OCTOBER -THE SWEETEST MONTH IN THE SWEET GARDEN

"October inherits summer's hand-me-downs: the last of the ironweed, its purple silken tatters turning brown, and the tiny starry white asters tumbling untidily on the ground like children rolling with laughter; stiff, drying black-eyed Susans whose dark eyes gleamed from July's roadsides; coneflowers with deep yellow petals surrounding brown pincushion centers from which bumblebees still are sipping honey.  The assignment of yellow is taken up now by thin-leafed wild sunflowers and artichokes."

-   Rachel Peden 

  My garden in early October -'autumn joy ' sedum, purple heart, 'profusion ' zinnia and 'bolero' mums in bloom.

October is one of my favorite months.  The heat of summer has eased and it's time to take a critical look at what needs to be divided and transplanted.

I invited the Carrboro Garden Club to my garden in mid-October.  In the midst of the meeting and tour rain suddenly drenched us !  We quickly took cover under the roofed deck area until it stopped.   Many of our members were surprised to see so many flowers still in bloom.  Pollinators swarmed around the autumn sage, mums, asters , zinnias and lantana .   They also found it amazing that my super tall banana tree had bananas !  Below is the bud forming .

I divided and transplanted the purple heart, autumn joy sedum, black eyed Susan's and  Japanese roof iris.   After the mums finish blooming I'll also divide them as they have spread quite a bit.

I got some passalong anemones and planted them in the roadside garden.  Also some swamp milkweed for the monarchs.

Days are getting shorter and nights have grown colder.  Soon it'll be time to put the garden to bed.  Weather forecasts for this winter predict a milder than normal one.  Hope they're right !

I'm planning to put in a lot of daffodils and alliums this Fall when the weather gets colder, probably late November.

Meanwhile I'm enjoying the beautiful blooms of my 'hana jiman ' camellia .