Fall Garden for October in Ohio Zone 6

With Fall here it's time for the cleanup that needs done. Until last weekend the weather had been quite nice and I had only cut back the Iris and Daylilies. This last week I started cutting back a few more things. I'm trying something new with my Hosta. I've always cut back in the fall. This year I'm going to let them go to mush and then pull up the mess. It has been mentioned that you get some slug eggs that way. So we'll see how this goes.

The Japanese Maple is Fireglow. I love the dark burgundy color of this tree. This is the area that I took out more than half a bed. Most of the Hosta that were here are now potted and will be part of my secret garden, which I'm hoping I have no problem with them surviving the Winter in pots. I left a few that were there and moved in a few to the spots of ones I was taking out. The Pinus s. Glauca Nana and Mums remained also. I was going to take all of this area out, but I was afraid I would lose the Japanese Maple and left this small area.

This was the home of my Echinacea and Daisies. I hated losing the whole bed which looked so lovely but it was time to reduce my load. Because of leaving the Japanese area above and to keep this area an even grass path, I had to fill this part in with the pavers so I just made it a little patio area. You can see the grass seed filling in now in part of the area that I took out. I did keep a few small clumps of the Echinacea and transplanted them elsewhere in the yard and one small clump of Daisies which were also transplanted elsewhere. Most of the rest was given away. You can see most of the areas around this have already been cut back for Winter.

Ninebark with Salvia Rose Sensation. Should have divided this past Spring, so hopefully it's still there in the Spring that it can be done then.

Several of the Salvias at the bottom of the yard and reblooming now for their last show this year. You can see some of the Burgundy Mums also.

Hydrangea Pinky Winky changing to it's pink color. I've been very happy with this Hydrangea and in fact have two of them, one on each side of the yard. They do extremely well in full sun.

A container of Sedum variegated. This is a very showy Sedum and does extremely well in a container which I don't protect at all in my zone.

Sedum Autumn Joy in bloom. Didn't get photos of the couple other varieties I have. Sedum does well no matter the weather and is one of the things that I did keep quite a bit of, even though I gave away a lot of perennials this year.

Well as always you can count of the Double Knockout Roses to bloom. Even with the drought and extreme heat of this Summer, these continued to bloom for me. In front of it is Lavander which does extremely well in heat. Just make sure you provide Lavendar with good drainage.

As with the Knockout, this beautiful Rose Apricot Drift just kept on blooming for me. It has Sedums on each side of it. Both of those will be transplanted next year.

This No ID Rose out of my neighbors yard and potted in her memory did ok this year also and has some new buds here.

Hydrangea Zone 6 Ohio during Drought Conditions

The gardening season has been the worst I recall for most of us in the country. The heat and drought just did not give us a break here. I lost lots of plants and the ones that are here did not do well. My Hydrangeas did not bloom as well as normal, I believe most of their buds just burnt up. I'm hoping next year is an improvement and I've just been glad for what I do have.

Hydrangea Pinky Winky. I love this Hydrangea. Nice big blooms this year so I expect it to get better as it matures.

Hydrangea Vanilla Strawberry. Love this one. Last year was the first blooms and I got I believe 3 on it. Still not mature but there are blooms everywhere. It's normally not this sparse of leaves but the heat and drought took it's toll on most of my Hydrangea and it lost most it's leaves, but it still put out lots of blooms.

Hydrangea Limelight. Thankfully can live through most anything. It didn't grow this year, but then nothing else did either. The blooms are smaller than normal but it does have them.

Hydrangea TarDiva. This one probably looks the worst for blooms. I have 2 and this one has the most blooms but they are very little.

Hydrangea Quickfire. In July and August going through it's changes of color. Unfortunately in this weird year, Quickfire started blooming in MAY, and the buds and blooms finally burnt up before we headed into fall.

The Caryopteris Blue Mist Shrub, in the Spirea family of shrubs is blooming well this year.

The burgundy Mums are doing ok as a rule, but a couple are pretty burnt up also.

Of course the trustworthy Yarrow. It grows and even blooms no matter the weather.

I've taken out almost 2 full garden beds this year. Between whirlygigs and droughts it's become a little much. Let's see if I regret this, although I do to some extent, I know it will be a little easier to take care of next year.

Hemerocallis Daylily Blooms in Ohio Drought

The drought and extreme temperatures usually in the 90's and 100's has really taken it's toll on my gardens. I thought I would show some of my Hemerocallis or commonly known as Daylilies which thankfully are dependable no matter what, although foliage has sure been burning up. I've lost a lot of plants this year and a lot of other plants have been dug up, potted and put in shade in hopes of saving some things. I have a lot of spaces empty because of this.

Wineberry Candy is a beautiful combination of contrasting colors.

Daylily Austintatious. This is a constant rebloomer. Blooms were done for and within a couple weeks it was already reblooming.

Santa's Little Helper. Very bright colors and did quite a bit of blooming this year.

Nancy Ligon is a lovely delicate blend of color that always looks good.

Plum Perfect is one that sends up lots of blooms and continues to do so for about a month.

An heirloom Daylily Kwanzo. The colors are outstanding and one of my favorites.

Daylily Bordello Queen closeup of this pretty little bloom.

Woodside Rhapsody a very pretty dark color that holds the color without fading.

Allegheny Sunset is such a beautiful large bloom and another one that always looks good.

Might as well throw in a picture of the Lily trees growing here. Not as tall as usual with the lack of water this Spring, but still lovely.