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.

20181007_212606-1

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.

20181007_213824-1

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.

Scarecrow picks in the ground

It’s October. The corn fields are drying. The sky is vivid blue (when it’s not totally cloudy). In a month we will be ripe for snow to fill the growing empty spaces in the garden. For now it is time to join in the fall merriment.

20180930_152323-1

20180930_154124

And a 25 year old favorite:

20180930_154106(1)

The one on the left may be ready for a “refresh” painting. On the list for next weekend.

Wait! That’s a daylily cluster!

Just had an awesome discovery – check it out.

Yes, that is a new cluster of daylilies! I looked online and it sounds like ‘Just Plum Happy’ daylilies re-bloom. I did not know that. This is our most mature ‘Just Plum Happy’ daylily and this is the first year it has re-bloomed. Very exciting!

Not another frost in the forecast for 10 days so maybe … at least some of the buds will have enough runway to bloom.

Very glad I harvested those seeds. Can’t wait to see if they revert to the parentage or create something entirely new.

Fall clean-up – week #1

Fall clean-up for week #1 is almost complete (sans pulling in the hummingbird feeders). Time invested so far: about 2 hrs.

It helped that our guest in the garden was there to lend moral support.

2 of the 3 clematis in back are now trimmed back, the daylilies in one garden are trimmed back, all of the asian lilies are trimmed back, the hostas that were fading and wilting are trimmed back, the irises that never bloom (I keep hoping-lol) are trimmed back, all of the remaining hosta scapes are trimmed back (goodness knows what I will do with all those Aureomarginata seeds!), and all of the linden branches that came down in the recent storm are picked up. 2 large bags packed to the gills.

It’s starting to look lighter in the garden. Kinda sad. But hey, some scarecrow garden picks might look good in those open spaces 😉

20180929_111754-1 20180929_111812-1 20180929_113050

20180929_111851-1(1) 20180929_111848-1

Today all that’s left on the agenda is pulling in the hummingbird feeders, washing them, and putting them in storage.

Next week – trim back the ‘Marque Moon’ daylilies and the all the red daylilies.

Fall clean up begins

I need to begin fall cleanup today. It usually takes six Saturdays, and I am right on the edge of running late. Saturday is the day, because compost is open until 2 pm on Saturdays in the fall.

It’s always a little sad to start this process, but I cut everything back by hand (no weed whipping – yet) and if I don’t get going, it will be bitterly cold when the last bit needs to be done. (Experience talking here) Plus, there are those few things to be transplanted, or given to neighbors. And then there’s that bag of 30 tulips.

The past few falls it stayed nice enough that some of the hosta leaves were able to turn colors before they wilted from frost.

20171021_130750-2 20171020_134247 20171020_105421-1

So I will leave those for another week. I’ll start with the asian lilies, the fading hostas, and the daylilies whose leaves are browning up.

Yup. I need to get started. No more hanging on. It’s time. We have our “guest in the garden” this weekend. He can lend moral support. In 30 minutes.

If it were April/May, I’d be all over a day to get out in the garden early, but Brrr! Who wants to leave the comfy house with cozy throws to go out and cut down the garden?

It does help that part of the garden came in the house last night – the hibiscus, shamrocks and amaryllis. They are still in the entryway acclimating before I put them in their locations for the next 6 months. Maybe I’ll enjoy them inside for just a few more minutes.

20180929_090331-1

No? Okay, here we go. Once I get going it will be fun? Or at least familiar …

First frost

We are headed to our first frost tonight – 31°. Brrr! Then we’ll be in the mid 50’s during the daytime tomorrow. I am reminded that this is the time of year we Minnesotans, as my husband says, “hardy up”.

The squirrels are chubbing up. They get the whole “hardy up” thing. One of our white squirrels came to fill up early this morning.

I am thinking that only a week and a half ago we were comfortably taking a day cruise in Duluth (MN).

20180917_123113_HDR 20180917_123102 20180917_121451 20180917_121418

It was only during the last 10 min or so when the wind picked up that I even pulled my hood up. Today I wore my new heavy jacket to work – and was glad for it!

Tonight the hibiscus and shamrocks and amaryllis came in. They will make their home inside now until probably early May.

And our “guest in the garden”, little 9 pound Sandy, came with his fall vest when I picked him up late this afternoon. Missy said he is already getting chilled when he goes out.

A cup of hot tea to chase away the chill, a candle going indoors to cozy things up, and a weekend walk in the middle of the day when it’s warmest will be the new norm pretty soon.

Fall planning begins

A few weekends ago I had time to sit on the patio, look at the garden areas, relax in the shade, and think. Our small pine tree, the one with the bird feeders, has become a little ecosystem. Finches and chickadees and cardinals and doves, squirrels of different colorings and even a mama squirrel comes by. Our garden had humingbirds and monarchs and bumble bees and dragonflies. All coming to feed and some stopping for quite a while. It is peaceful. I need that time, sometimes even with no phone to take pictures. Yes, that was very healthy.

During those few weeks, it seemed as if the stores were sometimes quite successful in getting fall merchandise out the door – in 92° weather! Scarecrows were showing up down the street!

But now fall is definitely here. Our linden is shedding yellow leaves, one or two at a time, but there is a growing pile on the lawn. I have gotten out my boxes of tea for hot beverages. The sweatshirts that sat in the closet over the summer are starting to come out.

In the garden, the daylilies and hostas are all done blooming.

The sedum are in full bloom.

