Leaves, Freeze, and Eye Pleasing

I have been waiting patiently this year for our trees to be at their peak color in order to photograph them to share with you and as part of Dave's Garden Blogger's Fall Color Project.

Of course, you never know when peak is, until it is past. Add to that the fact that I don't think our trees are in top color form this year, I think due to the extremely dry conditions for the past several months, and you have me waiting and waiting for the event that is not coming. I have been taking pictures over a couple of days and have not thought them to be as stunning as in past years (the leaves OR the pictures).

I also took some pictures this morning after a very hard frost and maybe a few snowflakes ?!? The lighting has helped make the leaves seem on fire but they are falling fast now. You could just hear them crinkling against one another as they drift to the ground. The maple closest to the house, which is always last to turn and drop, is still holding tightly to her leaves, but the other maples are shedding them quickly, as if the last couple of cold days have convinced them it is time to call it quits for the year and go into winter mode NOW.

So, here are some photos from around our house taken within this past week. Enjoy!














Finally, this Mum just starting to bloom added a nice surprise to my brisk morning walk.

Lacy Flowers

I have been thinking about Queen Anne's Lace lately, because it is blooming profusely here right now and it has always been a favorite of mine. When I was a child, it grew along our lane and we would pick it and put it in a glass of water with a couple drops of food coloring and the flower would change colors. This of course, was great fun. Besides that, it is such a pretty, delicate flower and the name is so fancy sounding.




When I was wondering through the garden the other day, I was noticing how lacy the Cilantro / coriander was looking. It's flowers reminded me of Queen Anne's Lace. The first year I tried to grow cilantro in the garden I thought it was a waste. The plant I had bought went to seed almost immediately and never got thick with leaves. Well, was I wrong. Every year since then I have had a whole section of cilantro the comes back from self-seeding. In the spring there are plenty of leaves for picking. And when you just walk by this area and you can smell the fresh cilantro. It's delicious.




And then there is the dill. I've posted this photo before but I like it so much I am going to post it again. It reminds me of fireworks. I can't wait for the dill seeds to form because I like to collect them to use in the kitchen. And if I ever get any green beans, maybe I'll make some dilly beans and use the dill heads in the canning jars.




What lacy flowers are growing in your garden ?

Garden Blogger Bloom Day - July 2008

GBBD snuck up on me this month. I can't believe we're at the 15th already. The summer is really zooming by and I'm still waiting for a red tomato.

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Blogger Bloom Day. Be sure to stop by her site and visit all the other participants.

There are lots of blooms right now, throughout the flower beds, the garden, and the yard which is quickly turning into a meadow since our mower is broken and we are still waiting on the part which will *hopefully* fix it.

These are Dahlias that I received from my Grandmother at least 10 years ago. I have to bring them in for the winter but I love them because I always think of her when I see them. You can see I still have some pansies blooming. They are still looking ok despite the heat.

I have a couple of Hosta varieties starting to bloom. This was the only one actually blooming. I don't know any of the names though.

Here you can see Balloon Flower next to Santolina.

Here is an overall view of that bed. It is mostly annuals but it is one of my favorite beds because it looks so good and is easy to maintain.

In this bed the Coneflower is raging, there is a little vining black-eyed susan, and a plant I only know as Sunspot in the back. There is also Lavender, Shasta Daisy, and Lantana which you can't see from this view.

The Black-Eyed Susan is also in that bed, on the other side of the Coneflowers. It was just starting to unfurl it's petals.

This one is hiding it's face with it's hands, getting ready to play peek-a-boo. (Can you tell I have a baby LOL!)

Over on the sunny side of the big garage, the trumpet vine is taking over. You can't tell from this picture but it is all over the roof and will be cut back later this year. Also blooming in this bed is more Coneflower, and Lamb's Ear. The Hostas in this bed have been considerably munched by the deer so no blooms yet.

I have many blooms in the herb and vegetable garden, but I'll just post this one of the Dill, since it's July and to me this looks like Fireworks exploding. Also blooming in the herb garden: Golden Thyme, English Thyme, Wooly Thyme, Cilantro/Coriander, Basil, Irish Moss (not for eating, just for looking at), and the Oregano is just about to bloom. Also in the garden blooming are many squash and melons, the beans (despite the lack of many leaves), tomatoes (I may have a good crop this year), eggplants, tomatillos, peppers, onion heads, and the volunteer cucumber.

