Flowers In The Wild

When this rather poor farmland became ours twenty-eight years ago, we were in our fifth decade of existence and capable of hours of physical labor in intense sunlight.  Sod was removed and stacked to compost.  Stones were sifted from the soil and used to build weed free paths.  Tired but happy was the rule of each day.  Our present loss of function has totally changed our garden.  This Butterfly Weed plant may have planted itself here.  We remember trying to establish purchased plants with mixed results.  This plant may well be self planted from seed.  It is at the end of a planting bed in full view from the living room window.  Many recent days find us watching this Aphrodite Fritillary butterfly from the comfort of an airconditioned room.  As I was being driven inside by the oppressive heat, I  stopped for this photo.

Rose Campion is a beautiful but difficult plant.  Its brightly colored flowers are backed by a silver green colored foliage.  It is a biennial with a low rosette of leaves as its first year of growth.  A long tap root makes transplantation difficult.  We have been content to let these plants grow where they please.  In time small sifted stone paths become filled with composted plant parts and minerals from the stones.  Many plants seem to prefer this mixture as a place to grow.  We happily walk around these beauties to use our garden paths.

This view is looking straight down a thirty by three foot stone path.  No stones are visible despite their six inch depth.  Wood Betony is another purple color flowered plant that has been popular here for decades.  Planted in our carefully prepared soil, the plants grew but did not flourish.  These plants are all escapees from our stone free planting beds.  They find something in the path ground that was missing from the soil that we created.  We intend to clear out some of the weeds while doing no damage to these special plants in preparation for next year's display.

Elle gave us these Gloriosa Daisies years ago.  As she said would happen, many plants returned to yellow only petals while some of the brightly colored flowers persist.  We are moving along in age ourselves with no plan for what comes next and find some comfort from these past gifts.  Many different plants in our gardens came from Elle  They always bring to the front pleasant memories. 
 

Gardening, Isn't That Over By Now?

The reaction of the average person around here this week when I said that Ed stays home on nice days to work in the garden was one of disbelief.  "Gardening, isn't that all over by now? "  Indeed for most people it is over.  The weather is closing in on us more quickly every day.  We still have a few lovely flowers blooming like this Sedum sieboldi.
 

One or two plants of Ingeborg's mallow still have their lovely pink flowers.

Elle's Gloriosa Daisies have been fantastic this year, and despite numerous frosts, they haven't all given up yet.

The Emperor of China chrysanthemums are finally starting to bloom.  It would be a shame not to visit  and appreciate this end of the season beauty.

A beautiful hawk was seen perching in the big cherry tree.  It had a dark head and brown speckles on its white chest  like a lace necklace.  All day the Canada geese make their  trial flights over our head. Their honking and wing beats break the quiet until they settle back down on the river or into a cornfield with pungent freshly spread manure. The slate gray juncos have returned.  Still in a large group they fly away when approached flashing the white stripes on their tails as they go. They will spend the winter here with the chickadees.

There are weeds to pull. Old enemies and new unknown plants would love to have the whole winter to establish better roots.  It is our goal to leave as many of the garden beds clean and looking good as possible.  The pictured weeds here are now working to make compost.  Cutworms, Japanese beetle larva and slugs are squished when they are discovered and added to the bucket of weeds. Gloves worn because of the cool weather make this a fun activity.

This lemon verbena was not selected for a spot on the basement windowsill because there was no more space available.  Rather than leave it in the ground to die of neglect when the weather really turns cold, it was moved to compost while still green.  In a couple of years its unmistakable scent will be encountered once again as compost is sifted.  The cycle just keeps moving forward.

This snow sled was purchased at an end of season sale.  Becky felt it might serve as a stone boat.  Freshly fallen leaves make a slick surface to slide the stone over.  It was moved downhill despite the fact that the distance to the driveway was greater that way.  The pull was easy and once it nearly overtook me.  A smooth pull behind the Ranger delivered this beauty close to the developing rock garden.

We expect the frost to enter the ground here in about two weeks.  If the rain moves away, a real start can be made now on the next gardening season.