Poetry Sunday/Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - November 2015

Recently, my blogger friend Jayne Wilson of Green and Serene had a blog post featuring quotes about the autumn garden. One of those quotes was a short poem called "Indian Summer." It seemed perfect for this time of year and especially for November's Bloom Day. Let's make it our featured poem for Poetry Sunday.   

Indian Summer

  by Emeline B. Smith

Just after the death of the flowers,
And before they are buried in snow,
There comes a festival season,
When nature is all aglow—
Aglow with a mystical splendour
That rivals the brightness of spring,
Aglow with a beauty more tender
Than aught which fair summer could bring….


*~*~*~*


Well, the death of flowers may have already come in some regions, but here in zone 9a, we still have quite a few, and we are nowhere near being buried in snow. Our first frost is still weeks away, and, since we don't get the brilliant fall colors that others enjoy at this time of year, at least we can take pleasure in what are surely some of the last blossoms of the season.


The milk and wine lilies are still putting forth occasional blooms.


Jatropha.


The Encore azalea is putting out a few blossoms even though it is almost smothered in this rampantly growing 'Marguerite' potato vine.


'Hot lips' salvia.


Salvia greggii - autumn sage.


Salvia coccinea - 'Coral nymph.'


Salvia guaranitica - 'Black and Blue.'


Yellow lantana.


Purple trailing lantana, a butterfly favorite. 


Red kalanchoe blooming among foxtail fern, amaryllis, and ivies.


Yellow 'Tecoma stans,' common name yellowbells.


Bronze Tecoma stans.


Yellow milkweed with seedpods that soon will be opening and scattering their seeds.


Gerbera daisy.


Copper Canyon daisy just beginning to bloom.


Many of the blooms on the coral vine got knocked to the ground in a recent heavy rain and wind, but some of them hung on.


'Blue Daze' - Evolvulus glomeratus.


Ageratina havanensis - white mistflower, or shrubby boneset, if you prefer.


Plumbago auriculata - Cape plumbago, or blue plumbago.



'Darcy Bussell' rose.


Orange cosmos.


Yellow cestrum.


Hamelia patens, commonly known as hummingbird bush or Mexican firebush.


Anisacanthus wrightii, another hummingbird and butterfly favorite.


Aloysia virgata - almond verbena, an unassuming blossom with a large and lovely scent.


Wedelia texana, a native groundcover of vigorous growth habit and many daisy-like yellow flowers. 


Tecoma capensis - Cape honeysuckle.


Shrimp plant - Justicia brandegeeana.


Firespike, Odontonema strictum.


The little yellow mums are still blooming in the backyard...


...while this big pot of bronze-colored chrysanthemums blooms by the front door.
And so as we enter the last half of November, we still have blooms to show, but I wonder if any of them will hang on until December Bloom Day?

Thank you for visiting my garden this month and thank you to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting us once again. Happy Bloom Day to all.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rude people

Poetry Sunday: Citizen of Dark Times by Kim Stafford

My new Kindle