Late Bloomers

We’ve had a couple of Frost Advisories and even one Freeze Warning, but it still hasn’t dipped below freezing in my yard, so my annuals are still alive.

Of course by now most of them look extremely tired and worn. The exception is my calendulas.

They had a rough summer. Calendulas are cool-weather plants, but over the years they’ve been bred to withstand warm summers. Unfortunately the breeding wasn’t enough to tolerate weeks of temperatures in the upper 90s and low 100s like we had this summer. My calendulas stayed alive during the heatwave, but they were rather stunted and didn’t bloom much.

Now that the temperature has plunged in the opposite direction, you can almost hear them breathe a sigh of relief. Their foliage has greened up and many of the plants are full of flowers and buds.

Soon frost will end their season, but in the mean time the honeybees are enjoying the fresh nectar source.