Six on Saturday – 30SEP2023 – Bloomers and Rebloomers

Chris Mousseau

Last day of September and temperature-wise summer has yet to end – we’ll hit the mid 20’s most days this week. The downside, for gardens (and their keepers) at least, is we’ve had, literally, about nine drops of rain all month. There’s still loads of colour though, thanks mainly to drought tolerant annuals such as Verbena, Calendula, Nicotania and Zinnia. And Nasturtiums, which have gone on a rampage over the past six or so weeks, enjoying the daily bucket of water I pour onto their raised bed. I justify the water (my rain barrels now have about five day’s worth of raised bed water left…) by telling myself it’s not just a flower, but an essential ingredient in my daily salad. Plus, the Lablab vine is growing in the same box and can’t have that withering away just as it’s peaking in flower production!

Most perennials are well past or finished their bloom periods; some are quite crispy with no rain, but native New England asters (no fancy cultivars here!), Symphyotrichum novae-angliae, are still blooming in profusion and providing loads of sustenance for bees:

I think I’m most enjoying the little surprises these days, the solitary late scattering of flowers of something that mostly finished a month or two ago, like these Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota), Hollyhock (Alcea sp), Geranium sanguineum ‘Max Frei‘ and some sort of native Potentilla, possibly Drymocallis arguta:

That’s my SIx for today, with thanks to Jim at Garden Ruminations for hosting this meme. Have a great weekend everyone!

18 Comments

  1. 💗 the Bumble on the Aster! Still lots of Nasturtium flowers for many salads, I can always justify watering any flowers, because they are important pollinator food…and when I buy plants, they should be taken care of…at least I try. I water everything w/ gallon jugs of water, so I know where it’s being poured…& I have lots & lots of pots w/ flowers & veggies. There’s certainly an inbalance of where rain is falling…so much flooding in many places.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. That definitely makes watering more challenging. So easy (to take for granted) to turn on the faucet, have water & get billed. I have 2 rain-barrels, but challenges w/ those, too. Mosquito prone areas, have to set them up w/ flexible downspouts, they accumulate gutter debris, even with a screen over the hole.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. The nasturtium is a gorgeous colour Chris, and the ‘surprises’ are pretty too. We have also had wonderful weather this month but no rain. (Well, one day of light rain that barely dampened the ground!) A good soak would be nice, but at this time of year only keeping the salad watered makes sense and the rest can wither gracefully. 😃

    Liked by 1 person

    1. When started from seed in late May, they’ll flower profusely like this until frost, generally in mid October. If they’re happy. And watered. And in a sunny spot. With good but not too good soil. After the earwigs have gone away. The list goes on… 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  8. My goal is to have nasturtiums that big one day. Currently, I’m just happy that the third attempt at sowing them this year finally produced some that are giving a handful of flowers…

    Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.