Bloom Day - Shenandoah National Park

Though I do have blooms in the garden, there is little to show for October that hasn't already been shown in September or August. The temperatures and humidity may have moderated, and some of the trees are just now starting to bronze, but it is basically still summer here. So I am stretching the rules for this month's Bloom Day and will show some of what I saw last weekend in Shenandoah National Park - where it was indeed fall.

The campground where we ended up staying was nearly overrun with two plants, Clematis virginiana with its showy seedheads and...

... Coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus).

There were several varieties of Aster still blooming though I am not entirely positive which species they are. Perhaps this one is Heath Aster (Aster ericoides).

There were still a few Thistles in bloom.

Common Witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana) was just comming into bloom.

The Coralberry was not the only fruit showing color. The Hawthorns (Crataegus) and...

... American Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) were adding lots of color to the park.

The seed pods of Purple Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) were popping out everywhere to ensure next summer's blooms,

and I was not the only creature enjoying them.

I will continue sharing our trip through the park in the next few posts, but if you would like to see what other gardeners are sharing at this time of year, please visit Carol at May Dreams Garden who graciously hosts Garden Bloggers Bloom Day on the 15th of each month.

Barboursville Ruins

This past Friday my son and I headed west for a weekend of camping. Along the way we travelled through one of my favorite parts of the state, the western Piedmont where it nears the Blue Ridge, and stopped at the Barboursville Ruins. The house was one of only a few that Thomas Jefferson designed for a friend, in this case James Barbour, who was a U.S. Senator, Secretary of War and a Governor of Virginia. It took 11 years to build and was constructed in Jefferson's favorite neo-Palladian style. The main receiving room was an octagon from which all other rooms flared. On Christmas Day in 1884 the house burned leaving nothing but the walls and porch columns. The love of Virginians for their history seems to know no age, and even back then the ruins were preserved. Today Barboursville is a central part of the Barboursville Vineyards, home of many excellent wines.

Along with the bricks, the historic landscape around Barboursville survived the fire as well. In order for Barbour's guests to get to the front door, they first had to traverse his race track still in place (this was and remains a country of serious horse culture). The other major feature of the landscape is its boxwood plantings. As I have said in several other posts, no old Virginia house, ruined or otherwise, can be without its boxwood. Those at Barboursville are the largest I have ever seen, and I was able to walk under them without hitting my head. If the house was still habitable, the race track would be obscured from the second floor rooms by boxwood.

(My usual disclaimer is in place, in that I have not received any compensation for the mention of anything in this post, including a case of 2006 Octagon which would not be refused if it should happen to appear on my doorstep.)