Sunday, September 16, 2012

The Neverending Story...

Just when I think my garden has given up for the season it surprises me and keeps going… and there are signs that it may keep going for a while… this makes me smile!!


Yes!!  A few days ago my Pink Aster finally started opening up her blooms!!


This is from today, she's continuing to open up more blooms each day… I love this!!


Her cousin, the Purple Aster, has lots of blooms now… the Bees sure love the Asters!!


My Bell Peppers have babies… not sure if these will get the chance to grow up into actual edible peppers, but I hope so!!


My Roma Tomatoes have started turning red… Can't Wait!!


I took a chance and picked a few Tomatillos...


This one looked like it might be ready (I've never grown them before)...


I had a few of these in some soup I made today, they were definitely ready to be eaten :)


This massive guy is a Beefeater Tomato, this picture was from a few days ago...


I felt him today, he's ripe (despite a tiny bit of remaining green), so I picked him… he's about 7" across on his longest axis… I said he was massive!!


My Echinacea is continuing to put out new blooms...


My Sedum is getting to be a nice deep pink this year… the Bees love this guy too!!


This Phlox is telling me she's not nearly ready to stop blooming...


This Phlox agreed with her cousin… just look at all those blooms getting ready to pop!!


I've successfully gotten a couple Kalanchoe cuttings to take, they've been moved into the house now.


Some Pelargonium cuttings that also seem to be doing well, these were moved into the house.


Finally, I decided to let my Basil come in & see if I can't keep her going inside… she's doing so well I just couldn't leave her outside to die from cold exposure!!

In other garden news… I've made a bit more progress with my brick edging, but not much, I keep forgetting how busy my life gets in Fall… I'm hoping to get most of the edging done before the sky falls (you know, the white stuff) but won't be surprised if I'm still at it next year… its a Neverending Story!!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Pops & Chirps...

I said I'd keep posting as long as there's interesting things to post… and there are… here's a brief update...

Some annuals that continue to please with blooms….




1 Nuthatch at the feeder...


2 Woodpeckers going after the Suet...



3 Aster cousins at various stages of blooming...




4 Phloxy ladies showing off their colors late in the season...





That's what's popping & chirping in my garden…

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Late Bloomers!!

To my surprise & delight my first Purple Aster blooms opened today...


This was one of the plants nibbled all the way to the ground by the Bunnies earlier this year (now its about a foot in diameter and very full)… and she's opened her first blooms!!

My Sedum is also blooming, this one blooms so late that a couple years she's not opened at all, so she's a bit early this year, her pale red/pink blooms are so unusual, but then she's a bit of an unusual plant in the yard as it is...


As you can tell from the shot below she's a favorite of some of our local wasps & bees… she was covered with at least a dozen honey bees, plus there was at least 1 wasp and 1 bumble bee as well...


Last year she even had some Frogs hanging out on her blooms… probably too dry this year…

Monday, September 3, 2012

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.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Engaging the Enemy!!

I'm at War!!

Here in Minnesota we have these somewhat innocuous bugs called Box Elder Bugs, they don't bite or sting or anything… but I get them in such huge quantity (thanks to the woods which have Box Elder Trees) that they end up getting in the house (ugh!), at times dropping onto the dining room table during a meal (yuck!)… I get them by the millions (not an exaggeration) & they have at times latched onto & killed plants trying to come back in Spring (I lost a couple this year)….

Ok, now perhaps you understand why I'm at War…  I've been on a murdering rampage, with spray bottle of dish soap & water in hand (kills the bugs not the plants) for about a week now, with hardly a dent… so today I got out the big artillery - an Ortho "Dial N Spray" with some dish soap hooked to my hose.  I sprayed all the gardens, the two sides of the house where the enemy had been spotted, etc… I even sprayed a Box Elder Tree that is near my deck…

A couple hours later, I ventured outside, and there are still some living… sigh… the war will continue…

In the mean time…


I saw this little winged beauty as I was walking around a local garden center… but she wasn't for sale so I didn't get to take her home… isn't she just a gorgeous redhead!!

Scabiosa - Butterfly Blue

A new Perennial for my yard, in an area that is predominantly in the purple & gold tones (I inherited it that way)… I think the original gardener may have been going for Minnesota Vikings colors...

Echinacea - Sombrero Sandy
Another new Perennial & my first Coneflower… hope she likes her spot on the Mound!!

Here's hoping that there is Peace in your gardens, and that Peace will return to my gardens quickly!!

Friday, August 17, 2012

What's a Gardener to do?

I have recently moved a bunch of plants out of this section of the garden into more permanent locaitons (Perennials)... this is the area that I was using to try out some new plants... this is also the "boggy" spot in the garden...

Not to worry... I transplanted the Phlox in the corner as well...
So I was off again to my local garden store to find something temporary to put here for the remainder of the growing season... Seeing that its a boggy spot it would have been ideal for Cucumbers, but it was too late in the year to get any, so I settled for some pretty color that should last until the snow flies (I know, I used the "S" word, bad me)...


Two nice Ornamental Peppers (not for consumption), and two colorful Celosia...


I think they look nice here... they certainly improve the look of this spot!!