September in my garden

Okay, so technically it is not my garden, but as far as being personally invested and especially interested in its beautification, I am. My blogging couldn't really be complete without some plant geekiness coming out on occasion. And this is one of those moments, so fair warning, the horticulturist in me is going to take a little plant ramble, no worries...this too shall pass.
I wanted to highlight a few plants for September; things that are blooming or fruiting here on the temple grounds and are making quite a show right now.
First, a quiet bloomer of a plant, a little unassuming groundcover called (it's a mouth full) Ceratostigma plumbaginoides or more commonly known as Plumbago or Leadwort. The plant is virtually unnoticed for the first six months of the year...either it is extremely unhappy in its particular locale, or it is a lazy emerger...perhaps a little of both. At any rate, when it does decide to come out, the flowers are this striking electric blue that continue to bloom long past most any other plant. This plant requires absolutely NO care and has never had a disease or insect problem. It looks best in partial shade. On the temple property it grows half hidden under a Japanese Kerria and a Loropetalum on the south hill, which helps with its need for drier, well-draining soil. When I think of this plant, I think of a September garden. And I also smile to realize the virtues of the "late bloomer".
Second, a VERY dull plant for about eight months out of the year, and then fall and cool nights and all of sudden this little shadow emerges from the corner and you remember that you did indeed plant some Ilex verticillata or Winterberry holly. This is one of those funny DECIDUOUS hollies, but in this plant's case, all the better because it puts on an amazing berry show. September is only just the beginning of its merits. I like the look of the plant even before its peak because the multi-color scheme is so fun. It reminds me of fall and apple season and all the variations of color amongst that fruit. The berries on the winterberry holly, though, are only about 1/4" long, but they swarm the branches and hang in clusters. The berries will eventually all mature to Christmas red and persist through the winter after all the leaves have fallen off. (Oh, p.s.--hollies are dioecious, meaning that male and female are separate plants, so if you see a holly with berries you are seeing the female.)
And finally, something fun and kind of crazy looking. This is the Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa), which is NOT the early spring showstopper dogwood (that is Cornus florida). This one is still very lovely, but blooms AFTER the tree has leaves, so it isn't quite as dramatic (blooming in May in Atlanta). The fruit is shown here and is what used to be the true flower (the showy white "petals" are actually just modified leaves, or bracts and are not part of the flower at all). Think of a poinsettia...it does the same thing. Anyway, after the bracts fall off, the flower, which starts out yellow and about 1/4" long, slowly expands to about 1" long and changes to a soft rosy pink. The fruit is edible, though not particularly palatable, it is very faintly sweet, but mostly just mealy, sort of the consistency of a mushy peach. We have a little chipmunk family, though, that relish these fruits. It is fun to see evidence of their feasting when I find carefully hollowed out skins scraped clean of pulp. The end...yea for September.