I’m going to cheat just a little and do my November Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day post a bit before November 15 early. Why? Because I am really surprised by how many things in my garden are still going strong, even though here in USDA Zone 7b  USDA Zone 7a (thanks for correcting me, Scott!) we’ve now had multiple nights in a row when the thermometer dipped into the low 30s, and I frankly, I am not sure what will be happening with my flowers come mid-month. There may not be any blooms to blog at that point.

So here goes…

Here is C enjoying the yummy and really powerful anise mint aroma of my Agastache “Tutti Frutti,” which as I’ve mentioned before was slow to get going in my garden when I first planted it, but as you can see, is now in its full glory… In NOVEMBER.

This is my favorite so far of the ornamental grasses I’ve added to the garden. It’s “Morning Light Maiden Grass” (Miscanthus sinensis”), a fall/late fall bloomer. This stuff was simple and pretty all summer but now it’s getting its winter bloom on, and I just love it.

Even with the just-about-freezing nights this week, my Scarlet Sage (Salvia splendens) and pink Angelonia (Angelonia angustifolia) are still really pretty.

Both of the above are considered annuals in my USDA zone, so I know they are going to die back after the first real freeze (although I would have thought that these very near freezing nights would have already done them in.). Thus, I’ve taken cuttings of both, and will try to grow them over the winter to replant outdoors in the spring. I love both of them, and I am also very taken with the purple Angelonia (also still in bloom) that I have in another garden bed.

The pink & purple Cosmos that I planted from seed in September are now tall, willowy and beautiful. They also sway gently in the wind over the garden, and it kind of looks like the flowers are actually floating.

And yep, my little dahlias are still at it. In fact, they seem to prefer this cooler weather, and another dahlia plant that I’ve been unable to coax into flower in the last 6 months is suddenly sprouting its first buds…. in NOVEMBER

Now that winter is nigh, I’m finally allowing my annual herbs to flower & then go to seed. It’s been fun to see what each herb plant’s flowers actually look like. This is African Blue Basil, which I now know blooms in these pretty purple spires if you stop pinching the plant back.

Look! There’s a cat growing in my garden!

A glorious jumble of flowers in the bright November sun. It’s hard to believe that this was a very standard-issue front lawn until mid-July. I am so happy because this is exactly how I envisioned my garden looking when I began.

And last, but not least, here is one of my several purple flowering cabbages, flanked on either side by two heads of the melt-in-your-mouth Buttercrunch Lettuce that I have growing all over the garden this fall, amidst the flowers. Cabbage and lettuce wait all year for the weather we’re having right now, so these little guys are happy.