Sputtering

With Labor Day in the rear view mirror, we're now driving headlong into fall.  Oddly, northeastern Lower Michigan is finally getting some sustained warm weather, after a rather chilly summer.  It has been so cold up here that many local tomatoes have refused to ripen.  (I finally bought my first batch of local tomatoes yesterday at the Alpena Farmer's Market.  Yum!)  So I'm enjoying the warmth while it lasts... which won't be very long.

The daylily garden is fading quickly.

My daylily patch is running out of gas.  It's not yet stuck by the side of the road, but sputtering.  Only three daylilies are still blooming, and I have just a dozen buds left to go.  The ones in bloom now can be described as "late season" cultivars, for which I have a special fondness.  When so many perennials have given up for the year, these late-bloomers put on a great show.

Apricot Serenade.

Brazilian Emerald.

Fallen Leaves.

I want more late season color.  Next year, when I purchase daylilies, I'll restrict myself to early- and late-blooming cultivars, instead of mid-season types.  There are lots of fantastic plants out there, so why not pad out the margins of the growing season.  My favorite this year is H. Fallen Leaves, developed by Nate Bremer at Solaris Farms.  It's an altogether elegant flower!  

Black-Eyed Susan is a great use of garden space,
since it blooms from mid-summer to frost.

I also planted more Black-Eyed Susan this year.  This native Michigan flower stays in bloom for weeks, until late fall cold weather does it in.  Charming! •••