The Flowers last hurrahs!

The cosmos and the Morning Glories out on the Wagon Wheel far from the house are having a majestic display right now.

I find that interesting as I haven't watered these plants in ages, only enough to get them started!

However I planted them near the leach field so I think they are flourishing on the moisture in that soil?

 

I have a riot of colors and the vines have grown onto the Orange Cosmos and dead Bachelor's Buttons that are still standing.

The 4 o'clocks are producing seeds like crazy right now. I take a bucket and shake their little black seeds right into the bucket for collection.

These flowers open in the evening with a heavenly scent. The hummingbirds love them. I have white, yellow, pink and this bright color. They close after the morning sun hits them and sometimes on a cloudy day, they will stay open most of the day.

I have Orange Cosmos, and a few bicolored cosmos flowers which are giving up their last hurrahs also. However, I finally figured out how to collect their seeds so I will have a huge mass of them next year!

The bees are still busy on the open blossoms. These flowers will blossom until the first frost.

The Nasturtiums make me smile as their vines creep onto the porch. I turn them so they don't crawl up to the door. Their blossoms are never ending and the leaves and blossoms are a tasty treat to just munch on or add to salads.

I even stuck a sweet potato in the ground that was sprouting [a store purchase]. It has the most beautiful purple leaves! I think I'll use some next year to add interest to my planters, they have a gorgeous color.

The coleus plants are all in buckets so I can move them easily. The one below with the sign marks Morris's place of rest between the pines.

I just thought it would be fun to have lights across these brightly colored plants now that the days are shorter.

This fake spider has resided in my succulent pie pan for ages. Kids get a great kick out of it and the little tiny hedgehogs that are placed around the plants.

I like fun critters in my garden...Oh!
Not the horse or mules though!

Now you can see how close to the house they are.  We love it that way. 

Here is the pallet garden and the shaded wildflower garden in the side yard. Messy looking, but full of beauty.
Next year the pallet garden will go all the way to the house so I don't have to mow that tiny square between the LP tank and the house.

Hopefully, this was not too much to bear in photos. But this is what keeps me hopping all year long. In the summer I tend the plants and in the winter I plan the plantings!

I have a lot of perennials to split and move, but I will have to wait until we actually get rain to dig in the rock hard ground.

I'm going to lay a tarp out on another section of the old veggie garden and mix it with flowers and perhaps some veggies next year. It will have to be small enough so I can weed it and hand cultivate it as I cannot run a tiller.

Enjoy these days with your flowers and take lots of photos to take you through the winter!

My Garden Piggy! She is

always so Happy!

Garden Stuff

I did not do the big vegetable garden this year. Instead I have been depending on the Farmer's Market and a local co-op store that sells fresh produce from nearby farms. Walmart produce has been 'worser than awful'. 

I am going to purchase some veggies to freeze and dehydrate later this year so I will be set for our winter crop of veggies.

However we have three tomato plants in some rather ugly containers on the pallet garden.

In the slats in front there are cosmos and some other flowers for later fall flowers. On the other side I have Verbena. It doesn't like this garden as much as I hoped but next year I'll try something else.

The ugly green tub is a delight. I have coleus and a really beautiful geranium that I've never seen before [pointing up]. The leaves are beautiful in two tones of color and the flowers are very delicate looking.

On the porch I have some hen and chicks in this neat pot given to me last year for my birthday by my neighbor. I thought the hen and chicks died off over winter. Surprise!

I have hen and chicks all over the place and they are all doing this neat reproducing thing. I might just have to make a hen and chick garden somewhere. I have them growing in stumps and several other rather drab containers.
I even packed the holes in the stumps with dirt and then plopped the hen and chicks on the wood. I have so many that I will have to make some plans for next summer.

Below is another pie plate garden. I found an old pie plate and tossed some nice dirt in it. The little plants were over wintered in the house and replanted this spring. I need to pick some more moss to use as mulch. 

Oh! I see a little dragon peeking out from one of the geranium pots!

My first garden 'statue'. A T-Rex eating garden gnomes. And...then garden gnomes napping just below T-Rex. This just makes me chuckle.

Another very large pot on the porch with stone crop sedum and that beautiful delicate geranium. 

I took nasturtium seeds and planted them in the bare spots between the bugleweed plants that were devastated the winter last year. Lack of snow cover allowed so many plants to die. However, right now they are making a very strong come back.

I planted these for my friend in Mobile AL. When she lived for a short time in Massachusetts she had a garden with so many of these. She misses them now as they don't do well in her hot climate. I take photos of these and text them to her. They started to blossom on her birthday.

Tired of it yet? Her is my Lego person I named Mirth. Her smile is infectious!

I love her stocking cap and pigtails. She looks happy holding that bright nasturtium!

I'll stop here because I don't want to bore anyone!

The Happy Table is coming along, I have to wait for another dry day to try a light white wash on it and then top it off with a polyacrylic sealer. The photo below is after I started working on this side of the table. I did some free hand drawing in pencil and then filled it in with black paint.

I had coffee and breakfast out here the last couple of mornings. 
So nice to have a pretty outdoor spot to relax and eat!

Have a safe and fun weekend everyone. We will be staying home and enjoying our home and gardens. Most of the yard is done and the rest can wait until the rain is done and it dries off again.