A few Sept. photos (maybe afew more than afew) ;-)

Wow, I cannot believe how much you still have blooming … such beautiful flowers and great photos of them!

I love that one plant you mentioned … Colchicums … what more can you tell us about it.

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

GrandmaT, Colchicums commonly go by the fun name of ‘naked ladies’. They are a native of the Mediterranean region, a very old cultivar. They are hardy to zone 4. The corms are usually available in the late summer, early fall and should be planted immediately as they will flower at once. In fact the bare corm will flower even if it’s not in the ground. The foliage comes up in the spring and then fades away. (so you have to remember where you planted them) A friend gave me these corms several years ago and I have shared them several times as they reproduce freely and aways put up a nice show. The blooms stand up in the garden about 10-12”, and so although they resemble crocuses they are really quite abit taller. They are usually shades of pink, pinkish/purple and white. I have seen them listed in Vesey’s fall bulb catalogue and at some nurserys.

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

Wow, like Gran, I can’t get over how much you still have in bloom. Everything is starting to die back here, some things already done and gone.
The only thing I still have blooming are roses, and they won’t be by Thursday.

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

Thanks Iris for the info … this is indeed a very cool plant. I just may have to keep a look out for a few of those “corms”.

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

I’m with everyone else—WOW look at all those flowers still in bloom!!!
A beautiful garden you have created.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I wonder if the fact that I live about 2 kms south of Lk Huron’s southern shore is one of the reasons I still have so many flowers still blooming. Thanks everyone for your kind remarks. Except for the pink impatience that you can see in the border garden, all the flowers here are either self-seeded or perennials. I just can’t bear to start cleaning them out until the first frost has blackened them. Of course by that time it’s often pretty cold to work in the garden————so sometimes clean-up doesn’t happen until spring. This probably explains why I have so many volunteers! But the birds also appreciate the seed left for them. The goldfinches swinging in the tops of the cosmos make such a pretty picture.
BTW, have you noticed, the goldfinches have traded their summer finery for their winter coats. My backyard has little feathers scattered everywhere———-I though a cat had made a meal of my little birds. Then I realized that the feathers are all little fluffy ones and probably from the molt. Wheuu! Thank Goodness!

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

It might be. I live right on (a couple miles away) the southern shore of Saginaw Bay, and we got our first patchy frost the last official week of summer.It’s funny, we’re only about 100 miles north of GranT and Damocles, but it seems to make a huge difference.

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

It always use to amaze me when we would head over to my in-laws who lived 15-20 minutes from us how Mom’s flowers were always in bloom well before mine. You would think since we basically all lived within the Detroit Metropolitan area our flowers would pretty much bloom at the same time.

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

a little distance does make a big difference some times!

Iris: perhaps you have so many flowers still in bloom because you’ve planted the right flowers right plants!
Maybe next year I’ll focus on more fall flowers.

Oh and I like your idea of leaving it all until spring. That gives me another excuse why my gardens aren’t cleaned up for Sunday! lol

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Beautiful, Iris. Thanks for sharing.

-- jroot

What a lovely lot of blooms for the beginning of October. I really love the blue morning glories.

-- Stop by and visit my homepage at http://www.craftygardener.ca or my blog at http://craftygardener.blogspot.com/ Thanks, Linda aka Crafty Gardener

Garden is still lookin good Iris.Thanks for sharing.Thanks for the tip on the birds.I didn’t know that about their feathers.The other day there was a lot of fluff on the ground and I thought the neighbours cat must of got ahold of a bird.But there was no bigger feathers around.Good to know.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

Well, I finally have got a minute to sit down and add those butterfly pictures I promised.

This is a ‘painted lady’. I’m sure this is the first year that I noticed several visit my garden.

This ‘orange crescent’ is only a fraction of the size of the painted lady and doesn’t have the colourful and striking underside but still a very pretty little b’fly and you often see dozens of them feeding together.

This ‘Canadian tiger swallowtail’ was a real eye-catcher when it flitted around my yard. Every time it landed, I tried to sneak a picture it would take off on me. Finally landed way up in a cedar tree.

Of course the monarchs—-

This next one goes by the name of a ‘red-spotted purple’ and although that seems like a strange name, it is a very beautiful butterfly.

I thought this was a sulphur when I first saw it but upon looking it up I believe it is an alfalfa butterfly.

Although there were many more ‘visitors’ to my flowers, these were the ones I managed to get a decent picture of. One last picture is not a butterfly but still very exciting when you see one feasing on your flowers——- a clear-wing sphinx moth/ hummingbird moth.

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

awesome.
That second one!!! Magnificent.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I just love your b’fly pictures Iris.I wish I could attract so many different kinds to my gardens.Maybe next year (sigh).

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

Very nice B’fly photos. You must have the plants that they love to visit. All creatures, including ourselves, seem to crave those last flowers, and appreciate them all the more.

-- jroot

Thanks everyone for the kind comments———and I hope I got all the b’fly’s names right.
MsDeb, the second pic is the underside of the first b’fly.
Bon, with the beautiful berm you had this year, I imagine there were ‘swarms’ of b’flys visiting! Maybe you weren’t there when they were there. I spend/waste alot of time waiting to catch some of these shots. :)
jroot, you are right. Many of these b’flys visit the flowers in the late summer and fall. They are trying to fatten up for the cold winter or long flight ahead of them.

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

Thanks for the tip Iris.I will build a seat next year to sit by the berm and wait for them.Camera in hand.(lol)

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

I can just see you there, Bon. ... just waiting ….

With your busy life, I doubt it. LOL

-- jroot