6 on Saturday – 01NOV2025 – What’s Blooming in November

Chris Mousseau

Such a momentous weekend: most of the country falls back to standard time tonight, giving us an extra hour of sleep tomorrow and making winter mornings brighter, earlier; the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team has transformed the city (and the country!) into a blue tinged cauldron of joy as they battle to be World Series champions; and there are still quite a few interesting things and colours in my garden, despite the near freezing nightly temperatures we’ve had over the past few weeks. I’m going to join Jim at Garden Ruminations in presenting six of them.

This young native Viburnum lentago – Nannyberry – has among the brightest red autumn leaves of anything in the garden. If the rabbits leave it alone this winter I’m hoping for a flower cluster or two in the spring.
Most maples have lost their leaves by now, but Acer griseum – paperbark maple – is last to break bud in the spring and last to lose leaves in the fall. It’s a good thing, too, since it was able to take advantage of the late October rains we’ve had.

And now for some flowers still blooming:

Nepeta – catmint – had a strong second flush of flowers in late September/October, providing a bit of food for the bumblebees and honey bees still foraging. The bees have mostly gone underground now, which is a good thing since I need to cut this back and transplant it this weekend.
Verbena bonariensis is also still producing flowers. These are from self-seeded plants along a gravel path that took a while to get going, likely thanks to our very dry summer. Kind of a silver lining to that drought. Maybe.
The last of the Japanese anemone flowers. I took these photos yesterday and we had a big wind overnight; there’s only a dozen or so petals hanging on this morning.

And finally, the star flower of the late summer and early autumn cutting garden — Zinnias. They’ve hung on through our freezing nights but the flowers are now looking somewhat bedraggled. This is pretty much the last you’ll see of them this year. Have a great weekend everyone, and Go Jays Go!!

31 Comments

  2. Believe me — a goodly portion of us south of you are rooting for the Bluejays to take it all! We admire Ohtani, but despise the Dodgers. Here’s an interesting side note. I just learned there are some Tim Hortons in Houston. None is close enough for me to conveniently visit, but they’re around, as is some of your Canadian air that finally has dropped us twenty degrees!

    It’s hard to believe it’s November. The colors here are gorgeous, and it’s fun to see the verbena still in bloom. I’m wondering now if ours still is blooming. I suspect it is. I’m rather fond of your bedraggled zinnias. Are those buds blackened by frost?

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    1. The Zinnia buds can look dark as they develop…overlapping tiny unfurled petals have a dark edge, I think. The Blue Jays lost…such heartbreak up here last night!…Timmies was started by Canadians but now I think the chain is owned by some international mega company…we still love it tho…And I’m very happy to share our cooler temperatures 😁😁😁

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  5. Your post made me smile, not because of the lovely foliage and flowers, although they are beautiful, but because you reminded me of my much missed Dad. My Dad worked for periods in Toronto in the seventies and perhaps early eighties, and as a big sports fan of almost any persuasion, he loved The Blue Jays. In fact he brought several pieces of memorabilia back home with him. I think my brother had a jacket, lucky chap! So I will also be supporting them from far across the ocean and I am sure my Dad, wherever he is, will be singing Oh Canada and shouting for the team. Thank you

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  6. Chris: you still have plenty of color to enjoy in your yarden. We haven’t had a frost, yet. A few Zinnias, in a pot, some bright yellow Bidens & pink Bacopa in a deck planter…a pink Morning Glory surprised me by blooming today…haven’t had any since 10/7! Purple Osteospermum & Gomphrena. Asters. Still have some unpicked tomatoes, plenty of parsley. May the best team win!

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  8. Beautiful autumn colours on the Acer griseum – and the Viburnum. They’re a treat for the eyes. My verbenas and nepetas have shut themselves down for the winter – good to see that yours are still thriving. And zinnias too – I’m amazed!

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  12. So many vibrant colors–wow! Believe it or not, my Zinnias are still blooming here in S. Wisconsin. Sounds like we’ll get a freeze tonight, which will bring the end to them. 😦 That Acer griseum is stunning. Seems like the colors have been particularly dramatic this fall.

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  13. Wonderful colour on your Viburnum and Acer, foliage colour at this time of year is so precious. Wonderful to still have flowers brightening up your garden, mine seem to have stopped for now.

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