september bloom day - 2014

It really has been a fantastic summer in Chattanooga, TN.  It hasn't been a scorcher, and we've had enough hot days to still call it summer.  It's rained enough that my water bill rose a whole 3 dollars, and my plants are still happy.

So happy in fact that the fall growing season has already started.  All of my roses have new growth, and my infant confederate jasmine ($2 plants from Lowes this spring) are starting to spread out.  It's like the garden gods are encouraging me to stop dreaming about gardening, and actually do some gardening.

I'm getting there.  But before I go into detail about the new things coming to the garden.  Here are some pictures of what is currently blooming in the garden.  If you're new to my blog, garden is a term I use loosely.  My property is almost all shade, and I mow my grass about twice a year.  Some people might call them weeds, but I think I have the cutest little wildflowers in my front yard right now.

It was windy, so imagine yellow versions of these too.

If you need a barometer for how much shade I get.  My morning glories just started blooming this week.

Scarlet O'Hara

The Zinnias are hanging in there, but most of them have fallen over, and are twisting and turning trying to grow straight up again.

I have 2 almost sunny spots, and I planted my first mums in them this year.  I looked for mums in the spring, and since I couldn't find any, I settled for grabbing the first ones I could find this fall.  I was lucky and found colors I liked on the first trip.  I have a deep crimson red, and a beautiful pale yellow.  Hopefully I got them early enough that they will establish roots and survive the winter.

The yellow is my surprise favorite, and I think I'm going to get 2 more.

Happy Belated Bloom Day everyone!  As always, thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting!