I was trying to capture the way the last of the late afternoon sun was lighting up those plants

Yup. And you did it perfectly. I have no idea how to take pictures, to get those really excellent shots.

Texasranger I love the contrast of your native landscape with your neighbors standard green lawns. You must stand out in your neighborhood!

GardenHo does your 4 o'clock bloom in the morning? I've read that 4 o'clock is supposed to bloom in the late afternoon/evening , hence the name. But mine open in the morning and not in the late afternoon, evening. I was surprised to see that. They are still going strong in my garden.

Ninkasi, Stands out like a sore thumb but there is no mowing.

Susu, in my location our 4 o'clock flowers open up early morning (before 8 am) and then again in early evening.

(I would imagine that this timing varies depending on one's latitude).

I've never seen a 4-oclock that doesn't open in the evening and stay open till morning. Maybe in the frozen north, they behave differently.

Susu mine are more prolific in the morning (east side sun) My pic, according to the sun...is late day (shaded), not sure what time I took it.

Yesterday and today have been gloomy/gray and wet as a cold front looks to bring more normal fall weather! While some foliage is coloring up now and some leaves and pine needles are down, there is still an unusual amount of green - and flowers.... One thing that has stuck out in the past two days is the Henryi clematis that grows in the Chinese wisteria tree has started to bloom again. When we cut the wisteria back hard this spring, the clematis got hacked back too, so it didn't do much in the summer. It's not doing a big bloom now either but it's nice to see the flowers at this time of year:

The pink rose in the foreground is a 'Queen Elizabeth' - that one normally blooms into late November/early December! The picture was taken from the front porch and foreshortens distances - the rose is probably 15' or more from the wisteria.... The wisteria has not put out any new growth in the last 10 days or so, so is obviously starting to shut down for winter.

For the first time ever the heptacodium tree has some faintly visible pink from the flower calyxes. It will be interesting to see if conditions stay suitable for the color to develop further.

The backyard color at this point is mostly the white ash leaves and needlecast from the white pines. A serviceberry has turned yellow - rather than its usual more vibrant reds and oranges - but there is no sign yet of color on the fringetree, dogwoods, and other trees and shrubs that normally provide fall color back there.

Pretty pictures, Woody.

Garden ho, that looks great, so fresh and colorful for this time of year!

Woody my heptacodium seems to be as far as it's going to get. There's the usual set of two or three fruits per flower head, nothing like the large red clusters I see elsewhere.

Rouge for the first time my 'Limelight' has taken on a pink tint. I think it's due to us actually having a decent rainfall towards the end of the summer, not the usual dry baking we usually get.

The cooler weather is bringing the hardy cyclamen out. They've been blooming for weeks, but now that the foliage is coming up they look even better imo.

They're not hardy perennial for me, but for as long as we can avoid a killing frost I will enjoy my dahlias and cannas.

and roses and salvias :)

katob your Fall LL is wonderful and that 'ribbon' of perennials it is part of is outstanding....love it.

Love the colour, Katob.

Katob thank you. You too have lots going on...Just lovely! I really like your LL and grasses combo. Is that Hamlin or little bunny pennisetum?

Is that Hamlin or little bunny pennisetum?

Either one it is so pretty.

(I planted 2 Hameln last summer and one didnt make it through the winter and the other barely limped through but I still decided to shovel prune it in early summer....disappointing.)

I discovered just today that I still have one "Toad Lily" plant in the garden.

And with the cooler wetter weather of Autumn "Golden Arrows" Persicaria is at its peak:

Great, Rouge.

Maybe it's time for me to try toadlilies again. I suspect lily beetles have now been purged from our garden. Haven't had Oriental/Asiatic lilies nor toadlilies for about ten years and never got round to using fritillaria.

Toadlilies bloom at such a useful time of the growing season.

Maybe it's time for me to try toadlilies again.

To be honest I don't see appeal of these perennials except that they flower very late in the season and up close, very up close ;) the flower is unique.

(I wonder if anyone has seen a mass planting of TL!)

That golden arrows is looking as good as ever, what a long season plant!

