New Wheels

Labor Day weekend I went to a flea market and came home with this great old trike. I was excited to find it has I'd been searching for one just like this for a couple of years. It's old enough to be cool, but not so old that I couldn't afford to buy it. It sorta reminds me of the one I had as a kid. It fits right in with the rest of my rusty junk.

I've been cleaning out the flower beds so there's now room to display my trike in the center bed, where I can see if from the kitchen window. I think it will be a nice feature in the winter garden. As you can see in the above photo, the asters are still blooming. This is because I cut them back mid August and it's taken them this long to recover.

The lavenders are blooming with the asters. The poor things struggled all summer with the cooler and wetter than normal conditions. But they seem to be recovering somewhat now that we've dried out.

I'm really dreading winter.

But without winter's dreary

days, would we appreciate

spring?

Autumn Fire

Like I mentioned before, autumn is not my favorite season. But I have to admit that I love the fall foliage since orange, gold and yellow are probably my favorite colors. Red is not a favorite color but I have to share these photos of the Burning Bushes that are currently ablaze in my front yard. The above photo was taken one week ago. The color wasn't as intense as it is now.

Here's a photo of one of the bushes next to the porch. I took this one yesterday.

And here's a photo of the three BB's growing next to the sidewalk. I planted these shrubs about 15 years ago. I don't recall them ever being this beautiful.

This is my dog, Bijou. She wanted to pose next to the pretty fall leaves. If you bigify the photo, you can just make out my other dog, Banjo, looking out the window.

Summer Is Over

I hate that the warm weather and long days have come to an end. I am not a cold weather person and the older I get, the less I like winter. I mean I really HATE winter. The cold I can kinda deal with, but I detest the short days and long dreary nights. And the snow and ice, just makes it all more unbearable!

A mob of butterflies, bees and wasps have been visiting this goldenrod for the past month, working to store up food for the winter. I have been expecting the dogs to get stung any day now.

A Few Blooms

The Asters are beginning to bloom.

Butterfly on Goldenrod.

The pink Honeysuckle is blooming again!

Late Summer Update

Wow It's been a month since my last post! I've really enjoyed this very pleasant summer. The past few months have just flown by. We have had more rain and much cooler temps than normal so the yard looks like a jungle right now. It rained last evening and again this morning so I went out and took some photos of the wet garden.

This rue plant is covered in caterpillars which will become Giant Swallowtail butterflies.

Giant Swallowtail

I love this lime green Creeping Jenny. It is growing in an old, shell-shaped fountain basin, which was starting to fall apart, so I sat it on the ground.

The weather this year has been to cool and wet for the lavender.

It's amazing how these tight Honeysuckle buds will open up to reveal this...

The cool rain has brought on these late summer blooms.

The Russian Sage and Black-eyed Susans have been blooming for weeks.

And this barrel is overflowing with shade loving Impatiens.

The state flower of Nebraska is the Goldenrod. This version is called, 'Wichita Mountains'. It is a large plant and has just begun to bloom. I will get a picture of it in it's glory in a week or so.

A closer look at the Goldenrod flower.

Pond Update

The pond water has remained crystal clear with the bio-filter going. I have added a bubble fountain as I missed the sound of the water movement. The above ground filter is just to quiet.

The water lettuce is multiplying quickly. It needs thinned out at least once a week or the entire pond would be covered.

I finally saw a frog a few weeks ago. The fish are doing great too.

Mystery Plant Identified !

I finally found the label for this mystery plant. It is Helenium 'Mardi Gras' . Commonly known as, "Helen's Flower" or "Sneezeweed". I love this plant. The flowers are unusually shaped and the colors are bold and really stand out in the garden. I have saved seed and tried to increase the plantings with no luck. I bought this plant over two years ago and have not seen it in any of the local nurseries since. Darn it!

Mid-summer Update

It's been a few weeks since my last post. It has turned warm and muggy but we are still getting enough rain to keep everything green. The beds are looking good and the vinca barrels are finally starting to grow now that it has warmed up. We got a hard rain about 3am and the clouds are still hanging around this afternoon. I took advantage of the soft light to get these photos.

A honey bee on orange flower.

Lavender Clematis

This urn of lime green Coleus has gone nuts.

I gotta find the tag for these colorful flowers. I want more!

A double Balloon Flower

Lavender Phlox

Yellow Rose Moss

The pond water is now clear enough to see fish on the bottom!

The Fish Pond

The past two summers I have really struggled to keep the pond water clear. The problem began right after I enlarged the pond by a couple of feet in the spring of 07. I've always had crystal clear water before, so looking at this pea green soup was extremely frustrating. The water was so murky, the fish could only be seen when they came up to eat. I finally gave in a few weeks ago and made a larger, above ground filter. I also added some water lettuce to help shade the water from the sun. In addition, I have begun using a chemical product that kills the algae but is safe for fish and plants.

This is what my pond looks like today.

The plants have been beaten by hail three times, so they are looking a bit rough. The fish are all doing well, despite the stressful water conditions. But I have not had a single frog this year. I removed about a dozen small frogs last fall, taking them to a nearby lake, as they will not survive the winter in my pond. This spring I watched and waited for the frogs to return, but they never came. I miss them.

An Overdue Update

This evening I went out to the flower beds to take photos of my bloomers. Not those kinda bloomers!

White daylily.

Pink and yellow asiatic lily.

The pink phlox survived the nasty bug infestation.

Another mystery flower. Anyone know what this is?

Moonbeam coreopsis.

Kiwi vine.

Grape daylilies.

Gooseneck Loosestrife. A rare plant I think.

A flock of geese!

Gooseneck up close.

Goldenrod. Which always blooms in June for me.

Gloriosa daisy in all it's glory.

Balloon flower.