20180925_180849

But our little tomato plant, although looking quite tired, is still bearing fruit. It had five waves of blooms!

Now my mind is beginning to consider plant moves – like the sedum that didn’t get much sun this year because the ‘Aureomarginata’ hostas have gotten so big.

20180925_180446-1

Poor thing! It needs much more spacious accommodations.

Some things have been fading, too, like the beautiful pink asian lilies that are getting crowded by hostas and sedum out front. We have had them for probably a dozen years. I don’t want to lose them, if possible.

It’s not quite scarecrow picks in the ground time at our house yet, but I’m thinking … What do I want to move around so next year is even better?

Fall was also starting on the north shore when we were there last week. One of the days we were up there we took a gondola ride. Check out the start of fall color!

20180919_113249 20180919_113256 20180919_113344_HDR

Chickadees and tree sap

A few weeks ago I noticed the chickadees were eating out of the hummingbird feeder.

I thought that odd, so I looked it up. I found it is not uncommon for chickadees to do that. It is similar to their eating pine sap. Sure enough, when I watched, I saw them eating pine sap.

We really enjoy the chickadees and are hoping they stick around through the four seasons now that we have the seed feeders available for them.

The hummingbirds have moved through, but we have left the feeders up for a few more days. This weekend we’ll take them down, clean them, and put them in storage until next spring. Until then, enjoy, chickadees!

Not without a bloom

When I started our gardens here, I wanted to create a place where one set of blooming plants rolled into the next. Crocus to daffodils to hyacinth to tulips to asian lilies to irises to … It was a great idea but my husband was not crazy about the look, especially as things died off and we were left with a few … sunflowers! It was also busy, and it looked like a giant mess as the siberian irises gradually took over a large part of the garden. So I dug them out and gave them to my mother-in-law who had space, along with, regrettably, some daylilies that I had put in front and didn’t look so good there. Then I started to build the gardens we have today.

Along the way I also discovered that no matter how many crocus, daffodils, and hyacinth I planted here, they would only come back one, maybe two years. Believe me, I planted hundreds, en masse, and they just don’t thrive here. Some don’t even come in one time! So, I decided tulips are enough. Some stay (I have one patch of purple tulips that has come back 14 years)

and some come back every year as greens (not too exciting). Once again this fall I bought a bag of tulips, and have already picked out the spot for them.

After the tulips come the clematis (from the original garden). Then come the asian lilies (some original, some newer) and then the hostas, the weigelia (original) and the ninebarks (newer). Then come the daylilies for months, followed by the sedum, with the hostas blooming throughout. Continuously blooming are the shamrocks and the hibiscus.

They bloom even when they are brought in mid-October, and go well into December.

In January I head off to the garden store and get a watch ’em grow garden, which blooms into March, and somewhere in Feb the amaryllis blooms. In late Feb the hibiscus starts up again along with a little bit on the shamrocks. And then in April, as the hibiscus and shamrocks are lightly blooming, we are moving outside again.

This progression has run through my mind lately. Yes, I am sad the daylilies are done and the hostas are wrapping up, but truly we are never long without blooms in our “garden”.

Sunrise, Sunset

Last Friday I couldn’t sleep past 5am so I got up and had a leisurely start to the day. About six I thought about taking a short snooze but then looked out the patio blinds and … It was the start of an absolutely glorious dawn.

Just on the edge, the crickets were still chirping and the first bird flew past. Then I heard rustling, and a chirp. Then the cardinal tested out his morning singing. Absolutely wonderful. I had to grab a sweatshirt, a cup of hot cider, and my phone.

The first squirrel came by.

20180907_065535_HDR

Mama cardinal came for some breakfast. Two hummingbirds flitted around and around for over half an hour, sipping at the feeder a bit, and stopping by the ‘Rainforest Sunrise’ blooms. An hour and a half later I reluctantly reminded myself that no, an impromptu vacation day was not an option this time. But it was a fabulous start of the day.

The sunset that night was cloudless. A beautiful, gorgeous fall day. No clouds meant a clear sunset.

The next morning the sunrise had just the faintest line of clouds.

Another gorgeous day. The squirrels and birds arrived. The hummingbirds chirped. Our guest in the garden arrived and we enjoyed his company.

20180831_140041-1

And so it goes. Tulips to lilies to hostas to sedum to an abundance of leaves on the ground to snow drifts. Ground with frost to days with air conditioning and back to days with sweatshirts on. I have worn out another pair of my oldest sandals, dubbed this year’s “garden sandals” and am considering which pair will have the job next year.

There are big moments and tiny moments, moments that sneak up on you, moments you plan for, moments you anxiously await. I had a crazy busy week at work, overbooked myself socially, and fell into bed last night early. My husband had a routine week. After months of planning and outfitting and practicing, our oldest son and his girlfriend will start their first season of bow hunting today. We are waiting patiently to hear our youngest son has completed his Pacific Crest Trail through hike. The sun comes up, the day proceeds, the sun goes down.

Today, in this moment, the sun is rising in a completely different place than last week. It is shining through different pine trees. While I sit here, at the same moment, a few geese went honking by and the humingbirds approached the feeder. The hummingbirds are still, in this moment, dancing and chirping. The first squirrel of the day has arrived. The robins are gone (that we can tell). The geese have been flocking up, and it will be quite a few months until the dark-eyed junkos arrive. We probably won’t be sitting out on the patio for very long periods of time then.

Sunrise, Sunset

20180915_081630-1(1)