Say Hello to Fall Blooms at Rotary Botanical Gardens!

The fall blooms at Rotary Botanical Gardens are popping and they are gorgeous. Right now the garden is showing off Asters, Chrysanthemums, Japanese Anemone, Colchicum, and Sweet Autumn Clematis, with Monkshood budding and ready to join the show soon. These are the perennials that will carry us through to the end of the season, so it's a great time to get out and see them before they fade.

• 

• 

Colchicum

The first thing you'll notice when you visit is what looks like a crocus popping up everywhere. That's Colchicum, also known as autumn crocus or meadow saffron. It's a striking bright lavender and blooms with no leaves, seeming to appear almost overnight and carpet the gardens. Despite the name, it's not related to the saffron crocus at all. It belongs to its own family, Colchicaceae, and tends to be much larger than either a spring or true fall crocus. You won't forget the color once you see it. It's also toxic, so deer leave it alone.

Japanese Anemone

Look for Japanese Anemone throughout our woodland areas, including the pink Pamina and Falling In Love Sweetly varieties and the white Honorine Jobert

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

These elegant, late-blooming perennials tend to emerge just as other perennials are starting to fade, making them a real lifesaver for bees late in the season.

Sweet Autumn Clematis

Clematis ternifolia, or Sweet Autumn Clematis, is a member of the buttercup family covered in tiny, white star-shaped blooms. You'll find the vines climbing over fences and up the pillars in the Rose and Japanese Gardens, forming a cloud of white blossoms. Once the flowers fade, they leave behind fluffy seed heads that are just as lovely to see. This vine is a fast grower too, capable of climbing up to 20 feet in a single year.

Coming soon: Monkshood

Keep an eye out for Monkshood, which is budding now and should be blooming soon. It's one more reason to plan another visit before the season winds down.

Come see these fall blooms for yourself before they're gone. Rotary Botanical Gardens is located at 1455 Palmer Drive, Janesville, WI 53545, and more information is available at https://rotarybotanicalgardens.org.

A special thank you to Melissa Lauer and the Bloom Report Team for making this report possible. Melissa and team are tracking what's blooming across the gardens all year long, and keeping that record up to date is a huge task. We're grateful for the work that goes into helping our visitors know exactly what to look for on every trip to RBG.