dianaschnuth

If you would have asked me last year to write a post about what was blooming in my garden (or in my house) in the month of November, I might have laughed. Now that I’ve been participating in GBBD for a few months, though, I’ve been paying closer attention to the small things.

For instance: I found this mum blooming in late October, and I had completely missed it last fall (since I still don’t know what all the previous homeowner planted).

[Taken 23 October 2014]

Not long after, we got our first frost here in NW Ohio, so I’m glad I got a nice photo of the mum before then. The pollinators didn’t seen to mind the wilty petals, though.

[Taken 3 November 2014]

While I was doing my fall cleanup this month, I also spied a single confused bloom amongst the creeping myrtle.

[Taken 3 November 2014]

Also during my fall cleanup, I documented the last rose bloom of the season, on my unidentified pink rosebush.

[Taken 3 November 2014]

That’s probably going to be about it for the outdoor blooms until March. Until then…

Houseplants

Back in September, I cut some sedum blooms to bring inside as part of a flower arrangement for my son’s birthday party. Over time, everything else in the arrangement wilted — but the sedum only faded as sedum does, and the leaves stayed green. So I kept it in water. Then it started growing roots, so I planted it in potting soil. Then, this month, it started blooming.

[Taken 5 November 2014]

They’re teeny tiny blooms, and I should probably be pinching them off to let the plant grow stronger roots… but they’re welcome color on my windowsill.

My African Violet decided it was time to bloom, too:

As a special surprise, my Christmas Thanksgiving Cactus has started to bud, and may actually be in bloom around Thanksgiving!

With a little planning, we CAN have blooms nearly every month of the year. I have some ideas about getting blooms in my house and on my property this winter (and in winters to come), and I wouldn’t even have considered it if not for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day.

Here in my Zone 6b garden, most plants are starting to quiet down for the season. I’ve got some beautiful fall colors happening, and a few hangers-on from late-summer blooms, but the real action is drawing to a close.

This currently-unidentified white rose has the longest bloom time of the half-dozen or so that bloom on my property — this year, anyway. It was the first rose I saw in June and is the last to bloom this October.

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