Fall Blooms

Sarah (my 13 yr old) took this through her glasses

 It is a beautiful time of year. The air is cooling off but the sun is still warm. The summer blooms are disappearing and the last bit of color with the fall flowers are providing the last good show before winter.  I love this time of year because when I go out to walk through the garden the hummingbirds buzz by and the butterflies and bees are busy getting that last big pollination.

Even the frogs are preparing to hibernate deep down in the pond. It is actually a funny story. I left this pond to it's own devices. I stopped cleaning it and took out the pump and figured I would clean it out this winter. However, I started seeing these cute BIG frogs everywhere. They sit on the rocks and sun themselves and when you walk by the screech and jump in. There must be 10 frogs in this little pond.

....and the honey bees are in full swing with what I am convinced is their favorite flower group, the salvias. I wonder where all that honey is?

giant celosia with a giant wasp

the honeybees go crazy for this stuff

the bloom are 8-10 inches

 Other salvia's:

hot lips: looks like ducks?

hot pink

 I also find the bold yellow flowers so inviting this time of year:

sarah took this: beach sunflowers

they get to be about 12 ft tall and need staking

tarragon

beautiful dainty flower and perennial

melampodium

We can't forget the cools season crops for fall:

buttercrunch lettuce and romaine

brussel sprouts

broccoli

 I also found these morning glory vines. The most interesting thing is that I planted the seed in Purple years ago and each year it comes back (invasively) in different colors...plant genetics in real form:

Here are a few other interesting and beautiful fall bloomers in zone 8b

snowball viburnum

fire spike, hummingbirds love it!

lantana

old blooms from the garlic chives

look at those seed heads on garlic chives

We can't forget the butterflies and moths, busy at work before winter:

Fall gardening comes with good weather, amending your beds, pulling all the weeds from summer and pinestrawing for winter.  I find it amazing when God grants us the gift to care for his land, he provides the season to coincide with the tasks...beautiful weather, blooms and insects to surround the ardous work...the beauty is the distraction.

Happy Gardening!

Nicki 

Landscaping With Herbs

I am not sure why there is always a distinction between gardeners who grow vegetables and those that grow flowers. I am always asked, "What type of gardener are you...flower or vegetable?" I always reply that I am an equal opportunity gardener. If it is hardy, has color and I get the bonus of eating it then I garden it. "Flower gardeners" would miss out on some of the most beautiful blooms like on the okra plant below and the dual purposes herb landscaping can provide.

When I first started plotting my garden, I fell in love with the "French Kitchen Garden" and the old English cottage gardens. This old fashioned garden has lots of plants, all crowded in...possibly too cluttered with all types of plants from perennials to edible.  This chaos, as some may describe it, has no rules of height, color, planting distance. It is developed through years of seed dispersal and volunteers, pass alongs and plant sales.  My gardening theory evolved from there, "If there is space for a weed to grow, then put a perennial there.  If a perennial can grow there then something edible would be a bonus. Hence, my fascination with edible landscaping began.  Which is a good segway into the Garlic chive. To some this vegetable is considered a weed, growing wild in many parts of the country, and to others, it is a beautiful border.  It is both a flowering perennial and vegetable. It is the Garlic Chive.

garlic chive border late August

Garlic chives are a grass like vegetable related onion. It grows in clumps about a foot in height. The flower stalk is sent out in mid summer with bloom time late August-September. This entire plant is edible used as a substitute to onion and garlic in recipes.  In China the unopened flower is used to flavor soups and dumplings. It is a perennial (zone 8b-9) and will remain green throughout the winter (however, with a frost gets a little droopy).

Insects adore these small delicate flowers and when the love bugs are bad they will cover the blooms entirely.

ailanthus webworm moth

bees and yellow jackets

even horseflies getting in on the action

black and white wasp

I love the clumping property where I can dig and divide them in the winter and fill in any space a weed is growing. They prefer full sun, but I have grown them in part shade under trees for years. I have these growing under two dwarf apple trees. I am hoping for some companion planting action.

 So, I encourage you to buy a little pot of these next time you see them at your local nursery. They offer you the opportunity to fill in spots, beautiful fall blooms,  great pollinators, and edible.

Happy Gardening!
Nicki

Summer Lovin' Blooms

The hot days of summer means one thing...beautiful summer blooms that go unnoticed because I am choosing the indoor air conditioning instead 110 degree humidity...However just for this blog, I ventured out into the sweltering heat to snap a few pictures:

shade garden with hydrangea in the background

beautiful pink garden flox

black swallowtail with phlox

hydrangea

tall yellow coneflowers

these will reach 5 ft

volunteer black eyed susans

hibiscus

literally a dinner size plate bloom!

hardy lilies

rose of sharons

pineapple lily first of summer

pineapple lily bloom late summer

wonderful smelly ginger!

this is a steel wire trellis that "holds" scuppernogs...not so much!

you can see the grapes bulging through

muscadines and scuppernog grapes

 And for some wildlife:

Carolina wren

flycatcher?

male and female Cardinals

swallowtail caterpillars on dill

even my ducks coming up to the house for some sprinkler action!

Happy Gardening! and looking forward to the cooler days of fall...

Nicki