I’m back from my first business trip after my surgery, which was exhausting, but I at least went outside and took a ton of pictures, did a little weeding. Lots of dead-heading. We still have quite a few late summer flowers, though the trees are starting to change. The burning bushes are at peak, I think. At least I can’t imagine them getting more brilliant. Frank was going to mow the lawns, but it kept raining on and off, so instead he futzed with his chainsaw back in the woods between the breaks.
I plum tired myself out, just walking around, and with the little bits of work I did. But it was so nice to be out there.
As I look around the garden and see lots of my successes, I’m wondering which of them are going to survive the winter and come back next year. Like these sweet peas were totally new to me, and are supposedly perennial. Yet they bloom and bloom, and look so pretty, all over the rocks by the bridge over the pond.
We might have another month before a hard freeze. Maybe.
Here’s what is blooming now:
There’s still this annual that I love and have yet to figure out what it is. I’ve been looking around at databases online, trying to see if I can find it, and it might be gomphrena, but I’m not quite sure. If it is, it’s supposedly very easy to grow from seed, so I want to make a note of it to be sure to try it myself. I also want to grab it to see how it will do as a dried flower. It feels like it will hold up, to me.
The Autumn Joy Sedum is a faded shade of pink, still, not quite at peak. Probably another two weeks before it hits prime time. Since the leaves on the trees are probably two weeks away from peak as well, I think that’s pretty good timing.
I’m pretty disappointed in how little the honeysuckle actually grew through this growing season. It’s probably no more than a foot and a half tall, and since I want it to climb one of the pergola posts, it has a long way to go. Didn’t I say it was a slow grower though? Maybe it’ll do it’s thing next year.
Speaking of slow growing and disappointing — the grape we planted on another pergola post is probably no more than six inches tall. Priscilla had given it to us, and said it covered her mother’s porch, so I’m trying to go give up hope. I put some compost on it today, to see if that would help, but it doesn’t look very promising at all.
Yet another disappointment around the pergola. (are you sensing a theme here?) My Polish Spirit clematis has probably only gone three or four feet up the pergola. I think it needs more structure than it has, and wonder what we should do about it. I’m also not sure how to prune this baby, and want to remember to do some research. I did read last night that worm castings would make it take off, however. We can do those next year, perhaps.
This purple spikey flower thing? It’s over behind the old well, near where I have my lilacs planted. It’s blooming now, and I don’t know what it is. I really like it, though, and would like to figure it out. (I’m not sure why I can’t find it anywhere in my notes or in this journal. I must get more organized.) I do know it’s a perennial, though, because I sort of vaguely remember planting it near the lilac and thinking that I’ll have two plants in the same shade of purple in two completely different seasons in the same spot. That part worked out, anyway. [edited: obedient plant]
I’ve got second blooms on several things, this year. The yellow lupine is blooming again, as is one of my white roses. Maybe I deadheaded them enough! They are looking quite gorgeous right now.
However, many of my beds are still looking very empty. It’s so hard to stay patient and let things fill in. I know this is really only my first season in this garden, but patience has never been my strong suit!