Late Autumn
Did we really have a summer? Briefly. Most of the leaves are gone now and the plants are ready to take a rest. But some plants in the garden are still pushing out their last show of the season. I envy some of them when I do garden chores in a sweatshirt in a bracing chilly wind and see them with their bare branches and leaves or what’s left of them. And there are these, the ones that still put on a show for us:
This clump of Alyssum is self-sown year after year, self fed as well. I left them where they came up since they are very good at drawing in beneficial insects and smell like honey. This one is in the vegetable garden, draped over the raised-bed reaching for sunlight.
Another readily self-sown, Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), is loved by birds and bees. The second batch that sprouted up later this summer is flowering now. It can be really invasive but the American Goldfinch love the seeds and my honeybees love them too so I let them grow. Makes a great tea as well.
I have to pull a lot of Borage (Borago officinalis) out since one plant can take up a lot of space and they self-sow vociferously. The plants that sprouted in spring are long gone. These are the ones that came up in late summer. Aside from the blue star shaped flowers that look so lovely, the bees love them as well.
These Calendula still produce flowers because they are fenced in with the vegetables. Their relatives outside the fence were eaten down to the ground by deer and woodchucks.
This old garden rose ‘MME. Isaac Pereire’ continues blooming from late spring to frost. Deer have nibbled it’s tips and buds but missed this one. I will put a net around the plot next season so I can have more than three roses in fall.
For some reason deer won’t eat this rose. This “Knockout” continues to bloom from late spring through autumn, plenty of them. It has a lovely color that changes from salmon to pink as it matures. If it had any scent (nope, hasn’t any), it would be a perfect rose.
There are some Hollyhock, Garden phlox, Echanecea and Aster flowering here and there and that’s about it. The growing season is coming to a close again. Frost is predicted this coming Sunday. Where has the time gone?
Petals and Wings 
Time passes so quickly. Your alyssum is so pretty. Mine seems to have died out. The deer can be be so frustrating–glad that lovely Calendula survived. Such a rich yellow. Just heard a rose expert speak at yesterday’s garden club meeting. Each one he grows is fragrant–for about 20 seconds I started imagining I would put in some roses.
Yes, time passes so quickly. I’ve been so busy at work and catching up with preparing the garden and the beehives for winter. So I have been putting blogging on the back burner. Sorry for reply to your comment this late. My Alyssum still looks happy even after a light frost. If you are interested in putting some roses in your garden, I would recommend you check out Heirloom Roses, the company. They are in Oregon and have plenty of choices of roses that grow from their own roots, not grafted. I purchased most of mine from them. They came small but once they are established they grow pretty fast and very healthy.