Bloom Alert! Fall Flower Gardening in Northern CA

I love doing Bloom Calendars and I’m putting together a list of flower gardening plants for the November garden; a mixture of plant types: shrubs, perennials, vines etc., that you will want to check out! Fall is a good time of year to step back and away from the garden and reflect upon improvements, gaps, and wish list items for next year. It’s also an excellent time to take stock of what’s blooming and grooving now, because if you wish there was more? Time to create your bloom chart plan for 2015!

Each season has the potential for a symphony of color, or maybe a small balcony garden, a sweet touch. The later part of fall and winter are certainly the quietest for flower color. And, though less abundant, there are flowers so let’s get ready for the hunt. Sometimes a plant like Ceanothus or Camellias (as a whole) have a predominant bloom time… For example, Ceanothus – spring. However, lesser display may occur now. In a sense that makes a particular plant even more garden worthy because it’s got multiseasonal interest.

Please stay tuned (easiest way is by signing up for our email updates) because we’re planning a full years worth of BLOOM ALERTS! You can have color in your garden all year long in this climate…and a small garden can too. Think vertical, think container gardens. A touch of color for a small urban space is wonderful. Could you have that year round? Yes, perhaps with a little crafting on the arrangements in your containers, or using annual flowers for fill.

In any event, here are dozens of plants blooming in and around Northern CA right now. Let us know what’s blooming in your garden, so we can add it to the list!

What’s Blooming – Late Autumn:

Abutilon – Flowering Maple. Many varieties of this shrub are available, many of which bloom almost continuously.

Brugsmansia – Angels Trumpet. Semievergreen with bold display of big tubular flowers. All are shrubs that can be trained into small trees. Main bloom time is summer to autumn. Not great for a kid friendly garden as plant parts, if ingested, are poisonous.

Camellia – Flowers of bold display. There are several varieties in bud and some bloom right now. Main bloom time is winter – spring.

Canna – Tropical tuberous perennial with bloom time summer – fall. USDA zones 8 -12. Spikes of large, showy flowers. Wide range of sizes, shape and flower color.

Hemorocallis – Daylilly. Many different varieties available; semi-evergreen, deciduous, dwarf and regular. I love the dwarfs like ‘Cranberry Baby’ and ‘Cranberry Eyes,’ which are blooming on. Though each bloom lasts only a day, in it’s flowering time, a happy daylilly will give vibrant continual color.

Kniphofia – Poker Plant. Grass like leaves with tubular flowers in orange, red, yellow overlapping forming poker-like clusters. Good cut flowers. Attract hummingbirds.

Pandorea jasminoides ‘Rosea Superba’ – Bower Vine. Evergreen vine, good for walls and fences. Large pink trumpet flowers with darker center.

Salvia – Sage. There are several varieties still blooming now. Salvia uliginosa (above photo) is a semi-deciduous upright shrub with wonderful blue flowers late summer and into fall.

Cestrum – Shrub with showy tubular flowers. Long bloom time spring – fall. Hummingbirds, warblers and mockingbirds enjoy the blooms and berries. ‘Newelli’ – shrub has dark foliage, and deep purple flowers. Fruit and sap are poisonous if ingested.

Cosmos atrosanguinius – Bloom time is mid-summer – fall. Deciduous perennial from Mexico. Flowers are 2′ flowering stems with fragrant chocolate to near black flowers.

Erigeron – White daisy flowers aging to pink. This carpet forming ground cover also makes a nice container plant. Size: 1-2′ x 3′. Exposure: sun to light shade.

Escallonia fradesii – 5-6′ tall and wide. This evergreen shrub has bright dark pink flowers and is useful as a foundation plant.

Hebe – Evergreen shrubs from New Zealand. Some varieties bloom summer through fall.

Grevillea – Varieties that bloom in winter/spring: ‘Canberra Gem,’ alpina x rosmarifolia, ‘Poorinda Signet,’ rosmarinifolia ‘Scarlet Sprite.’

Phlomis – Jerusalem Sage. This shrub with fuzzy foliage and bright yellow flowers is native to Europe’s Mediterranean region.

Rosa – Some are in bud and some are busy blooming.

Tibouchina urvilleana – Princess Tree. Evergreen tree or shrub with striking deep purple velvety looking flowers. This tree or shrub blooms intermittently and mucho.

Happy Gardening!

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