I bet the lily beetles would find your toadlilies in less time than you could imagine. They have a way of seeking out and destroying and it makes me sad to think what they are doing to any of the native lilies which might still remain (not that the deer have likely missed many)

The grasses in my border are the Korean feather reed grass, a relative of 'Karl Foerster' but later blooming and NOT sterile. They began to seed out a little too enthusiastically and I ripped out the main plants three years ago, but these seedlings are still coming up. I should weed them out as well, but they're so nice right now I can't bring myself to do it.

That golden arrows is looking as good as ever, what a long season plant!

katob, I know I seriously 'oversell' this perennial each season on this forum but it is a great August to October plant!

This is a rebloom of our Asteromea mongolica (Japanese Aster):

I didn't find the late rising, later blooming toadlilies got hit by the lily beetles. The lb were gone by then. I guess if they got the foliage that would be reason enough to get rid of them. For me, toadlilies' drawback was they were tired by the time they finally bloomed and the foliage was getting brown. "Jim's White Towers" - if that was the name- is the only one I've had where the foliage stayed looking good. And it blooms later than the other 3 or 4 I tried, about the beginning of October. It is quite tall, doesn't lean much and stands out in the midst of hostas.

I didn't find the late rising, later blooming toadlilies got hit by the lily beetles.

Same here. And I have lots of the beetles feeding on several other perennials throughout the summer.

Interesting re lily beetles and toadlilies.

You do read that they prefer Lilium and Frittilaria (latter, if planted close by Lilium). In our case, once I'd got rid of those, lily beetles went to the toadlilies. At the same time, we have quite a lot of Solomon's seal and they never got to that. We had very few Hosta at that time, so no problem there.

Used to find the adult beetles beginning their overwintering in the soil.

It has been quite cold the last few days and geranium "Azure Rush" still has flowers that look good (much better than our "Rozanne" which has no flowers now).

Sunday evening we went out for dinner at SIL's - and took a small bouquet of flowers from what's left in the garden. It was a bit surprising how nice a collection it was :-)

So true 'woody'! That is gorgeous. It would rank with any vase using flowers from most any other time in the growing season. Interesting.

lovely bouquet.

Rouge, where did you get Azure Rush? How's it different from Rozanne? I think you probably addressed this before, so thanks.

Marie

Hi Marie, I was hoping it would be an an all season blooming geranium like the ubiquitous "Rozanne" but much more compact than oft sprawling "Rozanne". It might be a bit less rangy but not by much :(.

The end?: 9 a.m. this morning.

Still melted by 11 a.m. and they're predicting a couple of nicer weeks for the first part of November.

I heard on the news you guys are getting cold. Its to be a La Nina winter they say, cold & wet in the north and dry & mild in the Midwest. We are still hot, in the 80's and desperately dry. Where is fall??? I fear its going to be one of those years with no fall color and what amounts to an overnight drop from summer to winter with nothing hardened off. Leaves are drying up, turning brown and falling off trees, there is no leaf color to speak of. It still feels like summer here with no rain in sight. The garden is hardly thinking of shutting down yet except for some annuals that are tired and petering out.

Cimicifuga 'Queen of Sheeba' perfumes the whole yard. Almost 7' tall in bloom.

Aster 'October Skies'

marigolds and zinnias because we haven't had a freeze yet and non sight.

Miscsnthus Giganteum made it to full bloom. Doesn't always happen here.

A few little moments left for me today.

Rozanne and alyssum:

Hosta:

For you toad lily lovers - they did not like the dry summer. Weeks late to bloom and browned tips all around:

Olivia Rose Austin:

Coreopsis Full Moon, mildewed and just a couple flowers left:

Can't bring myself to pitch some of my annuals yet. The Diascia is really just now getting going.

mines a mess...and I need the space for seeds

This is it my way. The leaves are falling...

Good ole rozanne...still hanging in there.

A. oblongifolius "Raydon's Favorite" is always the last aster to bloom here.

C. "Clara Curtis" is the only other perennial in full bloom. A scattering of roses and stray flowers from a few other late show performers (as well as cannas and other annuals/subtropicals still going strong in the absence of any significant frost) are what's left.

Almost forgot the toad lilies (still going strong after two months in bloom):

Such lush gardens in everyone's photographs for late October. While planting come bulbs today, I saw this Common Buckeye Butterfly enjoying the nectar from the few remaining coneflowers.

