Like Minnesota Twins fans savoring the final games of the baseball season, I've been savoring the fall finale in my garden beds.
This fall is even sweeter for Twins fans - and gardeners. The boys of summer are still in the Wild Card race and many plants are still producing promising buds and ripening vegetables – thanks to a perfectly timed rainy season.
Each day, I poke among the beds, planters and landscape in search of surprises. The sense of discovery is so different from way back in July – when I took the gardens for granted.
Yesterday, I spotted one luscious red Roma tomato among the other permanently-green veggies on a potted patio plant. My 'Endless Summer' hydrangeas were sadly barren the last couple of summers. Big surprise – the shrubs are finally bursting with blooms and more buds – even at the end of September. I can't explain the late summer surge, but leftover tree spikes my husband inserted by the shurbs last spring, might have helped.
Everyone knows that gerbera daisies can be temperamental bloomers. But a pot of golden yellow gerberas is shooting out stems with buds - even in the 9th inning of the season.
Coral-pink tropical hibiscus on the deck didn't satisfy my summer-long impatience for flowers until three weeks ago - and should keep me happy for awhile.
When I glance out the window, I can see clumps of the old-reliable 'Autumn Joy' sedum effortlessly bursting with russet-red broccoli clusters carpeting the border beds. That is until the first killing frost, which by the way, is usually mid-October. Sigh – only three weeks away.
What are you savoring before you put the garden and pots to bed? What's unexpectedly blooming this time of year?