Monday In Bloom

On Tuesday!  I meant to prep this on Sunday night, but I was so tired.  I figured I’d do it Monday morning.  But then there was this weird thing going on in the sky so a friend and I got our kids together so we could have an “eclipse party.”  That was so fun!  And of course, there was no blogging to be had.

So here I am on Tuesday trying to catch up, on so many things!  Maybe you are too. 

It was a relatively decent afternoon when I went to take some garden pictures.  Humid, but not terribly so. 

The sky was so still, not even the flag in front of the office was moving and I thought it might rain.

Things are definitely looking peaked in the garden now.  This part of the season always makes me a bit sad, because everything’s “glory days” are over, pretty much, and I know it’s just a matter of time until the first frost.  Autumn officially starts in about a month, can you believe it?

The new watering system will work out okay, I’m thinking, once I have enough bottles.  I’m also going to need some more spikes.  Apparently I had more pots than I realized when I ordered them.  D’oh!  And then I decided to count my “long pots” as two, because I realized that the spikes wouldn’t reach from one end of the pot to the other, so I’ll put one on each end. 

I have to say, I think I’m really going to like watering this way.  Sure, filling up all the individual bottles is a bit of a pain (that’s my fault for having so many pots, lol) but having the cart sure beats the heck out of trying to carry that big watering can!  Trying to lift that heavy thing to water the pots that are high gets to be really tiring.  Plus, with the bottles, I know just how much water each pot is getting. 

Those coleus though!  Man alive, they make my “gardener’s heart” happy! 

Yellow daisies!  Oh happy day!  I love these plants, they’re so cheery!

Right now, I think the hanging baskets are doing pretty well.  They seem the least dilapidated of all the pots.

I really love that purple heart plant.  What a stunner!

Look what I found when I was taking pictures!  A late bloomer. 

Another kiss of Autumn.  I think this relationship might get serious.

And that’s how my garden bloomed this week.  How’s yours coming along?

To see all my pictures from the garden this week, you can click either the link or the image below. Thanks for looking! 2017 Garden Weekly 16 | Flickr

Monday In Bloom

 

A lovely dusk! 

I did manage to get a little bit of deadheading done.  Not a whole lot though.  It feels like I haven’t had as much time to devote to tending the garden this past week for some reason.  I’m not sure why.  And this coming week is up for grabs.  Can you believe I have a jury summons?  I don’t even have a car!  But, according to the “juror rules” transportation is not allowed as an excuse, so there you go.  I downloaded the Uber app, so I just might be trying that out this week.  I have to call in Monday morning to see if my number comes up for Monday afternoon. 

It’s been a fairly pleasant week, weather wise, so that’s been a bit of a relief.  Even one of my neighbors commented on it while I was outside putzing around.  It’s the humidity.  It hasn’t been as bad this week, and that just feels huge. 

So far things are basically holding steady at this point in the garden.  We’re about 2/3 of the way through the season.  Many plants are kind of “resting.”  Some are gearing up for a last Autumn hurrah.  In some ways, I think of this time as a sort of lull.  The Spring plants have pretty much gone to sleep, the Summer plants are holding, and the Autumn ones are barely waking up. It’s quiet.

I did manage to get rid of a big clump of crabgrass and weeds in the front patch though! 

Do you see what’s new? 

And there it is – Autumn and Summer sitting in a tree, k I s s I n g.  Do you see the turn of the leaves there near the top?

The salvia could probably do with a nice deadheading to bring on a nice Autumn bloom, but I love the flowers so much I hate to cut them all off just yet!

I sure do love that coleus!  It has added SO much to my garden the last couple of years! 

I bet you can see the new thing now!  lol  My husband, tired of watching me lug my big watering can through several trips in and out every couple of days, went searching for a better watering option for me.  He discovered these slow release watering systems and ordered me up a bunch of them.  So far, I only had enough bottles for a few pots, but it shouldn’t take too long to collect the rest, considering the way we go through the “fruity water,” as we call it.  I know what you’re thinking.  Carrying all those bottles back and forth will be just like lugging a watering can!  But guess what?  He got me an awesome little wheeled cart for exactly that purpose, lol.  I’ll be able to collect the empty bottles in the cart, wheel it in, fill them all up, and then wheel them back out to put back in the pots.  Is that super cool or what? 
 

At least the speedwell seems happy!  It’s starting to really bush out!  Clearly it’s an Autumn lover. 

And that’s how my garden is growing this week.  How’s yours coming along? 

To see all my pictures from the garden this week, you can click either the link or the image below. Thanks for looking!  2017 Garden Weekly 15 | Flickr

Monday In Bloom

It wasn’t unpleasant when I went out to take pictures, but it was a bit on the muggy side.  The mosquitos were on the happy side, haha!  We’ve had a lot of rain in the last week or so – several big storms that just drenched everything.  They were much needed rains.  Even though we had some serious flooding here in our town last month, it’s still not good to go too long without rain. 

The storms blew so hard, my poor Shepherd’s hook is definitely listing!  lol  I have nothing I can tie it to. 

And the lilies are done, except for a stray bloom or two.  They’ll get divided this Autumn, and some will go to my friend’s home. 

At least the pots are hanging in there!  The rest of the pansies are gone, but the yellow daisies are doing pretty well, enjoying a second bloom. 

The coleus are thriving, and the dusty miller are doing pretty well, too.  The sweet alyssum is thinning out but still doing okay.

Can you see the moon?  It wasn’t so faint in real life.

Yay for snapdragons!  Their hardy little souls add just a bright spot of color in the garden!

The salvia, also, are still doing pretty well. 

Reliable marigolds.  They seem to just adore this time of year and this kind of weather.

You can see some of the thinning spots in the sweet alyssum here.  It still looks nice, but you can tell it’s dying off, albeit slowly.

Happy coleus. 

Right now, I think these may be the most abundant flower in the garden.

I think this icicles plant may be trying to come back after being stripped nearly bare by some butterfly caterpillars.

The purple heart plant seems to be thriving too, as does the asparagus fern.  The purple heart has some little pink flowers in it and I tried to get a close up shot but it turned out too blurry, lol. 

The surviving pansy.  Too high up for Morticia Rabbit, and the spiders didn’t find it to web it to death.

Such is my garden this week.  How’s yours coming along?

To see all my pictures from the garden this week, you can click either the link or the image below. Thanks for looking! 2017 Garden Weekly 14 | Flickr