Sunnyborders, the Alma Potschke you sent me did exceedingly well. Sorry I didn't get a picture when in bloom. I was waiting until they were in full bloom to take another picture. We had staked them with bamboo stakes and wire rings, (ran out of rebar) which held up well until the rain hit, the asters were just coming into full bloom when the heavens opened and it's been raining ever since. The asters got top heavy and waterlogged...then we had a high wind in the middle of the night. The asters were such a sorry sight the next morning I cut them back. This picture was taken the middle of July, they put on another 6" of growth before they set flower buds.

Notice no dead leaves at the base of the plants, no mildew either :). Next year they will definitely get rebar stakes that is after they are moved to a more sheltered position.

My garden is finished, the leaves are falling and the whole garden is waterlogged, good job we are on a bit of a slope so it will drain eventually. We haven't had such a rainy September /October in years. I'm sure there are a few cyclmen blooming in the bed at the top of the garden but the rain has kept me inside, no interest in venturing out. There's always next year, fingers crossed.

Annette

Not flowering but I hope it is okay to include colorful fall foliage from perennials.

Here is "Horatio" Aruncus.

Cleaned up most of the fallen leaves this afternoon, and it's starting to look winter-ready around here. The latest of the mums and a few cyclamen still going strong.

I love the foliage of the hardy cyclamen.

I gotta get me some of those "cyclamen". Very nice picture katob.

Yes, pretty. Had some . When did they disappear? That's my perrenial question.

Ah, Marie, I understand. As I am cutting back I am looking for certain plants that I don't remember seeing this year. Perhaps they have disappeared.

A triloba or two still hanging around:

A sprinkling of flowers on Veronica 'Georgia Blue' which has its main bloom in spring. The native witch hazel/Hamamelis virginiana are blooming. Scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue' has blooms. Fall crocus (true crocus, not Colchicum) are just finishing bloom. And my really late mum is still full. Leaves, even on the late trees such as oaks and beech are almost all brown and dropping, but about half the red leaves on the kousa dogwood tree are still hanging on. We are entering the brown, gray and white part of the year with a sprinkling of deep green from the evergreens.

Expecting snow and temps in the low twenties overnights this week. While cutting back and covering plants with shredded leaves yesterday I picked a small bouquet, blue salvia, iris, sedum seedheads, Rozanne geranium, hydrangea (still new blooms), nicotiana, goldenrod. Several mums still have blooms on the lower part of the plant so I cut away the tops to make them visible.

Guara and verbascum are covered in blooms. The verbascum is more beautiful than any other time this past year. They must love the cooler temps. A few delphinuims have fresh blooms. Annual salvias, Strawberry Fields gomphrena and alyssum are in full bloom while calendula, snapdragons, an annual peony poppy are putting out a bloom here and there.

I love strawberry fields! Do you collect seed and start your own...or buy starts in the spring? I wonder what they'd look like with white Rosalita cleome...might have to try that in '17...

So, because it decided to have a summer weather day today, in the middle of fall, I donned my shorts and went outside to do some gardening! Was very surprised to see an area underneath a boxwood where I had thrown some brunnera roots from the original patch which I had divided a month ago. Originally, I thought it was dead, as all the original leaves had dried up and shrivelled away, but now there is this:

Inspired me to take the shovel to a clump of Wild Swan anemone I had so that I could throw a division behind the newly shooting brunnera clump:

This has been the year where I've been pretty relentless in dividing, ripping and hacking things into multiple plants. I think I got at least 8 clumps of Wild Swan anemone from the original 1 gallon pot I bought late summer! And I remember the days I used to be so scared to cut anything; now whenever I get a plant, all I can think about is how I can rip it apart. LOL

I noticed yesterday that I have 4 open clusters of flowers on honeysuckle/Lonicera sempervirens 'Major Wheeler' which has been blooming since late May or early June. We've been having frosts for a month, though the plant gets some shelter from being against the south wall of the house. I think this is my current longest blooming plant (though before the voles ate the roots of my Daphne x transatlantica 'Summer Ice' that was the winner by a couple of spring weeks).