September isn’t my favourite month (October is), but if I had to choose my second favourite… it would be September. As a child, I always loved the excitement of back to school… even if I didn’t love school. I loved getting new notebooks, binders and pencil crayons! And of course, I loved getting a new outfit and new shoes!!!

There’s no back to school for me any more, but I still enjoy September. The weather gets so much more comfortable, and a September garden is a wonderful place to wile away the time.

And there’s still so much in bloom. September, at least here, isn’t much different than August, other than the temperature is more tolerable, and the days get noticeably shorter.

All my favourites are still blooming, if not quite as strongly as the previous months.

Like many of you, my coneflowers suffered from the lack of rain. They start off ok in first bloom, but then the colours fade to a dull imitation of their best. Next year, I’m hoping to invest in a couple of rain barrels to help over the dry days. At the townhouse, I watered almost everyday, but water was included in our rent. Here, I pay for every drop, so I’m trying to be mindful. I watered at least once a week, and could probably do it more often, without breaking the bank, but I’d like to conserve where I can, so rain barrels should help with that.

The daylilies are very drought tolerant, and did amazing. Autumn Joy, which you see above, is a late blooming day lily so we still get to enjoy it after all the others are done.

September is also usually when the roses put on another show after resting for the hot, humid height of summer. So far, Chrysler Imperial is doing the best, but the others are looking pretty good. In October, they will get some extra protection against winter, to help baby them through.

All the sunflowers I got this year were volunteers, and a few are still blooming. I’m looking forward to trying again next year to get a better variety. I may invest in a small greenhouse to help my seedlings along next year. I had a very poor success rate this year.

Except where the Cosmos are concerned. I managed to get seven seedlings into the garden, and they are showing off now. I will probably sow them directly next year. I planted two types this year… the big, blowsy ones you see above.

And this smaller version. While the blooms are smaller, they have more petals, but the plant is absolutely HUGE. This one in the catio is taller than me and I’m 5′ 7″. As you can see, it’s a favourite of the butterflies too… (and you can get and idea of the size of the blooms)

And this time of year always gets me thinking about what worked this year, and what I need to change for next year.

For example, this is the catio garden… and as you can see, the Blanket Flower and the Sneeze Weed have grown so big they block the right hand path. They will both have to be moved to gardens outside of the fence next year to give them (and other plants in the catio) the room they deserve to shine.

Speaking of that Sneeze Weed….

It’s finally starting to bloom. The flowers are quite small, but there are going to be A LOT of them. The plant is just covered in buds. This is a great addition for a late-season garden (given you have the room!)

And last… Dave and I were at Home Depot the other day, and I picked up some small Mums for the porch boxes out front. The Impatiens and Calibrochoa I planted were looking a little ragged. It was time to switch them out for something more seasonal.

They haven’t quite bloomed yet, but each box has a yellow, a rusty orange, and a burgundy purple. They will provide a nice pop of colour out front for the next couple of months.