Waiting for the Frost
We are in that holding waiting pattern – waiting for the first serious freeze. It can come any time from mid-October. One year just before Halloween, we had several hard freezes. The salvia bed in the picture above looked like someone had taken a blow torch to it.
The freeze has come later and later the last couple of years. Here it is the 17th of November and we still have several Salvias blooming. It is interesting to see what bows out for the season and what stays around. One of our favorites is Phyllis Fancy Salvia. It is about 3-4 feet high and 6 or more feet wide. It doesn’t start to bloom until September and really comes on strong as it cools down. It is very similar to ‘Waverly’ but we have repeated lost ‘Waverly’.
We also wait and hope for some of the other late bloomers. We had high hopes that we might get our Salvia madrensis to bloom. We have it sheltered on the porch and it is in bud but I just don’t think it will open before the freeze.
The tender perennials – brugmansias, Tibouchina, Michaelia, cannas – are already in the garage. G took cuting of some of the tender salvias and the others he has dug up. The bird feeders are out and we are ready for the frost.
Overall, it has been a pretty good year. We need to do some serious work on irrigation next year. It takes too much time to water. We will probably lay down soaker hoses again and maybe look at doing some drip.
Phyllis Fancy Salvia
Phyllis Fancy’s bloom
Miscanthus sinensis ‘Malepartus’ – this was looking wonderful a week or so ago. It was golden in color.
Melianthus major, Pseudocydonia sinensis (False Quince) in red, Miscanthus grass, Zauschneria and Calamagrostis × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’
Bajoo Banana and Hydrangea quercifolia
The dogwood ‘Hedgerow Gold’ no longer has any leaves. A mixture of textures below.
Gunnera manicata
Our Yucca bloom late in the year
A fun pot combo – Black mondo grass and a varigated geranium
Salvia ‘Hot Lips’ still blooming close to the house.
Looking out our front porch – Arbutus unedo is in bloom and fruiting.
Arbutus unedo fruit – no wonder it is called the ‘Strawberry tree’
Love your mondo grass and geranium combo! Some years we haven’t gotten a hard frost until after Thanksgiving. Alas, I saw 31 as a forecast low for Wednesday. Better turn on the heater in the glass room and bring in the last brugmansia and couple of cannas that haven’t made the migration yet. Brr.