Throughout the yard/meadow are many wildflowers including Butterfly Weed, little Daisys, and Queen Anne's Lace.

Lastly, I must post my monthly picture of Lillian. She is always happy to go about the garden and likes to examine flowers in very close detail before she shreds them.

Happy Bloom Day! I hope your garden is buzzing with blooms and beauty!

Help - What is this ?

I am appealing to you for help with identifying this squash like thing. On my garden diagram I have it listed as Patty Pan Squash but it doesn't look like what I think of patty pan squash to be. Maybe because of the color, this is very white and the patty pans I grew in the past were more pale green. Because the shape looks similar to what I think it could be. I am trying to decide if it's ready to be picked and if it can indeed be eaten. I may have to pick one and experiment. Since I have it labeled on my chart I must have bought it this year because the mystery volunteer plants I transplanted from other parts of the garden are labeled as such and are definitely more vining (probably gourds or pumpkins). This plant is more bushy, like a zucchini. Please comment with your thoughts and ideas. I thank you in advance.



I am also posting this picture of flowering onion heads just because I like it. It makes me think of outer space - each round flowering head being an enclosed orb space station where a whole community of people could live.


And here is a picture of those evil deer creatures. In this photo they are far from the house and the little ones are looking deceptively cute. But beware, they have been known to cause much crying, wailing and cursing!

Hummingbird Takes a Drink!

I was going to call this Hummingbird Captured on Film! But I couldn't because it was taken with a digital camera and Hummingbird Captured on ? what do you even say, I don't know.

Anyway, my Husband was very patient and he snapped this photo with our little digital camera, not even a digital SLR. I think it turned out pretty darn good and I wanted to post it to share with everyone.

Meanwhile, at the oriole feeder, there hasn't been much activity except for the ants. I think I put the feeders out a little late this year so next year I will start earlier.

Coffee Blooms

Being that it is too wet to even walk in the swamp I call a vegetable garden, and the flower beds are pretty soaked as well, today I will write about one of our potted plants and our first coffee flowers. It's so very exciting. I didn't even think this plant would ever bloom, but would just be a nice foliage houseplant.

Let me introduce you to our coffee plant, formal name "Coffea arabica". We bought this plant at a local home store several years ago. At that time it was small enough that planted would fit very nicely into a styrofoam coffee cup. But how quickly it's grown. It doesn't like direct sunlight, especially outside. Some years we don't even bring it out in the summer, because even the slightest bit of direct sun causes the leaves to burn (as they are here) - and it's barely in the sun, just the tiniest bit of morning sun which can't be avoided as we don't have an awning over our deck.

The other morning John came to get me to show me something on the deck. Surprise! Flowers on the coffee plant. The flowers only last a couple of days and are lightly scented. I can't wait to see if we will get some beans, although I'm sure not enough for a cup of coffee.

Finished Planting - Finally !

Finally, I am finished planting. I thought I was finished a couple of days ago, then John reminded me that there was still one plant sitting on the sidewalk, still needing a home. And this morning, I found a spot for it. So now I am done.

I did a lot of planting the other day when I thought I was finishing up. But I actually didn't start out planting. I started out cleaning seashells. Yes, you read correctly, seashells. Almost two years ago now, we had gone on vacation to the North Carolina coast and took a day trip down to South Carolina where we went on a boat tour which included some shelling. Well John collected the mother lode of conch shells - which have been sitting in our basement, seemingly forgotten. But really not forgotten, I just hadn't figured out what to do with them. So I cleaned them up and now I have a little seashell garden area. They are where I can see them every day and remember what a great time we had on that trip.


Since I had cleaned up the flower bed to add the shells, I thought I might as well put those two remaining flowers in this bed as well, since there was room. I was going to just put them in pots to have on the deck but this is just as well. And hopefully they won't dry out as quickly as they would in pots.

