unhappy! Have a good week Donna.
That’s a very thorough record of your garden this time of year and a lot of pretty flowers. Especially liked the penstemon.
Hi Carolyn, I like that penstemon also but it did very poorly this year so was surprised to find it blooming now. Either it didn’t like all the rain or it may not be long-lived here.