Slowing Down

10/9/14

goldenrod Fireworks

     It is definitely fall here, with temps in the high 30's two nights last week.  We had to turn the heat on.  By next week, I'll get out the winter blankets.  But fall is generally nice here in northern Virginia with warm, sunny days.  The leaves are just starting to turn on the trees.  I did some cleaning out of my side garden.  I took out all the fading zinnias that were only supposed to get two feet tall, but ended up being four feet tall.  Now the goldenrod fireworks bush is finally visible.  There are still a few late blooms in the side garden.  Here are a few photos of what is still blooming.

The side garden is looking kind of bare with the zinnias gone, but you can see the goldenrod bush now.

 

 

 

The marigolds are doing well.

There is one late bloom among the stand of black-eyed Susans.

A few short blooms are still appearing on the buddleia bush.

After pruning all the dead branches on the midnight salvia, it produced a few flower stalks.

In an out-of-the-way dark corner in the back yard a lonely hosta just flowered.  I rarely go back to this corner.  I planted this hosta in this bare space in the spring and promptly forgot about it.

The grass is full of black walnut fruit that has fallen from the black walnut tree in the back yard.

In the garden surrounding the electric box the milkweed pods have opened.

Some of the seeds from the milkweed pods have been blown into the scotch broom bush nearby.

The deer are intensely foraging now and have eaten some stems off my jumbo begonias that line the front of the house.  They never bother them until October.

     Fall is nice here, and it can be warm until mid-November.  The one thing I really miss is the birdsong of summer.  I don't know a lot about birds, but yesterday when I was walking the dog, we passed a tree where a bird was trilling away for the longest time.  It was the first time I hear extended birdsong since August.  It made my day.  I decided I was going to put a clear bird feeder up against my kitchen window, so I could see birds close up this winter, and hopefully learn a lot more about them.

Summer Turns To Fall

9/21/14

mums in side yard garden

     Fall has arrived here.  After being in the 90's the first week of September, the temps in the last two weeks have been below normal.  We've been down in the 40's at night.  But on this last weekend of summer, summer weather returned.  It is supposed to hit 90 today.  Fall is beautiful here with warm, dry, sunny days.  I planted some mums in the side yard garden to replace flowers that are no longer blooming.  But there is still blooming going on in most of the yard.

The lavender is still blooming in the side yard garden.

The glossy abelia bush is loaded with blossoms

My goldenrod (Solidago rugosa) Fireworks just flowered last week.

In the electrical garden, surrounding the electrical box, the milkweed plants are full of milkweed bug beetles.

The coleus in my deck pot is full of blooms.

Since I cleaned out a lot of the cosmos from the garden, the Japanese anemones are much more visible.

A photo of one of two annual vinca (Caranthus roseus) plants that reseeded from last year.

The pink dogwood tree is full of red berries that the birds love.

The loriope plants have lots of purple blooms.

The back yard garden

 
     The back yard garden that surrounds the patio is lush and full of flowers and plants.  I wish it could stay this way all year.  At the first frost all this will be gone.  Sigh.