Organic October Blooms at Bliss

It's Garden Bloggers Blooms Day once again and time to show what's in bloom on Bliss on the 15th of this month. But today is a very special day as it is Blog Action Day when thousands upon thousands of bloggers post about something that is so close to my heart; the environment. For more information click on banner above.
In the Bliss garden everything is grown organically and we live and garden as environmental friendly as humanly possible. Why? Well, it's really not that complicated; we're part of that environment, planet earth is our home and for many others creatures as well. If we give mother nature her reign then everything is in balance. But it's a delicate balance that can easily be disturbed.
Here on Bliss we have chosen to garden with nature instead of against it. All creatures great and small are welcome here, as many of them (such as ladybirds, frogs, hedgehogs and birds) are the gardener's friend. The few that aren't so friendly (aphids, snails and slugs spring to mind) can usually be kept under control by said garden friends. In the Bliss garden no herbicides, insecticides or whatever cides you care to mention, are used, non whatsoever as we do not want to disturb the delicate balance that mother nature has created here and of course we do not want to poison our garden friends and do not care to be poisoned ourselves either.
Everything on Bliss is grown organically both the edible and the inedible; after all it's no fun to deeply inhale the wonderful scent of a rose (ahhhh bliss!) and with it also get a noseful of poison (argh, cough, yuck). And speaking of roses, let's have a look at them, shall we?
And here she is, my old friend Madame Alfred Carriere who's been flowering her blessed little heart out since early May of this year. Doesn't she look great and she has such a wonderful scent too. I've grown this rose in my previous garden as well for over 15 years and I never ever sprayed her. There's no need for that as Madame is a very healthy and strong rose. I feed her, and all my other roses, twice a year (March and end of June) with an organic fertilizer, lightly prune her (March) once a year and that's pretty much it. It is possible to grow wonderful and healthy roses and not spray at all. Growing roses should be fun, not dangerous for your and everybody elses health.
I can't tell you how pleased I am with the way my organic front garden is looking now. There's so much in flower still; a veritable feast for the eye, nose and spirit.
In the Bliss front garden in flower today are:
- Rosa Madame Alfred Carriere (since early May)
- Rosa Sombreuil (since early May)
- Rosa Guirlande d'Amour (since early May)
- Rosa Moonlight (since end of April)
And they are not only flowering still but making loads of new buds too as you can see on the pic above. If we're not hit by frost, the roses will probably flower for at least 4 to 6 weeks more. Just think of it; organically grown , scented roses flowering from early April right through to November, possibly early December. Eight to 9 months of blooms, who or what can beat that?
But there is more in flower in the front garden than just the roses, we have asters, millions of asters, in lots of different shapes, sizes and colours. Aren't they just great?
Also in bloom are:
- bacopa (white)
- geranium (white)
- lavender (white)
- balsam (white)
- toad lilies
- a firm feline favorite: catnip (white)
- and winter Jasmin, that's just started flowering a few days ago.


In the organic kitchen garden we still have some blooms too, although not as much as before as this part of the Bliss gardens is slowly winding down.
We have Dahlias, lots of Dahlias in bloom in the kitchen garden, because we do not only grow food here for the body but also for the soul. In the ornamental kitchen garden flowers and veggies grow hand in ha.., erm I mean, leaf in leaf. And why not, as many of them are very good mutual friends.
This plant I grow as a standard in a pot as it's not hardy. For the life of me I can't remember what its name is, so if anyone can help me out here, it will be much appreciated!

To my delight a lot of herbs are in flower in the kitchen garden, such as:
- chives
- ruta
- oregano
- fennel
- and basil.
Even the lavender has a few blooms here and there in white, lilac and purple. But there's more in bloom in the organic kitchen garden than just the herbs:
- pumpkins
- and strawberries too. Surprising isn't it? Must be the mild and sunny weather we're having this October.
And here's a flower I particularly proud of as it's been grown from seed. I've never grown this one before but will grow it again as the flowers and leaves are very pretty. It's called Cerinthe and its leaves are in reality much more blueish than shown here.
But also flowering are:
- violets and pansies (purple, white and yellow)
- petunias (pink and purple)
- balsam (white, pink and deep pink)
- forget-me-not (pink), yes, pretty weird that
- centranthus (pink)
- cymbalaria muralis (lilac and yellow)
- catnip (white)
A few weeks ago I cleared a bed full of nasturtiums in my kitchen garden and had thrown them in one of my compost bins. If you look carefully at the pic above you'll see that they are still flowering in there as one flower is peeking from underneath the lid. On the lid is a pretty feline girl from the neighbourhood. She and Macavity take turns in sunbathing on my compost bins. The nasturtiums are not only flourishing in the compost bin but also in a kitchen garden bed, together with the last of the marigolds.
As you've seen Macavity was not sunbathing on the compost bin today but he is enjoying the sun while he still can. He simply moved next door to the new flower border I'm busy creating. The hedge on the right separates my kitchen garden from the new flower bed.
Here's a close up of the Dahlias that are still going strong in the new border. Pretty aren't they and they've got purple foliage as well. What more could a gardener ask for?
But it's not only Macavity that feels right at home in the new border, butterflies enjoy it too and so does the Verbena bonariensis that grows there like mad.
Soon I'll be putting new plants in my pots for the winter season. Normally I would have done so by now, but I find it hard to discard plants that have been flowering for so long and are still putting up a good show at the end of the season.
This one will be going into my Victorian greenhouse soon for overwintering so that it can flower again net year.
My Salvias Oxford blue and Cambridge blue are also still in flower, as is the blue Lobelia. The Salvias will also overwinter in the greenhouse, just as my Pelargoniums that still flower now in pink and white. The cyclamen will go into the livingroom soon.
The Japanese Anemones have almost finished flowering. The double pink ones still have quiet a few flowers left, the white are almost done now.
My black Hollyhock is down to its last flower. I hope it will self seed itself and gladden my heart with lovely blooms in the years to come.
On my patio are many pots and in one of them a Camelia is growing. She is almost ready to flower as you can see here.
The south borders are still a riot of colour as the pic below shows.
The stars of this late flower show are:
- Gaura (white)
- Sedum (deep pink)
- Phloxes (pink and purple)
- Centranthus (pink)
- Lavatera (pink)
- Cosmea (pink)
- Scabiosa (burgundy)
- Geranium (pink)
- Ipomea (double, burgundy)
- Verbena bonariensis (purple)
- Polygonium (hot pink)
- Eupatorium (pink)
- french Lavender (purple)
- Heuchera (white and pink)
- yellow Wallflowers (very out of season)
- Japanese Anemones (pink, double)
- Hollyhocks (black)
- Spirea (pink and white)
As I started this post with roses I will end it with roses too. Here's my Rosa Calypso.
While I wrote this post I was eating an organically grown apple and drinking organic orangejuice. :-)
copyright 2007: Y.E.W. Heuzen

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