GBBD: Windblown September Blooms

It's time once again for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day sponsored the 15th of each month by Carol of May Dreams Gardens. This Bloom Day post almost didn't happen--at least for me. The weather this weekend made it difficult to get very many pictures, and I've spent the last two days in bed or on the couch nursing a bad cold and sinusitus. On top of that, this afternoon my computer mysteriously stopped working. So I apologize to all of you whose blogs I regularly visit--I will try to catch up on reading posts over the next few days.

But these are minor irritations that will soon be forgotten. After watching news reports the last few days of the devastation caused by Hurricane Ike along the Gulf Coast, I am so thankful to be alive, safe and dry. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who have lost their homes as a result of this latest awful storm.

It has been raining most of this past weekend, as you can see in the Stella daylilies above and in the Knockout rose, both of which have rebloomed this past week. According to my rain gauge, we've had about 4 inches of rain this weekend. This morning a heavy rain was accompanied by a strong wind, which knocked down two trees in town, knocking down powerlines as a result.

Good thing I took this photo of the clematis bloom on Friday, because I imagine the petals were blown off in the wind today. This is my weird, "two-fer" clematis. If you remember, it produced many blooms in May and early June that looked like a Nelly Moser. Since July it has produced an occasional lavendar bloom, with several appearing this past week. I've decided that those of you who suggested two plants were accidentally potted together were probably right. Now if I can only figure out the proper pruning next spring!

There are some coneflower blooms still hanging on, but most have dried up. In the past I would often cut these down to make the garden look neater, but this year I am going to leave them for awhile--the goldfinches love the seeds. While the coneflowers may be drying up, many other plants are still blooming--the nepeta, the salvias, baby's breath, Russian sage, galliardia, and most of my annuals.

I would show you more pictures, but I don't have access to most of my photos right now. Our power was out for nearly four hours today, and I was worried about the basement with no sump pump running, but thankfully it was dry. However, when the power was restored, my computer wouldn't re-start properly, so I had to resort to using my daughter's computer. It's slower, and there isn't a good photo editing program on it, so I wasn't able to crop these.

I do have a few new plants just putting on a show for the fall. Asters--unnamed, of course--are full of blooms and attracting lots of butterflies.

The sedum "Autumn Joy" has turned a lovely rosy hue; I think this is the best it's ever looked. When I took these last two pictures the garden was alive with butterflies--there were actually four of the painted ladies on this plant and another tiny guy you'll see in left center. Ironically, I had tried to photograph this small butterfly for a few days with no luck. I didn't even realize he was in the photo here until I downloaded it.

I think it's appropriate to end today with the butterflies, a universal symbol of hope and new life. The forecast here is for sunny days this week, and I hope that is true in the rest of the country. I hope that the hurricane victims are safe and can return to their homes soon. Let's hope the hurricane season is over!