New Plant Hardiness Zone Map

The USDA recently updated the Plant Hardiness Zone Map for the first time since 1990, and although it didn’t change in our area (still Zone 7a), gardeners across the country may find themselves in a new hardiness zone. Click the image to go see if your zone has changed:

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New Zone Map

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Looking Forward To Spring

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Along with the rest of the country, we have had an extremely mild winter here. No snow, but lots and lots of rain… (the snowy header photo is from last year). I have bulbs and plants sprouting everywhere, and even some green foliage still on petunias in containers I didn’t empty out in the fall. It feels almost like spring already, but it sure will be nice when the calendar says so, won’t it? :)

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Burning Bush Shrubs – Great Fall Color

We had our first frost here on Halloween, but it was patchy and light enough that I still have some blooms in the garden right now. It’s cold here tonite though and we’re supposed to get a heavy frost. Maybe now I can finally start cleaning up the beds and then get all my bulbs planted at the end of the month. We still have a little fall color around, and the definite stars right now are the Burning Bush shrubs (Euonymus alatus). These shrubs are a gorgeous deep red in full sun, but near the gazebo I have three shrubs that are in mostly shade. These are always a little later to change color in fall, and turn a pinkish-red color. Here’s how the largest of these shrubs look from my yard today (click on photos to enlarge):

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_{Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus)
(Cedar to the left, viburnum in back)}

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_{Closer look at fall foliage of Burning Bush}

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Trees

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October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came.
The Chestnuts, Oaks and Maples,
And leaves of every name.

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The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.

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The Chestnuts came in yellow,
The Oaks in crimson dressed;
The lovely Misses maple
In scarlet looked their best.

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All balanced to their partners,
And gaily fluttered by;
The sight was like a rainbow
New fallen from the sky.

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The leaves are changing early this year.

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Views from my yard yesterday and today, poem is “October’s Party” by George Cooper.

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Fall Garden

These are (probably) some of the last photos I’ll be posting of my garden this year. I have already dumped a lot of pots and cleaned out some areas of the garden (I hate to pull out still-blooming plants though, so I usually just leave them all until the frost knocks them down). Most of the flower beds still look good — even though poplar leaves are falling by the thousands all over everything right now. As always, click on any of the photos to view larger versions.

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“Hearts-a-burstin” (Euonymus spp.) are native and plentiful in the woods here. This one in the Secret Garden is a small tree about 8 feet tall and is filled with fruit right now.

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Foliage plants in the secret garden, including Coleus, ‘Iron Cross’ Oxalis, Dichondra “Silver Falls”, hosta and Japanese Forest Grass.

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Profusion Zinnias just keep blooming and blooming in the creekside bed. These were started in summer from seeds I saved last fall.

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Morning Glory ‘Heavenly Blue’
I’ll probably be pulling seedlings of these for the next ten years. They sure covered an arch and the fence nicely though, and are filled with flowers.

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Plumes of Purple Fountain Grass

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Purple Shamrocks Oxalis have been blooming since spring. The bulbs I planted last year have spread this year and this is fast becoming one of my favorite plants. I’ve stuck it here and there throughout my garden.

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(Mouseover photos for descriptions, click to enlarge)

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Mums And Asters

The wild asters and other fall wildflowers are blooming, the leaves are changing and the woods are getting more and more colorful these days. In my garden, the mums and asters are definitely the standouts right now.

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These mums are in an urn at my front steps.

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These Clara Curtis daisies (Chrysanthemum x rubellum)
have been in bloom repeatedly since June. They also spread quite a bit.

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Perennial mums throughout my garden

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Gorgeous pink and purple asters

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This wild aster volunteered in one of my flower beds this year.
I let it stay, and am being rewarded with hundreds of purple blooms.

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Asters in my garden

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Butterflies

Just a few of the many butterflies in my garden this summer. The rare female Diana Fritillary (last photo, bottom right) showed up earlier than usual this year, I started seeing her around the end of August. The orange and brown male Diana Fritillary was here by early August. Click to enlarge.

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