If perennials are the little black dresses of the garden world, then annuals are gardening's flashy accessories. They bring color to our lives. They brighten up shady spots. They bloom their entire seasons, cool or warm, with very little help from us. Please don't leave annuals out of your planting design. They are full of color your eyes can't get enough of. Weedy-looking, but excellent orange cosmos growing in partial shade. When I garden coach, clients always say they want an "easy" garden, and the next word out of their mouths is "perennials." I'm not anti-perennial, but they are a lot of work if you want to keep them blooming and tidy. My garden is full of long-blooming perennials like daylilies, shasta daisies, mums and asters, but I can't be without annuals either. I also wouldn't be without plants grown in my part of the country as annuals even if they are perennial somewhere...

From several conversations I've had with gardeners lately, I know you're worried about my roses. I'm worried too, but I am trying to take a proactive approach toward Rose Rosette Disease without letting it upset me too much. I've cried and stamped my feet enough. I'm calling the spots where I've removed roses "garden holes of opportunity." Here is a more recent post on Rose Rosette Disease. I have way too much experience with it. English rose 'Darcey Bussell' isn't showing any signs of Rose Rosette so far. Gardening isn't only an exercise of the mind. It is not virtual and exists in the real world of life, death and rebirth. When a gardener turns over that first spade of soil, or lays down those newspapers and mulch to smother the grass, a garden is born. It grows to maturity, and then parts of it change for better or for worse....

Good morning or afternoon depending upon when I get this October edition of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day posted. Thank you to Carol from May Dreams Gardens who makes this fun possible. A few days ago, I profiled plants for pollinators, and I'll try not to rehash those blooms, but I don't know how many more I have. The garden is becoming more sparse as winter encroaches, but some plants I would normally post in October--like the mums--are not yet blooming. What gives? Tricyrtis hirta, toad lilies, growing in partial shade. Toad lilies have bloomed for nearly a month. They are not native, but they look so good next to the native Drummond's aster and common mountain mint that I will keep them here. Unlike other plants, they also seem to have the ability to duke it out in their corner of this shady bed full of colonizing perennials. The roses are back and...

What should you plant for pollinators to bloom during the late show--that short or long time period between hot, hot days and the first freeze? Worked into this post are my favorite fall-blooming flowers for pollinators. Many of these were chosen specifically to extend the bloom season as long as possible. We invite pollinators to our gardens by growing plants they love all summer. We plant natives to draw them in as adults and larvae--a good thing--but sometimes we forget about the great journeys some of them must make for winter--or, feeding them until they sleep the big sleep. Bumblebee flying to another bloom on Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'October Skies.' Begin with asters like the one above. There are so many native and non-native asters from which to choose. I grow several including 'Alma Potschke', 'September Ruby' and 'Bonnie Blue' which I added this year. I already grew 'October Skies', heath aster, a pink...