Archives for September 2016

Lots of colour in the September garden.

Of course, the mums.

Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate.

The Rose of Sharon  in blue, white and red.  Here’s my blue one.

Miniature roses back for another round of bloom.

Dahlias are finally  ready for cutting.

I am late on the dahlia train, but I am seeing that they are really beautiful and worth the effort.

A few calendula.

The fall crocus.  Big ugly spring leaves, then big ugly leaves dying, then a bare space where you can’t plant anything,

but this shot of colour in September makes it worth it.

And the hydrangea of course.

Colour is certainly not finished in the garden yet!

This year I grew two short rows of  Black Turtle Bean.

One package cost $4.35.

I had about two small pails of pods.  It wasn’t a great crop because of the drought this summer.

They were really dry in the pods already, but I’ll leave them on the cookie sheet to dry a bit longer.

I’ll use them this winter in soups and winter salads.

I’m not sure there is even $4.35 worth of beans here.  And with the work of planting, weeding, watering,

and getting them all out of the pods – probably not worth it cost wise.

But it’s fun to try it and have your own dried beans to eat in the winter!

 

The Polianthes tuberose is finally blooming.

Out of 6 bulbs only three have made it this far.  They are so fragrant  – I’ll cut them for the house, to enjoy inside.

The boomerang Lilac is faithfully blooming – again. Might be the third time.

Oddly, the two bridal wreath spirea shrubs are putting out a few more blooms.

I’ve never seen that before.

The water hyacinth hasn’t bloomed all summer, and now there are flowers everyday.

This is a white reblooming iris, but it needs perfect conditions before that happens.

I didn’t think that was this kind of summer, but the late rain might have been just the thing.

And there are lots of raspberries coming out yet!  So sweet and delicious.

The September weather has been so warm and summer-like, the garden still has lots to offer and enjoy.

I planted a few morning glory seeds to ramble about on the wagon wheel.

And then this happened.

The morning glory has grown right up into the curly willow.

Looks quite lovely.

And they are twining around the hostas and other ground plants too.

Morning glory gadabout.

 

 

This part of the garden is not really finished.

The path goes through it, but there is no reason to take that route.

So I have a plan.

A shady sheltered walk.  An instant woodland.  Give or take 10 years or so.

 

Out on a road trip recently, we stopped at a garden centre, looking for fall deals.

Found these three lovely begonias, which I’ll keep as houseplants this winter.

Some nice pink in this one.

They also had cannas 3/$10.  They were totally root bound and squished,  their square pots turning into diamond shapes.

I bought 3 of the beautiful striped leaves, and 3 of the plain green.

I quickly put them into bigger pots.  I pulled out some tired annuals and popped in the cannas.

One green one had to go in the garden bed, and it is blooming already!

Like it was just waiting for a home, and room to bloom.

Of course, I can keep these for next year, so I thought it was a pretty good deal!

The driveway window boxes turned out really well this summer.

I usually do red impatiens but this year I tried the fuchsia, and I like it with the purple.

This two boxes mirror each other. The purple trailing plant is Setcreasea pallida ‘Purple Heart’.

The boxes aren’t balanced quite right.  The purple heart  grew more than I expected.

I will cut it back, and overwinter it in the house.  And I’ll keep the ivy too.

The front of the house boxes weren’t that great.

I don’t care for the green foliage plant, although I grew it from seed to try it.

The centre begonia didn’t seem to ever take off.

The impatiens never filled out.  I think I didn’t water enough.

Although they were never at wilted stage, they were just too dry to flourish.

There are a couple of other little begonias in there to move indoors.

Here are the front window boxes from 2012.

Much better.  Mostly foliage.

Might have to do this again next year.