Late Bloomers

I haven’t posted in over a month as I’ve been too lazy, and too busy enjoying the nice weather and watching baseball. But I hope you enjoy these late summer pics. It’s so hot today 29 C (85 F) that it still feels like summer, very unusual for early October. No leaf pics yet, as very few trees have changed, but I love when summer lingers.

I did get to the beach twice before the end of summer. There was so much sand, and very clean sand, that I could have been in the Caribbean. Quite a contrast to five years ago when there was only a narrow 12 foot stretch of pebbly beach, but the lake levels are low.

There were sailboats…

And more sailboats. In fact the days I went to the beach it was even a bit cool with a refreshing breeze coming off the water – good sailing weather.

The clematis were prolific this year especially this purple Jackmanni.

This one never blooms as much due to too much shade.

The glads did finally bloom, but one by one. I’ve dug up the bulbs and am going to try to overwinter them and then next year plant them all in the same place, instead of spaced in a row.

The zinnias were a bit of a dud too, achieving great height but not many flowers.

The dinner plate hibiscus are late as usual, they never bloom until mid-late Sept, but are only half as tall this year due to the lack of rain. The picture on the right is a previous year. They get too much shade in the spot they’re in at the side of the deck.

But the morning glories were glorious. The blue ones didn’t come up, only the fuchsia. I prefer the blue as in this old 2017 post, A Glorious September Morning.

These are as tall as the trellis at the side of the house. First time I’ve planted morning glories there as there’s not much sun, but there was a ton of greenery. These were taken this week. They are always late September bloomers too.

Of course not everything thrived. The $60 lilac tree I planted in the spring obviously didn’t – too much intense heat and not enough water. There are a few buds on it so I hope it comes back in the spring.

Time for a food break – there was cherry pie!

Or maybe you’d prefer peanut butter cookies. I found this Reese’s product, 24 cookies – great taste! Just bake as many as you want. In the refrigerated section of grocery store near the Pillsbury products.

The rest of the pictures are of plants from my July Pretty in Pink blog, but they are still hanging in there due to the warm weather. A lot of flowers get their second bloom in the fall, including the geraniums.

It makes sitting on the deck a pleasure this time of year, except for the yellow jackets.

This is the first year I have planted geraniums in the ground and they did well.

First year buying dianthus and I would do that again. Kind of scraggly mid-summer but they have revived. The Dipladenia love heat and drought so they look good all summer.

Impatiens always look better in the fall.

The knock-out roses are in their last bloom. Most of the new bushes did quite well.

But no matter how lovely everything looks so late in the season, from the soft afternoon light, we can tell fall is coming. I just hope it stays warm enough for when I have to take everything down!

PS. The Blue Jays won their first two games against New York! Go Jays go!

30 thoughts on “Late Bloomers”

    • Joni says:
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      Joni's avatar

      Thanks Diane! The lilac bush is my fault, as I didn’t water it faithfully and by the time I noticed the leaves were half gone it was too late. My garden buy thinks it will come back in the spring.

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    • Joni says:
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      Thanks Anne! I have been lazy – lots of ideas but no writing! Maybe when the weather gets colder. You are heading into spring, and we are fall. This morning when I woke up the back yard was littered with dry fallen leaves. Strange when they colors have not really changed – they’ve just dried up from lack of rain and the time of year.

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  3. J P says:
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    I’m no gardener, but I have a soft spot for clematis – probably because they seem to thrive on neglect. Which is my prized gardening skill.

    We visited the beach on the eastern side of Lake Michigan last month, and it was gorgeous.

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    • Joni says:
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      My kind of flower too – I don’t like fussy things you have to baby. I bet Lake Michigan lake levels are down too. Yesterday was a beach day, today I woke up to a yard full of fallen leaves….but still no leaf color or rain!

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  4. Kate Crimmins says:
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    My geraniums did not do well this year. They were in deck railing boxes (which I have used before successfully) and well watered. I’m not sure why but they won’t be making another appearance. I hate waiting all summer for something to bloom! Your flowers are lovely!

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    • Joni says:
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      Thanks Kate! Mine have had a resurgence after a rather pathetic August. I did 6 geranium hanging baskets because I couldn’t find many pink Dipladenia this spring and they were too expensive. Two have bit the dust, they get too woody for the pot, but the other 4 are still going strong. But I think next year I might just plant the geraniums in the ground, they seemed to do better there. I stole that idea from the neighbours.

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    • Joni says:
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      Thanks Peg! I hate winter too, but the forecast said we will have a warmer Oct/Nov than usual. If we can stave off the snow and deep cold until after Christmas it makes winter so much shorter.

