The Summer wrap-up...

Summers in Minnesota… beautiful & green… lots of birds & other critters… lovely weather (most of the time)… so its sad to have it come to an end…

Being so far North our Summer pretty much is done by Labor Day, I know that "technically" its not Fall for a few more weeks, but here in the North the leaves are already starting to change color & fall to the ground…

Some trees that are already looking like Fall in a park down the street.

I saw these colorful trees while out on a walk… I had been a bit discouraged with my yard lately… felt like I was fighting things a bit - you wouldn't have wanted to hear what I said to my Tomatillos, they've been attacking their neighbors & I've been trying to push them back… So off for a walk I went, I had an errand to run that was within walking distance & figured the exercise would help me work out my frustrations.  But it wasn't the exercise that did the job this time, it was seeing other gardens & our local park… they were very dry & looking pretty bad (we've had a very dry season)… by the time I got home my yard looked lush & colorful & beautiful!!

Things here grow quickly, and go quickly… it seems sometimes like summer is a mad dash to cram in as much as possible into the short season before things start to cool down.  As for my gardens… many things are still blooming, but they're slowing down.  Leaves on many plants are starting to turn color…

I had pulled all the dead & yellow leaves off this Day Lily about a week ago… I'm done fighting these & will let them finish on their own...

I had also pulled dead leaves out of my Hostas, they sure look a lot better now!!

This Royal Cape Plumbago has bloomed beautifully all season… if she doesn't come back (and I don't expect her too) I'll likely be getting another next year…. love the blue bloom clusters!!

This Hydrangea that I almost killed as a house plant waiting for things outside to warm up last Spring has finally shown me she's in the garden to stay… I'm so happy about this, she's a little beauty I look forward to enjoying for years to come...

Every time I think a Phlox has finished blooming it surprises me & blooms again...

This Obedient Plant has put up a new very tall spike of flowers & continues to bloom…  way to go Miss Manners!!

Another Phlox...

My new Echinacea is showing she's happy in the garden… keep growing Sombrero Sandy!!

A new bloom cluster on my newest Bee Balm...

A very large bloom cluster on one of my Beardtongue...

Same plant has another bloom cluster starting...

…and at least one more after that!!

Another Phlox putting out more bloom clusters...

And another Phlox...

My White Aster is popping!!

My Purple Aster is getting ready to pop!!

My Tomatillo plants (the ones I said nasty things too) are taller than me & producing fruit - but none ready to eat yet, my Tomato plants have lots of green tomatoes, my Bell Peppers have just put on blooms (they were really slow)… these all should last long enough to give their fruit - but I'll likely have to cover them to protect them from freezing before they're done.  I really need to find a way to get these started sooner, or give up on doing things from seed….

Tomatillo blooms & fruit...

Roma tomatoes… can't wait!!

Bell Peppers just starting to bloom… come on guys!!

My Decorative Grasses are blooming like crazy, these blooms will open up further before Winter hits and be fluffy until Spring.

I picked up some cute Mums for the front steps… these will keep blooming into Fall & add a bit more living & growing fall color to my yard…

There will be posts continuing as long as there are interesting things to post about the plants… but once the Sn*w flies (sorry about the 4-letter word) this blog will likely go cold… that is until Spring… but you can always check out my other blogs to see what else I'm up to - see the side bar.