Peepers

When I was checking what was going on in the front flower bed I noticed my Cranesbill geranium was peeping out of The Mum That Ate Alabama (T.M.T.A.A). It has flopped and sprawled all over and is still covered with blooms. I need to get it out of my other plants but don't have the heart to cut it back right now. The weather is still absolutely beautiful, in the 70's during the daytime. I'm enjoying it while it lasts :)

Mums

This morning when I walked out the door to go to work I was surprised at how cool it was. It was about 55 degrees, and the sky was clear. The stars and the crescent moon were bright and I realized that I haven't seen them in a long time. It is getting to be darker earlier, and the weather is nice enough that we can sit on the back porch for a while. I think we might have a bonfire in the fire pit this weekend and maybe cook up a pot of chili. There's an Apple Festival in Moulton this weekend and that sounds like it would be fun to go to. We are bad about making plans to do things and ending up staying around the house instead. We'll see what happens. :)

Anticipation

When we were walking into the front door yesterday I noticed that some of the buds on the mums were starting to open up. In a week or so we are going to have a real show. :)

It was overcast and raining slightly when we got up this morning, so most of the plans that we had made for the day were cancelled. We went out and got breakfast, and then headed home. We stopped on our way back and watched the Trail of Tears motorcycle ride go through. It is a commemerative ride that helps raise money for scholarships for Native Americans and to remember the Trail of Tears forced march of the Cherokee Indians. When we got home I went out and took some pictures, and got a very small bit of gardening done. Lady Banks has been growing through the slats in the fence, and I saw the neighbors craning around while mowing to avoid it. So I went over on their side this morning and trimmed it back. There were some small planes practicing flying in formation overhead and it added to the entertainment to watch them.

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.

The Mum that Ate Alabama

Okay, so that's a bit of an exaggeration. Just slightly though. ;) I seem to have odd luck with mums. Last fall I picked up a couple of plants, all shaped like perfect little domes, and planted them out. This spring, one didn't show up at all, one stuck up a few leaves, and one started growing pretty fast. By July-August, it had eaten half of the flower bed. Now it's a huge behemoth mutant that I think has eaten some smaller neighborhood pets and possibly slow moving elderly people. Too bad you can't ever predict what they're going to do. :)

The weather has been beautiful, clear blue skies, bright sun and a chill in the air. Fall is always my favorite time of year, and this one has been beautiful. The trees haven't started changing color yet, but I can't wait to see it. We need to get a firepit for the back yard, so that we can have a fire out on chilly nights. I think it'll be a great weekend for making a pot of chili and snuggling up on the couch to read.