Last garden chore of the season

The last garden chore of the season is always pulling in all the garden decorations – the spinners, the funny little statues, things like that. I bring them inside and let them get acclimated to the indoor temperature, and then I put them away in a tote for the winter. That is now done. Everything always fits in one bin – as long as I simultaneously put the winter lanterns out on one of the shepherd’s hooks. Eventually the scarecrow picks and door hanger will go in that same bin, as long as they aren’t too beat up by the wind and rain – and the lawn crew – lol!

As I mentioned in a previous post, we live in a townhome. Sometimes the lawn service crew gets a little over-zealous with the blowers. Unfortunately they pretty much destroyed two of the 5 sedums this past week. Not quite sure why, as there were no leaves to blow out of there, but nevertheless, it looked like a giant storm had come through that area alone. Oh well. Stuff happens. I will still leave the now blown over sedums for the birds, and cut them back in the spring. Unless, of course, they really start to bother me this week 😕

I had a change of heart on the bird bath warmer and put my “use what you have” ideas to work. I took an old (mauve of all colors) plant pot, and weighted it inside with an old terra cotta plant pot. Then I put an empty dish garden on top of that, put the bird bath warmer in the dish garden and plugged it in. Within 15 min the birds came! But we haven’t had a freezing night this weekend so I can’t report on whether or not the warmer is working. And it’s been raining so I don’t have good pics … Stay tuned for updates.

The hibiscus has had 14 (maybe more) blooms since we brought it in, but is now resting. There are a few more buds, so I won’t trim it yet.

The shamrocks started looking shaggy this week. They will soon die back for the most part, and, like the hibiscus, rest.

Saturday I used up the last dozen of the tomatoes that were green last weekend and finally ripened.

So the outdoor garden is done and resting, and the plants we over-winter are also beginning to rest. But I have envelopes of seeds just ready for May. And I can’t wait to see what the daylily seedlings from this year might bring in 2019. I suppose up I could head to the garden store and get something blooming, but more than likely I’ll just enjoy pictures – of our garden, and of other’s. Maybe this winter I will do another garden album. It’s been years!

To round out this weekend, here’s a pic of today’s squirrel antics. When our guest in the garden noticed them, he let them know he did not like that one bit!

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Sleep well beautiful gardens

2018 fall garden trimming is done. Whew! That’s enough work for me! I made the last 2018 trip to compost yesterday. Yeay! The last ninebark got trimmed, the remaining hostas got trimmed, and some sedum got trimmed.

All that’s left to do now is pull in the garden “pretties” like the funny hunting and hiking bears, the toad and turtle playing checkers … I was going to do that today but ach! … it can wait another week.

Today I can rest and enjoy our guest in the (indoor) garden. He got groomed yesterday so he thinks he’s pretty snazzy. After a long walk in the leaves (LOTS of sniffing involved), he settled in for a nap. He deserves that oversized blankie you know 😁

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Updates on previous posts:

I decided to cut back the sedums that were falling over, and keep those that are staying upright. That left 5 sedum plants for the birds to enjoy this winter.

The bird bath heater is too big for my little bird bath, and I don’t want a new bird bath, so back that goes.

Inside the hibiscus continues to bloom.

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The orchid blooms failed this week, after 4 months of blooming. That will rest now too.

And the tomatoe plant wrapped up (indoors) last week. Today I am making chili with the last of the tomatoes. Yum! A good pot of warm food in the Lodge dutch oven. Now that’s fall!

Bird bath heater?

Over the past week or so I noticed that the bird bath has turned into a water bowl. We are even seeing robins there, and we thought they were long gone. This poor robin was late to the game and was left with slim pickins.

Dark eyed junkos, chickadees, bluejays, cardinals, and of course squirrels are coming for a drink. But if I put water in at night, it freezes. So, I ordered a bird bath heater. Crazy, but I hear they attract birds all winter.

It will come in the next few days so I will do a follow-up.

