This month has been very warm considering it is fall now. It is still nice to see so many flowers still blooming throughout the gardens. Even the hummingbirds are still here enjoying the nectar, and they are usually gone by now.
It has taken all summer long for this Picotee Morning Glory to begin flowering. It has the most vivid blue of any flower I've grown. By the second day the flowers begin to turn a purple shade and then wither up.
The butterfly garden is still doing fairly well considering the lack of rain this month. Only three sunflowers manage to survive the deer and the squirrels eating the seeds.
In the middle of this garden the Cardinal Vine is full of tiny red flowers that the hummingbirds visit throughout the day.
The Limelight Hydrangea is by far my favorite one, and it is loaded heavily with huge blooms this year. They are already starting to turn a soft shade of pink with the cooler nights.
The Zinnia's are slowly dying off and the older blooms are being devoured by the Goldfinches. I did manage to collect enough seeds for next year before they were gone.
The Impatiens did so well underneath the Kousa Dogwood tree that I will be planting them a lot thicker next year to really fill in the space. I need to weed this garden and transplant some of the herbs that I have in it. It has way too much shade now and the herbs were very leggy this year.
In the front of my home I always plant the red border Salvia alternating with the orange boarder Zinnias. They always do so well with the full sun all day and I rarely water them, and they still look so nice even though I neglect them.
Back to the backyard and the pond area next to the porch, one of the Monarch butterflies I raised visits the Zinnias. Then I spotted something moving at the pond...
This young Garden Snake was stalking the frogs. It was so interesting watching it sneak between the rocks to get closer to the frogs. When it did, it lounge so fast across the water and struck one of the frogs.
Later that evening my husband saw it again and it was still after a frog. I don't think there is any way that it could possibly swallow one, but it must think it can. You can see its head in the lower corner of the photo trying to sneak up on the frog. Now that I know she is hanging out by the pond I keep my eyes open, so I'm not startled by her.
Tidying Up
We had a fairly cool day earlier this week, so I took advantage and decided it was time to clean out the gardening shed. It can get pretty unruly throughout the season, and I always like to organize it in the fall. I filled a 40-gallon barrel of things that were no longer needed. It felt so good to declutter that space, and now it is easier for me to walk in and access things easier. I had saved so many pots and containers for gardening over the years and no longer needed so many. I have just enough to grow what I need in the spring.
Next up was cleaning out the greenhouse and stacking the small tower gardens. All the hanging baskets have had their day, so they got emptied out and cleaned for next spring.
The vegetable garden is still doing fantastic with the warm weather this month. I've been harvesting a nice number of hot and sweet peppers, and a few carrots too. The Swiss Chard needs picking this weekend and a few beets are large enough to harvest.
The sweet potato vines are taking over and covering up the bush beans. I had to untangle them so the bees could find the beans flowers. The regular potatoes are still growing well in this raised bed. I can hardly wait to see how many potatoes the vines produce. Last year I got a lot from just one slip, this year I planted 5 and expect a lot.
I found this volunteer potato underneath the vines, and we had them for dinner that night. Well, I have rambled on enough for one day and now it is time to get back in the kitchen and process some more tomatoes, again!
