Green Thumb Sunday - 11/16/2008 - The Old Reliables

It's getting to be slimmer pickings in the garden now, and the plants are few and far between. The temperature dropped to 30 degrees last night and daytime highs have been in the 50's. I noticed that the alyssum tumbling into the pond is still there (above). For some reason I always seem to overlook it. It has been a steady, reliable bloomer in the garden all summer long and into the fall now. I have never really been much for annuals in the garden but this one is definately going to have a place in mine from now on.

I got a big pot of Hen and Chicks earlier this summer to break apart and plant in the succulent bird feeder. I tucked the ultimate mother into a corner between the bricks around the pond area and a rock stepping stone. It has been multiplying happily all summer and I am pleased to report that it seems to be happy where it is.

The creeping phlox has gotten well established in several places and seems to be at home. The whole 'scree garden' concept seems to be taking root and growing now, no pun intended.
The Black-Eyed Susan has been giving consistent splashes of color in the back of the garden all summer long. It's also been self-seeding prolifically so I will have to be giving away some young plants next spring.

And finally, the Blanket Flower has also been plugging along all summer. Now that there are fewer flowers it is still decorating the bird feeder bed with seed pods. I think that I'll be moving some of this into the scree garden next spring.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Green Thumb Sunday 11/9/08 - Neptune

Yesterday in my survey of the garden I found several buds on my Neptune rose bush. There are fewer and fewer blooms that are still surviving so I am trying to savor these last ones. Neptune is a lovely lavender color and they are extremely fragrant. Here's hoping that I have a few more. :)

Green Thumb Sunday 10/26/2008 - The Catbird Seat

There is a small nursery that I pass on my way to work every morning. It took me a while before I finally stopped by, mostly because small nurseries usually don't have that much to see. This one proved to be an exception. I found several good steppable plants at the beginning and kept meaning to go back with my camera. You know what they say, better late than never. :)

They have a pretty goo.d collection of succulents, which I may have to revisit when I redo my succulent bird feeder next year.
There are still quite a few plants that are blooming, and among them I found...
My beloved 'Bishop of Llandoff' dahlia. I had just planted one in North Carolina before we moved and it broke my heart to leave it behind. Can you believe that I didn't walk out with one? Believe me, I regret it now. ;)
See who I found at home amongst the plants?
And finally, more evidence that fall is finally here. :) Happy Green Thumb Sunday!

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Southern Charm

I'm at a fairly restless stage in the garden. I've taken pictures of my existing plants about fifty times each. I do have a Japanese Anemone (shown above) in the front that has a bud on it, and I've been waiting on the edge of my seat for it to open. Otherwise everything feels like more of the same. I am very blessed to still have roses everywhere, and other plants blooming, but it feels repetitive to take pictures of the same plants with minor differences in shading and conformation. So here is my 'Southern Charm' verbascum which hasn't been featured too often.

I had thought it was done for the year but it sent up another flower stalk. I love the color and shape of the flowers. I placed an order from High Country Gardens for some tulip bulbs and of course had to add a few other things also. Other than that, the only excitement in the garden is that the horsetail is escaping its enclosure by the pond. It is showing up in some very odd places.

And though I've posted tons of pictures of it so far this year, Joseph's Coat is still going crazy.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Green Thumb Sunday 10/12/08

Today was another beautiful autumn day. The sky is bright blue and there are puffy white clouds everywhere. The seedhead for my Joe Pye Weed is featured above. A shot of the treeline in the backyard is featured below.

There are still a bunch of flowers blooming, but most of them are the regulars that I have been featuring for a while. So I figured I'd try to find some things a little different to post about. I got some pond maintenance done finally today which is a good thing. The water lily had taken it over and the poor fish barely had any water surface left.
So today I pulled out the lily and gave it a very big haircut. I also got rid of the bamboo spout because it hasn't worked very well and keeps getting plugged up. So I took the hose and tucked it under the rocks so it can spit directly into the water. The whole pond thing is going to have to get retooled next year so I'm not going to try for anything more elaborate right now. I do love the look of the alyssum spilling over the side.
Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Green Thumb Sunday 10/5/08

I took my daughter out for a stroll this afternoon and brought along the camera as usual. As soon as we stepped out on the front doorstep I heard the heavy buzzing of bees. They were all over the bushes in the front of the house. I caught this one frequenting my Elle rose and this one with my mum.

Green Thumb Sunday - 9/28/2008

One of my favorite things about fall and winter is how the seedheads and skeletal remains of plants become the focus of interest instead of the flowers themselves. I was looking around today to see what was blooming and noticed the seedheads on my blanket flowers.
Joseph's Coat still had a few rogue blooms left on it. It has taken a break for the last couple of months and been putting on new growth. I finally had enough to tie it up to the trellis.

The water lily is still going gangbusters in the pond. The lilypads have pretty much taken it over. I'm going to have to pull it out soon and trim it back for the winter.

The sweet alyssum is still plugging along in the scree garden. It has spread quite a bit from when I planted it earlier this spring.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Autumn Garden

I have some plants that are still gamely blooming away, but you can tell that they are running out of steam. It has been a very long growing season here and it has started getting cooler at night so fall can't be too far away. My roses are still going crazy:

I still have lots of dahlias:

My new goldenrod is getting settled in:

And my gnome is getting settled into his new home:

Green Thumb Sunday 9/7/08

We woke up this morning to a heavy fog and a layer of dew on everything. It's been a rough couple of weeks and we're looking forward to a bit of a fresh start on things.

Across the Pond

So here's the latest picture of my pond...just kidding folks! Today Quickbeam and I made it over to one of my favorite places on Earth, Across the Pond. Since one of my favorite things to do when I travel is visit gardening centers, I'm going to share some of my local favorites. Across the Pond is a gardening center where you can buy pond things of course, and they have demonstration ponds. The Victoria water lily above is a new addition. I briefly considered trying to grow it once in my previous pond, but after seeing this one I realize that I totally underestimated their size. They also have stone that you can buy in bulk, as well as some pond liners, water plants and fish. The goldfish that I have in my pond came from there. They sell fish from truly immense koi that cost as much as one of my house payments to small goldfish. Here are a few of their larger specimens.
They also sell pots of all sizes and garden statuary. I am truly in love with some of their garden statues and NEED this one in particular since it goes along with my blog name. Unfortunately it's going to have to wait until my bank account rebounds from our move.

I also like their sense of humor. :)

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Green Thumb Sunday 8/10/08

I didn't have a lot of hope left for my Angel Face rose at the beginning of this season. It had been hit hard by black spot and didn't even have a leaf left on it. I gave it some intense spraying therapy for a couple of weeks and then forgot about it until now. There are a couple of Japanese Beetles chewing on it, but otherwise it is doing so much better. Since I featured so many front yard plants last week, this post is for my back yard plants. This is my Joseph's Coat rose still blooming away. It is starting to get long enough to train up the trellis, which I am going to have to start doing soon.
This is the latest addition to my garden, 'Southern Charm' verbascum. I remember seeing it a long time ago, when I first started getting seed/gardening catalogs. I loved it but never did get any of it. When I was at Bennett's on my last visit I found some and finally fulfilled that wish. It is currently planted by the "Mum that Ate Alabama" so I'm hoping that it doesn't get eaten, like is about to happen to my garden gnome.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.