It has been a rainy weekend, but that's okay, since we had some nice weather in the last half of August. I've put in a couple of bulb orders, though there won't be a huge bulb-planting extravaganza as in previous years. I've decided to try a few more Oriental lilies, as they bloom later and will thus extend the lily season into August. Looking at the garden now, I wish I had more Echinacea for their late season color. I prefer Ruby Star and Magnus for their size and bloom shape (I hate the droopy-petal flowers on some of the other pink varieties).
Presently, I have only a few perennials blooming, including the Morden Chrysanthemum, Echinacea, Potentilla, Scabiosa, Gentiana septemfida, Geranium Rozanne, Monarda and the roses.
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| Morden Chrysanthemum |
Our fruits/vegetables have had a challenging time this year, being victim to the raids of the squirrels. Our dog keeps the ones in the back yard under control (she has eaten a few), but there are two squirrels in the front yard that have stolen all our tomatoes from the potted plants on the front deck, leaving the green tomatoes half-eaten and sitting like trophies on top our chain link fence in the back yard. They even crawled under the carefully-placed netting to steal the strawberries! I have lost patience and RLM has been out with his pellet gun, though I think it is getting rather late in the season to save many of the tomatoes.
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| Several pumpkins are ripening. This is a small pie pumpkin variety called "Field Trip". |
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| Alpine garden - with few blooms this time of year. |
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| Morden "Centennial" Rose |
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| Gentiana septemfida, a beautiful blue-flowering late season perennial. |
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| Monarda x hybrida "Bergamo", which I grew from seed this year. |
Among the indoor plants, one of my Phalaenopsis orchids has rebloomed. It did have three spikes, but I accidentally broke one off, leaving only these two stems full of flowers. I had been keeping this plant under fluorescent lights in the basement for the past year, where it grew abundant leaves and looked far too happy and coddled, so I brought it upstairs and put it by the window. It responded by blooming. Orchid blooms last for months too, so keeping a Phalaenopsis after blooming is definitely worthwhile.
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3 comments:
I so so so love your garden, and i think i need to have you tutor me:)
So nice to come across a blog in the same garden zone as mine... we northeners do have our garden challenges don't we?! LOL! Have you considered creating a little "wildlife habitat" on the outskirts of your property to help with the squirrels... you can even take some of your strawberry runners and throw them out there for the critters to pick... I haven't had any problems with the little critters in my garden, but then I have always left a little extra for them, so perhaps that's the reason, I keep them in mind... I'm looking forward to reading more posts on your blog and hopefully seeing what works or doesn't in your garden, sadly I have neglected my garden for the last four years, so next year is my year to rectify my sad state!
i would love to be able to have such a nice garden. If there was a gardening class i would go for sure. I need to learn how to pick a spot for a garden, how to make the garden, how to maintain it and i would definetly want to grow mostly things i could eat, and that would be easy to keep alive. Fruits and berries would be my first picks :)
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