All done

The gardens, minus the sedum, are all done. The cold and the wind are starting to feel winter-like. We did have a couple gorgeous (high 60s/low 70s) days but this morning the wind is very brisk, the “feels like” temperature is 26° F, and we have snow flurries.

Our guest in the garden doesn’t care at all to be out in the garden this morning so we’ve got the fireplace going and I’m enjoying the hibiscus.

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Hopefully the wind will calm a bit this afternoon and I can get out and cut back at least the Aureomarginatas and the Blue Mouse Ears.

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Yes, that’s snow

We’re a tad early on the coming winter this year. We had snow Thursday, and it’s snowing again today.

I’m not adverse to sitting inside with the fireplace going (a wood stove would be be better 😁) but gosh, there goes the hostas.

Good bye garden 2018.

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Daylilies all cut back

Today it was 40° fahrenheit by 9am in our area so I got going right away on the fall clean-up. All of the daylilies are now cut back. I included the daylilies out back – the new ‘Hush Little Baby’ daylilies, the ‘Purple D’Oro’ daylilies, the last ‘Just Plum Happy’ daylily and the red daylilies, along with the ‘Marque Moon’ daylilies out front.

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Sad to see them all go, but they were ready.

Also sadly, either the wind or some bird or squirrel broke off the last daylily buds I had found a week or so ago. I’ll try putting them in water, but I doubt they will bloom. But, on a more cheerful note, I did find some seed pods from Dad’s hostas that I saved as well.

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I also trimmed two of the three ninebarks, the weigelia, and the alpine currant.

Then I bagged it all up and got it over to compost.

All that clean-up means that next weekend all I have on the schedule is the remaining hostas, two clematis, and one ninebark. Sad to wrap up, but awesome that things are on schedule.

I still haven’t decided if I will cut back the sedum. They may stay. More on that in another post.

Now I can relax. It’s too windy to use the little fire pit tonight, so I probably won’t bother getting propane, and there’s a lot of activity (birds, squirrels) in the small pine tree, so I will rake the seeds later in the day or tomorrow.

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(Check out the dark-eyed junko on the ground in the two pics above. )

One of our white squirrels stopped by while I was getting lunch ready. I tried to get a pic but she was being camera shy today.

All in all, it was a good morning. Now I deserve a cup of coffee and a good book 😍

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Fall Garden Clean-up week 3

Today (Friday) we saw the sun!!! After weeks of cloudiness, rain, and even snow for a bit yesterday, we got a beautiful afternoon.

Still, it was 32° fahrenheit at 9 am, and the forecast is calling for near or below freezing night temperatures for the near future. There still may be some sporadic warmer days, but winter coat, hat, gloves and warm shoes are here now for at least 5 months.

Time to get back to the fall garden clean-up. Soon I will be too comfortable indoors and will not want to be trimming plants outdoors. Gotta keep the momentum going. Spring is a mess if I leave plants un-trimmed.

Everything that needed to be transplanted or planted was done last Sunday. That’s good. Next on the list was all the ‘Marque Moon’ and all the red daylilies, but the ninebarks took a hit from the frost last night so I think I’ll do those first. I’d prefer not to cut them back after the leaves dry.

I also need to cut back the alpine currant (another gift from Dad 😍). And I need to rake up the seeds and shells under the bird feeder. Those will go to trash not compost because there are a lot of black oil sunflower shells.

There are still seed pods on the ‘Marque Moon’ and ‘Purple D’Oro’ daylilies. I pulled some tonight that had opened, but I think I will have to leave the ones that haven’t opened. So if I do get to trimming back the ‘Marque Moon’ daylilies, a few flower stalks will remain. I don’t think I will have that issue with the red daylilies. They didn’t form many seed pods this year.

One of the Aureomarginata hostas is gorgeous right now.

I want to keep that until it fully fades. We don’t always get color on the hostas but the past few years have been nice.

Equally pretty is our lawn right now. It looks like a quilt of leaves.

