Bloom Day - It Was a Dark and Stormy...

The local forecast this week is calling for a rain and wind event with highs in the upper 50's and our first dip into the 40's since last April. I have tropicals that should come in the house, but will not yet, and I am just not ready for the change. I also hate the fact that it is getting dark so much earlier now, and I miss the days when I could come home from work and play in the garden for a few hours before the night set in. I go through this funk every fall and at my age should be used to it. Not only have there been changes in my gardening routines, but in other areas as well. Since I am married to a teacher and our child is a student, my access to the computer has lately been superseded for the greater good of public education, and so you will likely see a little less of me (unless I stay up later or get up earlier). Meanwhile the rest of you have been very busy, and I have had a hard time keeping up. I went camping this weekend (new posts to follow) and even though I was only gone for three days, I had 102 new postings on my Blogger subscription list which I am still trying to get to.

Because of the wet forecast I took my pictures Tuesday morning. I still have a lot of the same plants blooming that have been seen in previous Bloom Day posts, but will only show a few of them. October is a transition month here, with a few signs of change combined with many still colorful reminders of what has been. Let's start the tour with a few annuals. This Impatien came up randomly from seed in another pot. I am glad I left it because I like the pink, orange and purple combination.

Angelonia

After the swallowtails gnawed it to nothing in August, I did not think I would get anything else from this tropical Butterfly Weed (Asclepias curassavica), but it has rebounded complete with colors appropriate for the season.

The bright Maragrita Sweet Potato Vine (Ipomoea batatas 'Margarita') is making a nice backdrop for the drabber Sedum 'Autumn Joy'.

Salvia leucantha (Mexican Bush Sage)

Tricyrtis hirta (Toad Lily)

This nurseryman is not good about writing down the names of everything he plants, like this Dahlia, nor does he stake when he should.

Ruellia brittoniana (Mexican petunia)

The last shot is of Poet's Laurel (Danae racemosa) and its fruit, a nice October orange.

Finally, I would like to share with you something that happened at work today. Just as we were closing, I got a call just from a man looking for an "enema", to who I said "what"! He repeated and just as I was getting ready to hang up, he said he read the article in The Daily Press this past Thursday that used my picture of Anenome x 'Honerine Jobert' and listed the company I work for as a source. We try not to laugh at the many mis-pronounciations we hear at work, but this one brought tears to our eyes.

Please visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens to see what others are showing for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. In the meantime, I will be dreaming of May as well.