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  7. Linda Schaub says:
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    Your gardens are beautiful Joni – I see the beautiful colors and that prolific Jackmanni Clematis, like I once had (I planted several Clematis plants for my mom who loved them). It makes me want to change my mind about the backyard, but this time I’ve made my mind up for good – no more flowers. I am not that keen on just the bare mulch look back there, but at least since the landscaper pruned the tall bushes and now all the smaller bushes are trimmed, I can see at a glance if anything is lurking back there. A few weeks ago I found raccoon scat on a rock near the patio – nice.

    And I also worry about the extra-cold Winters, extra-long hot Summers … all a lot more work and worries that I will lose everything like happened back in the Winter of 2013-2014. I watered yesterday since they predicted an all-day long rain today and I wanted it to benefit all the bushes that I planted in 1985. We did get that rain and it’s 30 degrees cooler now. I’d like to think they are established bushes and will do well, but the one year, my holly bush out front died and I cut it to the bottom, then treated it with Hollytone as I had a package of it left. I figured I could not pull that root out, so would have the handyman do it – he didn’t get there ’til July to do the gutters and it was green with new growth and has grown back to its original size. Your pie looks delicious. My mom used to get the Betty Crocker mix in a pouch for brownies and peanut butter cookies and she’d make both batches as they both went in the oven for the same amount of time. She used to bake from scratch, then these were so easy and tasted so good so she used them instead… she’d have a couple of each and it was up to me to eat the rest. 🙂 I like your concept – you don’t feel obligated to eat all of them at once.

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    • Joni says:
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      They PB cookies taste homemade – almost as good as my mom’s. I could never get an exact recipe out of her as she just dumped stuff in, but yea – I can just bake a few when I feel like it or have company drop by. Kids would love them. Nothing beats a warm cookie.

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      • Linda Schaub says:
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        You’re right Joni – nothing beats a warm cookie and the smell in the kitchen is heavenly. Store-bought peanut butter cookies are not the same, chocolate chip cookies come close, but not peanut butter cookies.

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  8. Eilene Lyon says:
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    Your gardens look awesome, Joni! I tried a Dipladenia in an indoor pot this year, but it’s too high maintenance for me. I grew gladioluses this year for the first time. One stem wasn’t worth cutting (though this was in a cutting garden), but I did manage to get two of different colors at the same time and they made a nice bouquet. Plenty of dahlias from two plants and the gophers ate all but one Zinnia!

    Glad you are enjoying nice weather and prime beach conditions this early fall.

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    • Joni says:
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      Thanks Eilene! I’ve never tried to overwinter my dipladenia but my neighbour has and found they didn’t flower well the next year. I cut my glads one by one and put them in the kitchen, still nice to see, although I know I could buy a whole bouquet at the farmers market!

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  9. Deb Too says:
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    Hope you’re enjoying this late ‘summer’ weather! The garden in its fall days looks lovely…perfect view to soak in before winter greys and white come!

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    • Joni says:
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      I need to start to take it down today, as rain for the weekend, a little bit at a time, as the leaves are coming down now…..will start with pruning the rose bushes.

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  10. Dave says:
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    My son-in-law was raised in Seattle and is a die-hard Mariners fan, so you can understand why they’re my bandwagon this year. Otherwise it’s the Dodgers (I was raised in LA). But it’s great for the game to have a Canadian team in the mix. Were you an Expos fan back in the day or has your team always been Toronto?

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    • Joni says:
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      He must have enjoyed the 15 inning game the other night then when Seattle won! I thought it would never end – I tuned in at 11pm, 8th inning, tied 2-2, to see who the Jays would be playing on Sunday, and it went on and on until past 1am! I don’t know much about the Seattle team, we’ll see tonight. I don’t like the Dodgers because they’re too good. I like to root for the underdog. I felt sorry for the rookie pitcher the other night as his throwing mistake lost the game, so technically the Dodgers won on an error. No, I was never an Expos fan. It’s surprising that we only have one baseball team yet we have 7 hockey teams – but kids don’t play in minor baseball leagues like they used to, they’re more into soccer or hockey. I’m not a hockey fan unless it’s the Olympics or something major like that.

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      • Joni says:
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        I was disappointed last night but not surprised. Seattle is in a different division and I think the Jays only played them 3 times this year? They would have had a better chance against the Tigers. I think the Mariners will win this series – I’ll be tuned in, but just being realistic here. But you may have some friendly rivalry in your household if the Mariners team up against the Dodgers!

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