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I love that look! Too bad it comes with the cold of October. This year seems even earlier.

We did have a return arrival this week. The dark-eyed junkos are back. Not a good sign as far as being a bit early, but we do really enjoy them. I will try to get pics. They seem to be skittish right now so it may take a bit of stealthiness – lol! Laughing because I am far from stealthy!

I did get another fall candle yesterday. I tried it today. AWESOME! Way better than I expected! It is Melaleuka’s Warm Spiced Latte. Made the house smell so good tonight! Small pleasures to ease back indoors.

Lastly, I need to get propane for our little outdoor firepit tomorrow. I’ll write about that another day.

It did cross my mind that it would be fun to have our Guest in the Garden come for the weekend. He got a new sweater from my Mom ☺ But I don’t think he’d enjoy the cold. Hey, I won’t enjoy it if it’s almost freezing. But compost closes at 2pm, and there will be a lot to bring there this week.

Managing pests on the hibiscus and shamrocks

Managing pests on the hibiscus, amaryllis and shamrocks is an annual battle. I love those plants so I have made much effort to protect them from heading to compost. The birds pretty much handle pests during the spring and summer, but it is a bit of work when the plants come in for fall and winter.

I transition the plants from outdoors to the tile to the carpet over about a week. They stay on the tile a few days to get their initial acclimation to the indoor weather. During that time they do shed leaves (and some ladybugs, gnats, etc.) During that time I also spray the hibiscus and the amaryllis dirt with a mild solution of Sol-U-Mel. The shamrocks are still quite full so they get that treatment later.

Once the plants are ready to go to their indoor location for fall/winter, I put them on a plastic bag or thick piece of cardboard for a while. During that time they are kind of messy. The hibiscus drops leaves and buds and the shamrock stems begin to die back.

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All of that needs to be pulled off the plants, picked up and thrown away. Leaving that on and around the plants invites issues.

Throughout the fall and winter I also add one drop of dish detergent to a quart of water and use that on the soil to keep pests at bay.

By spring I am tired of the routine, and inevitably gnats are starting to appear. At first sign of frosty nights being gone, the plants go back outside. They die back a bit (the birds pluck the shamrock material for their nests) but then they come back stronger.

Sandals, make way for slippers

Now that the garden has started to wind down and the temperatures are kind of nippy, sneakers and slippers have replaced sandals.

This year it seems it happened a few weeks early. Usually I can get away with sandals well into the middle of October. But alas. Not this year.

Soon it will be boot season. I certainly have been tempted in the rainy weather we’ve been having. My bogs are still in the car from our trip up north, should the need arise.

While shopping with Mom last weekend, I picked up a new cozy pair of slippers. They are working just fine for indoor gardening while we wait for the rain to subside ☺

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Saturday becomes Sunday

Friday and Saturday this weekend we visited with my Mom. Way more fun than Saturday morning clean-up.

Today, however, we made time to clean the windows, swap places between a sedum and an asian lily, and plant the tulips. The sedum needed more real estate and the clump of lilies needed more protection from the wind. While shopping with Mom on Friday, I bought an extra bag of tulips – 15 ‘Angelique’ tulips. They are some of my favorites. So including the bag of 30 pink and purple tulips I had previously purchased, we planted 3 spots of 15 tulips each today. Hopefully they will bloom at least one year ☺

Just as we finished up, it started to drizzle, so no new outdoor garden pics for this post.

Indoors, the hibiscus is not so happy. This happens every fall when we bring it in. A lot of leaves turn yellow and fall off. But we did get two buds begin to bloom today.

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On a gloomy fall day outdoors, that was a treat.

It’s candle time again, too, and an outdoor scent was in order. While shopping with Mom, I picked this up.

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On a cloudy fall weekend, it warmed up the atmosphere.

Because it started to drizzle today, I didn’t get the ‘Marque Moon’ and the red daylilies cut back. That will have to happen next Saturday.

It’s all good.