October Blooms in the Pacific Northwest

Purple Ornamental Kale

Fall is well and truly here in the Pacific Northwest. How can I tell? Not the position of the sun, the turning leaves, or the crisp cool air. I can tell because ornamental Kale looks absolutely beautiful to me. I have some in my containers out front, and the crinkly leaves have such lovely color, I was mesmerized.

Tomato Harvest

As I think I've said before (repeatedly), this has been an odd year. The garden has been odd, too. Case in point: this basket of tomatoes. We just harvested these last week--our plants were loaded with them. Our tomatoes only started turning in mid September, and the plants were still loaded with green fruit when the frost hit.

Rosa Guy de Maupassant Rose

I've also been surprised at the roses continuing to bloom. I found this floribunda, "Guy de Maupassant" (Rosa 'Guy de Maupassant'), on clearance at a big box store a few months ago, and it smelled fantastic. I picked up four of them for $2 each. I love plant clearance.

Hydrangea Sun Spot

The hydrangeas have managed to put out a last few blooms, like this new one I found, "Sun Goddess" (Hydrangea macrophylla 'Yellowleaf'), which has chartreuse leaves and seems to handle the sun better than most.

Hydrangea Nikko Blue

Then there's the classic Nikko Blue (Hydrangea macrophylla 'Nikko Blue'). It looks so pretty, glowing blue in the shade by the shed.

Salvia Black and Blue

This Brazilian sage (Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue'), is something I've not grown before. I saw the gorgeous deep blue color in a friend's garden last year and snagged a cutting. Now I've got two and they're going strong.

Bacopa

I left the Bacopa (Sutera cordata, not sure of the variety) in the containers--it's so healthy and I can't believe how many blooms are on it this time of year.

Moth Mullein

This ephemeral thing is actually a weed. I found it growing in the garden over the summer, and finally identified it online as a field weed called Moth Mullein (Verbascum blattaria). But I think it's pretty, and it's exactly like the cultivated verbascum I bought this year except yellow instead of purple. So I found a spot for it. We'll see how my experiment works out.

How about you? Do you have things blooming that you weren't expecting to in October?

This post is a part of the October Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, sponsored each month by May Dreams Gardens.