This is a cheerful October vignette with Linaria and a poorly timed Easter lily.  One of the Cola series geraniums is in the lower right.

Some of the seedling sweet williams are leggy and not spectacular, but this one is a rich cherry shade, with decent-sized flowers and a showy lighter throat.

The coral bark maple and some other trees are coloring up nicely.

 

Coral bark maple against the bluest sky.

Aronia thicket starting to flare.

Close-up of aronia leaf.

I like the contrast of shade and bright and large and tiny leaves.

Impatiens still making a grand show of things.

Brilliance in the shade.

 

Cercis leaves dressing for their final performance.

Dramatic hops against the house.

More drama with light and shade on maple leaves.

 

Vivid maple leaves.

And more.

Cerise geranium hanging on the fence.

Fuchsia Cardinal still blooming and enjoying the cold nights.

More Cardinal flowers.

And more…

Potato vine glowing on the back patio.

Close-up of some “potatoes” forming in the leaf axils.  This plant could be a runner if let out into the wild.  I’m only growing them in pots.

Begonia is flowering in the greenhouse during a very slow time.

A few more greenhouse flowers–these are cape primroses.

And seed-grown geraniums.

Acer davidii in pots on the shelves next to the house.  Cramped quarters don’t stop them from making lovely fall colors.

Not in my garden–these monk’s hoods are blooming down by my workplace in Georgetown.  There is a gorgeous garden there in the middle of nowhere with lots of amazing plant treasures.  I really want to add these to my own garden now that I’ve seen what they can do!

 

Another Georgetown treasure–I have grown this sage before, but not for a very long time.   And I haven’t seen it quite this robust.  It is the pineapple sage, Salvia elegans.

We had gorgeous, sunny autumn weather last weekend, so brother Tim and I took a trip to the arboretum.  Here are some of the things we saw:

In several spots, there were hardy cyclamen plants making a show.  They look great under trees, just graceful and simple.  I especially like this soft lilac shade.

Our favorite species fuchsia was blooming really well.  This substantial shrub has been in the same place at least twenty years, near the greenhouses by the visitor’s center.

Another view.

 

We saw this brilliant aster near the greenhouses, as well.

We stumbled on large clumps of colchicum flowers.  The rain had beaten them down pretty badly, but they still provided some cheer.

We never found the tag for this shrub, but I had o take a picture–the leaves were incredibly graceful.

Not a great photo, but it was fun to see this azalea in flower.

And some rhododendrons, too.

I think this was a Callistemon that had formed seeds.  If any of them come up, we’ll find out.  They were quite striking, like wood with an intricate pattern.

Brother Tim in front of some amazing grasses.

A liquidamber tree and a red maple starting to light up the sky.

Another view.  The blue, blue sky helped highlight the leaf colors.