Then I thought the only thing I had remaining was a monster of a Bleeding Heart that John's parents had dug out of their garden beds (the bed was overcrowded with it). Of course since I love Bleeding Heart we had to take it. I had actually been wanting to get a Bleeding Heart. Trying to find the right spot for this large specimen was the challenge. We decided to put half of it next to the Hellebore, where an azalea which didn't make it left a empty spot. The other, larger portion of the Bleeding Heart was to go where a Peony just wasn't performing. But that meant moving the Peony first. Which meant enlarging the Peony bed. You see, if it was just a matter of digging a hole, it would have been planted right away.

Well, I managed to get all that done, take pictures as I planned to post I was finished planting. It was then John informed me that there was still one lone plant on the sidewalk. But now, I can say, everything is planted.

Here is the Bleeding Heart, taking over the Peony's space.
And here is the Peony with the others, hopefully it will be happy here.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - June 2008

Many thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day again.

As I was walking around taking pictures yesterday, I was noticing how much work is to be done in my various beds. Not just in pulling weeds, but in moving plants around to areas which would better suit them and to fill in empty spots where plants didn't make it from years past. It was a bit overwhelming. But as it was pretty rainy yesterday, I didn't really have a chance to do much of anything.

But the big tragedy happened overnight. It was such a travesty, I actually cried for about 10 minutes this morning. Ok, maybe 15 minutes. Long enough that it woke up the sleeping baby and then she was crying too. The bloody deer had wrecked havoc on the vegetable garden. All of the sweet potato plants were eaten down, the rosemary plant was not eaten, but had been crushed, the lettuce was munched on, and the peas, my beautiful peas, which I was going to pick today had been chomped down and at first glance it looked like there were no peas left for us. Once the crying stopped, I was able to salvage some peas that they had missed.

So the majority of the day was spent in trying to make the area unwelcome to the deer. But today is Bloom day so enough of this grousing and onto some beauty.

Here are the Red Hot Pokers. Blooming very nice.

And here is some Blue Salvia (I think). It's been a few years since it's been planted.

Here is a close up of the yarrow.

Here is the clematis area, you can see two different types blooming. You can see lots of Lamb's Ear as well. It seems that once you have Lamb's Ear in one place, you have it everywhere. Which is where I have it.

This is the same bed and you can see the Cone Flower is just starting to bloom. I have some other Cone Flowers not yet blooming. I don't know why this one blooms earlier, I think they are all the same variety. And you can see more Lamb's Ear.
Here in the herb garden, guarded by the Gnomes, is the English Thyme and the Woolly Thyme.
This is a bed in the front. The Mock Orange is blooming very nice, as is a pink rose and some Shasta Daisies. Although the picture doesn't show them very well.

Over to the Shade Garden area, the Spiderwort and Lanium are making a showing. Around to the Annual Bed which is finally all planted. The boxes have pansies and bed has many various favorites My Husband and I can't resist each year at the nurseries. Of special note this year is a Eucalyptus plant.
And here is a view from the other side with the marigolds making their showing.
And the rambling red rose and honeysuckle are just a buzz with bees.
And finally, my most precious bloom - my Lillian.

Of final note about the deer. I hope to post a full report of my battle against them. But I did sprinkle all plants I thought might get munched with cayenne pepper. So they will get a mouthful if they try to defeat me tonight.

Queen Rose

Roses are blooming. I have to admit that my rose garden is not what it should be. Part of the problem is it is not in the right place. Where it is doesn't get enough sun and tends to be too wet. So the tea roses I have there don't tend to thrive. But I do get some nice blooms, I just know it could be better. And I would like to expand my rose collection but that isn't going to happen until we find a new place for the roses.

Here are two of the tea roses that are now blooming. We just had a nice morning rain and you can still see the raindrops on the blooms.

Here is a beautiful red rose that I can't take credit for planting (it was here when we bought the place), but my husband does keep it pruned so that it blooms so nice each year. In fact, he does the pruning on all the roses, so their beauty is largely due to his work on them. Back to the red rose - it's not with the tea roses but underneath a large honeysuckle plant that is just starting to bloom - it smells really nice over there.

And here is my unexpected rose. I was looking out from our family room and noticed a flower in the treed area between our house and our neighbors. It's not really an area that we cultivate, so when I saw something blooming bright there I had to investigate. It looks like a wild rose, I don't know how it got there and I don't remember it from previous years but I'll enjoy it just the same.