Category: Approaching fall in Minnesota

Additions

Yesterday was an overcast day, with a bit of breeze, and rain on the way.  Perfect day to put additions into the garden.

Saturday I visited the local garden store.  I decided to bring home three additions.  One was a chocolate colored sedum, to fill in a spot that previously had a chocolate drop sedum.  It did not return last year but I held out hope.  It did not return this year so I decided to get another chocolate colored sedum to match one we alread have (SUNSPARKLER Plum Dazzled) and see how that goes.

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The other two additions are coneflowers.  Years ago, at our house, I had a 20′ x 20′ wildflower and daylily corner.  I really enjoyed that.  We need a bit of late summer/early fall color on our path by the linden, so I tucked the new coneflowers in there (POWWOW Wild Berry).

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Today also started the daylily wrap up.  Our last ‘South Seas’ daylily bloom of the season was today.

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I suspect the last ‘Hush Little Baby’ bloom of the season will be tomorrow.

It’s all good.  Today I watched as the bees and butterflies flitted from bloom to bloom on the hostas.  They do the same on the daylilies.  Next year they’ll do it all again.  And maybe those seed pods that are forming on the daylilies have something beautiful in store for us down the road.

A whole lot of thinking begins

We may have almost 6 weeks until the official start of fall, but fall is definitely poking it’s head around the corner here in Minnesota.

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Mid-week I also noticed we are past the half-way point of daylily blooms.  I still have a wonderful palette of all the colors each day, and seeing what the new day has brought continues to be breathtaking.  Sadly, however, we are only a few days away from having some colors wrap up.  The peach, the ‘South Seas’ and the ‘Hush Little Baby’ daylilies are at the “one bud left” stage.  The red daylilies are not far behind.  They  bloomed in abundance for the past couple weeks and were absolutely gorgeous individually and en masse.

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But … the sedum are looking so good, and their color is right around the corner.

And so begins the “thinking” time of year regarding the garden.  First I “think” and think and think and think.  Then I plan, then I do.  I have some Aureomarginata hostas that are huge and should have been divided last year.  Now a year later I have joined our association’s “newly formed” landscaping committee – as in three of us – lol.  There are people in our association that have expressed interest in a landscape refresh.  We have loosely discussed going more toward perennials.  They are beautiful and can easily be trimmed to ground in fall by the landscape service.  So I’m looking through my garden and thinking, and thinking, and thinking.

There will be gifting.  I love to do that.  But what scope?  The Aureomarginatas deserve space.  Could divisions be a good start at single, easy landscaping for folks that don’t or can’t do gardens, but like them?  I suspect that’s where I will reasonably land for this fall.  “Do not despise the day of small beginnings” (Zechariah 4:10).