Quiz #2

The first quiz was kind of fun, I thought. So here's another.

This is a late summer bouquet that I just put together a few days ago. There are 12 different perennial plants included in this collection. See how many you can name. Common names are sufficient. :-) (You can click on image to enlarge)



John and Lisa have correctly identified 5 of the 12 plants (see my comment in response to theirs). However....

APOLOGY: I SHOULD HAVE SAID "12 DIFFERENT PLANTS" INSTEAD OF "12 DIFFERENT PERENNIAL PLANTS". There are 10 perennial, 1 biennial, and 1 annual (I think).

John and Lisa you get a free second try.

Mystery plant

Okay, all you gardeners and garden watchers out there... What is this plant?



Sept. 28, 2009
It's been three days. Maybe I should give you all a hint. Perhaps I should have been giving a hint a day. But Marnie was the first to even try. Thanks Marnie. Here's a hint for each of the three days.

Saturday hint: This flower is blossoming all over Ohio this time of year.

Sunday hint: It's native to Ohio (and like places).

Monday hint: It's a really stunning plant.

POST SOLUTION FOUND:

WE HAVE A WINNER: Sue

THE ANSWER: Goldenrod!!
One Plant


A field of GOLD

Happy Autumn!!

It's been feeling a bit like fall for the last several days, and today it's official.

Autumn is my favorite time of year. It's the season David and I got married (October 2) and we've lasted 27 years so far. We'll last lots longer because by this time, it's too hard to train new partners. We do pretty darn well together.

I must say though, that Winter is also a favorite season. I love the snow. I love watching it, feeling it, walking through it, listening to the quiet it lends to the land, and even shoveling it (for a while).

But then Spring is really cool too. I love watching for new little sprouts to show themselves and then to watch them grow. Did everything live through the winter? Where can I stick something new?

And of course, Summer is great. This past summer was lovely, cooler and wetter than usual so it was all the best things summer can be. Everything grew beautifully as you already know if you've been following this blog for a bit.

And before all memories of summer are past, here's a fellow I discovered on my Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy' (red leaved redbud tree).



Isn't he amazing? I didn't know what it was until I did some hunting online. It's a Katydid!! I had forgotten all about them. Guess they're pretty benign too. He was very brave and really didn't mind my getting close to take a photo.

Well, that's all for now until the next time. Hope you stop by, but if you stop by, please say hello so I'll know you were here. Thanks!

Dragon in my garden

As promised on AndiF's blog I am changing to a one or two photo's at a time. (Maybe more than one or two). Maybe then, I can post on a more regular basis instead of trying to tell the whole story all at once.

I was watering out in my front yard south bed when what to my gardeners eyes should appear (apologies to Night Before Christmas) but a real live dragon drinking from the nectar of a Pink Gaura blossom.



He/she was so gorgeous and didn't seem to mind me or the hose with water gushing out. So I dropped the hose, ran for my camera and sure enough he/she was still there, waiting for me. I took several shots.

Then it flew a short distance away to a newly blooming Helianthus Maximiliani, (Maximilian Sunflower) which is new to my garden this year.



Happily he/she was not at the top of this taller than our eaves plant.



Isn't he/she amazing? Does anyone know what the bright blue spot that looks like an eye is on the back of his/her head? Maybe it is supposed to make enemies think that he/she has eye(s) in the back of its head. LOL Also, if anyone can sex this critter for me, I'll change all the he/shes and the his/hers to the proper term.

I think my dragon fly is
Odonata, Superfamily: Aeshnoidea

Oh Mercy, Mercy Me.....

I am without computer today. (I'm on a laptop just now) I turned on my usual computer that has everything on it (including my file of passwords) and got the blue screen of death!!! AAAAarrrrrrgggghhhh!

Now about all I can do is write. So seeing as how the title of this blog contains the word "thoughts", today you're getting thoughts. I can't get to any photos.

Maybe this is a good thing. I would probably post a lot more often if I didn't feel compelled to always include some photos. I can't even download any photos. Thank goodness we do backups twice a week.

The veggie garden is waning now. I've pulled all the pea plants (long ago) and also all the bean plants, the one cucumber plant, radishes are long gone, onions were harvested long ago, cilantro is going to seed, dill is going to seed, fennel is going to seed. I'm going to try to capture seeds for next year. I have one head of dill which will be more than enough. I love the smell of dill, don't you? As prolific as dill is, I'm surprised the whole countryside is not covered with it. Is that the definition of a weed? Prolific?

Still have lots of tomatoes though. I'll be canning today for sure. We have three cabbages still growing. We've eaten the largest one. Soooo good.

Still have lots of herbs growing, oregano, chives, parsley, mint (of course it's growing), sage, thyme. I'm going to try to transplant some of them into pots to keep over winter. I still have the growlight setup from my seed starting last March.

I guess I could start some late summer/early fall veggies: lettuce, cabbage and others that I can't think of now.

Besides canning tomatoes, I've been drying herbs. It's easy and fun. They sure lose a lot of their scent though when they dry.

My composting for this year has not gone well at all. Of course, It's consisted mainly of tossing greens on top of a dirt pile at the back of the yard. I've not been putting tomato vine cuttings in it because I read somewhere that they were bad for compost. Does anyone know anything about this?

Guess I'd better go for now. Sorry about no photos. I have a whole collection gathered and resized and ready (almost) to post about the lush stage of the veggie beds. I hope they're still there when we get the computer fixed. I'm hoping it's just a fried controller and not a dead hard drive. Keep all fingers crossed please.

Latest Greatest Garden Updates

No matter what good plans I set to write more often. Something always gets in the say. Do I start all my posts with similar apologies?

I am really happy with my gardens. For just having been started this spring, they are filling in quite well. All of the following are in front of our house. Remember, when I started in April, there was nothing here but grass...

(Click on the photos to see larger, clearer images.)

The North Bed
West Side


Central Area


Southeast Corner



Complete Northern Bed


From the South (sunnier) Bed
Northwest Corner


Northern Half of the Bed


Northwest Corner, one of my favorites


North central


Center of the bed


West side of the South Bed


Southwest corner


Southern half of the South Bed


So that's it. I gave up trying to get one photo of the whole bed so you get it in pieces. I enjoy strolling through my "vast acreage" several times a day to see what's new. I'm never disappointed. Weeding is also easy when you weed as you go as it grows.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour. Next time, I'll show you the back veggie gardens.

A Free Giveaway from a Clever Artist

Here is a blog I just discovered today that has a Free Giveaway going. This gal is a talented multi-faceted artist and I like her work. This is such a clever way to spread the word about the her work and her blog.