October Color

 

October in Michigan is a beautiful time of year with the leaves of the various trees turning into every variation of red, orange and yellow before falling and being added to the compost pile or turned into mulch. At least that is where my leaves go. Those leaves are too precious a resource for me to give them away.

 

The leaves of October are not the only color in my garden though. Some of my plants have been in bloom all season long like the above Calendula. The previous picture is of one of my mums just starting to give a display of color.

 

The butterfly bush started blooming in August and has been in bloom ever since. I just keep clipping back the dead blossoms and it keeps producing flowers.

 

 

I dig up the gladiola bulbs in fall and plant them in late spring. I am rewarded with gorgeous color  in late August and of course now.

This datura self seeds and comes back every year from seed. I never have to worry about planting it again.

 

Same goes for the borage, a true blue color for the garden, something that is not common and therefore desirable.

 

The marigolds did extremely well for me this year, starting to bloom back in June and continuing to bloom even now.

 

 

Yarrow blooms early in the season in my garden. This one lone flower is a new blossom after the plant was cut back quite awhile ago. A nice surprise of color for me. A hard frost may be coming soon, but I will continue to enjoy every bit of color for as long as I can.