There is a persistent garden legend around here that has begun to annoy me. I heard it again the last week of July from a new-to-gardening friend. I told her that her container plants looked really thirsty (my thoughts were more like, “All that money you spent on those annuals is going to go down the drain if you don’t water them today!” Yeah, they were really that close to death. Her response? “It doesn’t matter, right? They are just going to die in a week anyway.”
Au contraire, my friend. I have plants blooming into October (stop laughing everyone)! I told her she had a good month or 6 weeks left of her container and to keep watering it.
What was blooming, September 23rd, in my garden*:
1. Salvia
2. Achillea
3. Alyssum
4. Dahlia
5. Petunia
6. Papaver
7. Verbascum
8. Penstemon
9. Periscaria nummalaria aurea
10. Viola sp.
11. Sedum
12. Moss
What was blooming, October 17, in my garden:
1. Salvia
2. Achillea
3. Alyssum
4. Penstemon
5. Moss
*You’ll notice this list is not very specific as far as variety, but my computer (to put it in the evocative language of someone that lives at my house but shall remain unnamed) “took a dump” and my plant list is looking something like $%^&&*>"*!@#
There was quite a drop off in types of plants in bloom over the course of about a month, but still, it’s something! It should give heart to those who assume Alaska has a three month window of bloom that ends like a guillotine on midnight, August 31st. And for the record, it hasn’t snowed yet at my house. Woohoo!!
What is the die-off date in your area?
