Fall Blooms, Autumn Flowers, Winding Down the Garden

October Garden Blooms

Summer has come and gone. Daylight is waining and the flowering plants in the garden have begun their decline to winter rest. It is all so disappointing to say the least. I miss the big droopy headed flowers, the bees buzzing the mop heads and even the bugs climbing the ladders of leaves. Another gardening year is coming to an end. My 2013 garden brought lots of work, lots of pay-off and lots of melancholy for the masses of color that enlivened my summer months. All in all it is getting pretty boring around here. The hummingbirds went south this week, following the Ospreys which departed back on Labor Day for warmer winter quarters. I now fully comprehend the meaning of the Beatles song "I'll Follow the Sun"....Unfortunately I can not do the same.  So here I sit to contemplate what next, what now?

Here are some photos of what is still showing color here. Considering that it is mid-October, I do still have a lot of color. Unfortunately my fall blooming garden is at a less used entrance to my house, so I haven't enjoyed the color as much as if it had been at a more visible point in the garden. Needless to say the colorful, Mums, Cosmos and the occassional stella D'Oro lily are creating a pretty color pallet out there. Sad to say it is more accident than heavy planning....I'm probably not all that different than a lot of other gardeners on this account. So much to be said for serendipity!  Here's todays flowering garden....

Varigated Lantana in a decorative pot

Natural fungi mushroom on top of a Crape Myrtle stump

A singing American Goldfinch, sitting in a Crape Myrtle with red autumn color