6 on Saturday – 21SEP2024

Chris Mousseau

It’s officially the last day of summer here, with the fall equinox arriving tomorrow at 08:44 a.m. As I heard someone on the radio say the other day, it seemed it was June just yesterday but then I blinked, and it’s already autumn. It’s been a glorious summer in the garden, for the most part, and here are six things that celebrate that warm glowing feeling while also letting you know that winter is coming. Either or. To see Sixes from around the world, including some that will be celebrating the arrival of spring, visit Jims’ site, Garden Ruminations.

The Last Gladiola Of The Summer Award goes to this stunning little pink number, which I discovered hiding amongst the zinnias yesterday. So pretty. So shy. So summery.

Not far from Lady G. are a few strawflowers. They didn’t seem as vigorous as in previous years, nor as proliferous, but still added a nice rosy glow to one corner of the kitchen garden.

I know the days are getting shorter when, a) the app on my phone tells me we’ve lost an hour of daylight since the beginning of the month (13 hours and 10 minutes on September 1 vs 12 hours and 11 minutes today…), and, b) when the leaves on this burning bush start to turn their brilliant scarlet.

And I know the end is near when this lovely aster, covered tightly with small white blooms and immensely attractive to wasps, burst open.

I let thistles bloom and go to seed way back in the yard so small birds (goldfinches, mainly) can use the fluff to insulate their nests, but I somehow missed cutting this one back. It’s by the driveway, amongst dogwood shrubs and lilacs. Birds have started pecking away at Echinacea seedheads so perhaps this one plant wont go to waste…

Aside from the asters, the last thing to bloom in my garden are Colchicum – sometimes called autumn crocus (although there is another autumn crocus, with a much smaller bulb and flower from which saffron is harvested). They’re quite lovely in several spots around the yarden this weekend, including here, the original patch, under a pagoda dogwood. Have a great weekend everyone!

23 Comments

  4. Gorgeous colored Gladiola, with several more blossoms left, to make you happy. Strawflowers: will you snip those, to bring inside? I planted seeds, a few plants (I think), but no flowers to recognize them. Thistle-fluff is pretty. Every time I see you use the word ‘yarden’ I smile broadly 😀 Yes…good-bye summer…you were wonderful. Hummingbirds left, for their southern home…but exactly 3 days later we had a ‘passing-thru’ female, who spent the whole day here, enjoying the feeders, zinnias, lantana, salvia, verbena b. Cosmos and even goldenrod and tomato cages to perch on. Was a gift!

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  6. I had no idea there was such a thing as an app to document decreasing (or increasing) day length. I’ll bet you don’t really need it to know. You spend enough time outdoors to notice the changing location of shadows, and the change in the quality of the light. The light certainly does complement these flowers, foliage, and seeds. We’re still in high summer, but soon enough there will be cooler weather to coax our asters and such into bloom.

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  9. Oh, your white aster is flowering already! A sure sign of autumn…. I must see if mine is showing any petals yet. A lovely collection of end of summer flowers and thoughts. Happy Autumn Chris!

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  10. A yarden suggestion: in the Burning bush photo, that white structure would be perfect, if you put some nails at the top and bottom of the posts, then some thick twine, then pots of Thunbergia and Morning Glories……

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  11. Oh, Colchium! Did I recently ask about these? I do not grow them, but I did try saffron, . . . which a neighbor thought was some sort of Colchium, . . . but it bloomed for spring with the Dutch crocus! To me, it really looked like saffron. I still have no idea what it was. The neighbor got it, and might still be growing it.

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