Day By Day: August 2014

Last of Summer Blooms

8/17/14

crepe myrtle

While we were gone on vacation, there was a lot of activity in the garden and yard. The crepe myrtle tree bloomed just as we left. The side and back yard gardens are lush with blooms. Here are photos of blooms in the side garden.

black-eyed susan

The rudbeckia, or black-eyed susan flowers, are doing well despite being eaten after emerging.

butterfly bush

The butterfly bush has filled out nicely after suffering severe winter damage.

zinnias

The zinnias, one of my favorite flowers, are gorgeous. I plant seeds every year so I can have fresh cut flowers in the house.

cosmos

In the back garden, the cosmos that reseeded have taken over about a quarter of the garden.

vinca

Some vinca from last summer that also reseeded showed up in a few places.

loriope

Some of my loriope plants have started to flower.

impatiens

I couldn't resist showing another photo of the beautiful standard impatiens in one of my patio pots.

The Yoshino cherry trees all over the neighborhood have lost more than half their leaves. Isn't it a little early for that? The acorns started dropping off the oaks a week ago. There is a hint of fall in the weather. We have had temps in the 50's at night and 70's and low 80's during the day for the last two weeks. And it is only mid-August. The local meteorologist said our temps have been below average 45% of the time this summer. I hope this doesn't mean we are going to have a bitterly cold winter like last year.

Vacation Highlights

8/3/14

Buffalo/Erie County Botanical Gardens

My family and I just returned from a driving vacation through New York state. I wanted to share some of the sights we saw on our trip. We stopped at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Garens. The photo above shows the Victorian conservatory opened in 1900. It was designed by Lord & Burnham, and the design was based on the famous Crystal Palace in Kew Gardens Palm House in England. It is a national historic sight and is incorporated into a Frederick Law Olmstead-designed park.

The cacti and succulent collection (which I will detail in another post) was my favorite among all the collections at the botanical gardens, which included palms, ivy, bonsai, medicinal plants, orchids, tropical plants, epiphytes, ancient rainforest plants, a rose garden, a shrub and perennial garden, and a children's garden.

A Penwiper plant, part of the succulent collection.

We visited the Corning Glass Museum, where they have items from at least 400 BC to today. I did not realize there were so many kinds of glass: painted glass, etched glass, stained glass, and more. We saw plates, bowls, glasses, windows, tables, chandeliers, paperweights, eyeglasses, jewelry, sculptures, bottles, vases and much more all made out of glass.