GETTING THOSE BULBS IN THE GROUND

 Today was supposed to be a little warmer

and I had put some projects off in the

 garden counting on that last warm day.  Wrong!

 It is 58 degrees which isn't that cold so

 I did go out with my husband  to wrap the birdbaths better and plant a few bulbs. 

 I found some on sale at Menards and am anxious to see how many of the perennial ones come up next

 year too.  With the recent increases

 in cost of living we aren't spending

 much on bulbs this year.

The leaves are almost off the trees.

This maple is in our neighbors yard:

We don't have window treatments in

our living areas because we love to 

see our trees.  Of course, that comes

with a lot of raking though in the fall.

Our view of the yard below:

Several of the items we see

out our living room windows:

This year we enjoyed a cover over

this deck frame but now we

took it off for the winter:

All the birds baths and statuary are

ready for the cold.

What have you done to get ready

for the coming season?

OCTOBER BOUQUET AND GARDEN CLEAN UP

 This is the time of the year those garden

projects seem to be arriving and it's

do it now or do it on a colder day so

today a little progress was made and

I removed the last of the zinnias:

It's 60 degrees out today and you can 

just tell the weather in changing.

I made a pile of blooms on the sidewalk

as I worked.

There seemed to be plenty for a bouquet

and the rose bush that our friends gave

me has been energized by cooler temperatures.

I actually have some blue hydrangeas

around by the pond and I hope they

mature some more before the cold

gets to them.

I took this bouquet to a neighbors

and left it for her as my husband

has allergies.

FINDING FOXGLOVE BABIES FOR NEXT YEAR

 This is the time of the year that certain

garden chores must be done.  At least,

if you want to enjoy certain flowers in 

the spring, then they have to be done now.

This is an area near my Beatrix Potter

statuary where I want to have foxgloves.

Each Mother plant that bloomed this 

spring and into summer will now die.  However, often the mother plant and

 stalk produce little baby plants so I 

have to find them near the old plant 

that bloomed this summer.  If you don't

 get them down in some good dirt they

 get less feeding from the dying mother

 plant.

 Also, they will form two places: at the base

of the plant and on the stalk.  Here are

some I quickly found today:

Walmart and garden centers sell little

jars of root boosting powder which I use by dipping the root end of the plant in water

first and then the root powder element:

These will have time yet to form some roots before it is really cold.  It is cool out and colder at night but that is ok. 

 This photo

below shows you a mother stalk and

 how the babies formed on the stalk. 

 You carefully peal them off.

You really need to get some new fresh

garden soil surrounding these new

plants.

 

Just flipping an existing plant back shows

 you it isn't even secure in the ground

 because it was a new baby plant.  

This one was

pulled out and replanted as there are

two there.  If it is not replanted with some

good dirt it probably will just dry up

and die this winter.

Some are bigger and some

tiny but these are all babies

for next year:

leave a little stalk too:

planted in better soil below:

Many of the ones

I pulled were already

showing signs of

distress from lack

of water from the mother stem.

You may have already been remembering

that other plants do this same type of

reproduction:  such as Lambs Ear

Another example is Sweet William:

You can see these forget me nots are

very dry and these babies weren't

hardly in any dirt and will just die

unless planted and watered:

(I do not use rooting element on either of 

these 2 plants as they will take off with

just the planting and water)

Make sure you put some new fresh

quality topsoil around those

baby foxgloves:

Hopefully - next spring and early

summer you will have lots:

Late note:  someone asked me where I

got this statuary that is similar to Beatrix Potter.  Actually I have 8 pieces like these

 all around the garden.  They are (click) Campania International. 

 A while back we got a new birdbath

 which was just the same as the old

one.  We ordered it and picked it up at a garden center in St. Louis.  

I will carefully cover this one better

with a heavy black plastic bag in winter!

  

ZINNIAS HANDLE THE HEAT for "Tea In The Garden"

 I was hoping by now to have set up many more little "Tea In The Garden" photo shoots but August has been really hot.  I did

go out earlier and set a tea cart up

in front of some zinnias.

Last year I got some seeds from

a landscaped area in a subdivision

nearby.  At the end of the summer they

were looking pretty ugly and I knew

the company they hired would be

replacing them with chrysanthemums

like they usually do.

We are in need of some soaking rain.

Early this summer my husband moved this

arbor to the side fence so now the

 bittersweet is growing up it nicely.

As you can see, our yard is not flat but

has hills every direction.

This yellow plant is a Missouri

native wildflower called Rudbeckia

 and is in the Coneflower family.

A MORNING VISITOR

 

As I was enjoying my morning coffee

today I also spied a visitor to our yard.

We have a huge cedar in the very

back and there he sat on a limb!

I hope your summer is going well.  We

are praying for our nation and the decisions

being made by our present government.

This is a very concerning time.

We have had a very hot week and I need

to spend 2 full days in the garden dealing

with weeds but will wait hoping for

a little cooler weather.

OUT IN THE GARDEN AND SOME VIDEOS

   I wanted to share two of the

videos I came across today that are

 absolutely

wonderful!

But first a bouquet

I put on my porch:

And a few photos from the

garden today:

I found some butterflies loving

the butterfly bush and the

monarda:

And one more collage:

Videos you might adore:

A video of Hidcote Manor Garden in the Cotswolds

and I so love Jeri Landers videos

who wants to make

some tea sandwiches? 

THREE DAYS OF RAIN AND WEEDS AND NO WALKS

My title today says it all.  Honestly,

can it rain anymore?  Yes, rain is

on the way..... again.  I just looked 

out and saw this so I took a photo

through the screen and window so

it isn't great.  But the hollyhocks

are going to seed and look who

is eating the seeds:

It seems like this year the hollyhocks have gone

rather quickly.

I try to walk everyday for an hour.  It

has really helped me physically.  I went

out early today in incredible humidity

knowing that if I didn't do it now it

wasn't going to happen. 

I love being home in retirement.

Everyday there are so many possibilities

of things to do, or make or bake or watch.

I have been sewing some clothing for

myself for the first time in years.

I hope you are having an 

enjoyable summer.