Saturday, September 29, 2018

Rest In Peace

 
Amarettos Top Dude
7/10/1998 - 9/27/2018

For those of you who didn't read my posting on Facebook, I am sorry to tell you my sweet Dude passed away this week. He was the gentlest, cutest miniature horse. He was a wonderful friend to me and his buddy Billy Goat. We will miss him enormously. When I worked in the garden, he was always there at the fence, watching my every move, and waiting for me to toss him a tasty weed. I included him in my blog postings because he was an important part of my garden story. Here is a link to an article I wrote about him a couple of years ago:


In the article, believing that Billy would go first, I mentioned that we were thinking of adding a young goat to the family, so that Dude would not be left alone. We did nothing at the time. Then we realized that Billy would be the one needing a new buddy, so two weeks ago, we purchased a nine-week-old Nigerian pygmy goat. He is black (like Dude) and we named him Doodles in Dude's honor. Billy is obviously grieving and we hope that Doodles will give him some comfort.



 

 Rest in Peace, Dude. 
Welcome little Doodles.


Love,
Pamela x

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Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Bloom Day Flowers --Three Days Late


I spent the weekend working in my gardens for the first time in weeks. The weather was perfect: sunny and not too hot for me. I weeded, removed dead stuff, pulled weeds, planted bulbs, weeded, divided perennials, pulled weeds, deadheaded, and did I mention weeds? I finished cleaning up the cottage garden yesterday morning; the guys mowed before the rain from the aftermath of hurricane Florence. I loved the feeling of accomplishment that ensued as I looked around my 'tidied' gardens. The rain rolled in before I could take pictures. Fortunately, I had photographed flowering plants on Saturday because that day was Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day (GBBD.)  Occurring on the 15th of each month, GBBD, hosted by the lovely Carol of May Dreams Gardens, is when gardeners from around the world showcase what is blooming in their gardens. I'm sorry that I didn't have time to finish my Bloom Day post until today -- better late than never, right?

The Serenity Garden, like my other gardens, is 'in the pink': I have more pink blooms than fall-colored ones although the first day of autumn is rapidly approaching.

Pink turtle head Chelone 'Hot lips', pink sedum 'Autum Joy' and reblooming 'Golden Mound' spirea
Serenity Garden  with hot-pink Sedum 'Autumn Joy'
Blooming 'Golden Mound' Spirea surrounds the serene statue, Allegrain's 'Bather'
Pink hydrangea and purple callibrachoa

I like pink (this is why I planted so many pink plants) but my favorite color has to be blue. I love September when the blue mist shrub is blooming in the cottage garden.

Blue mist shrub Caryopteris is a bee magnet in the Cottage Garden

Also in the cottage garden's large herbaceous bed:

Top: Cleome. Bottom: Perennial geranium and Canna 'Striata'
Sweet autumn clematis makes a pretty backdrop to cottage-garden flowers.

The fence around the kitchen garden is adorned with a blooming rose and nasturtiums peeping through from the other side.

Nasturtium 'Enana Rosa Cereza' and Rosa 'Peace'

In Abundance garden, Joe Pye continues to put on a show. There are lots of buds and a few flowers on New England asters.

New England aster Symphyotrichum novae-angliae and Eupatorium dubium Joe Pye Weed 'Baby Joe.'
Click on the picture to enlarge and see two monarchs on zinnias in the cutting garden

The cutting garden is inside the kitchen garden where I picked the last zucchini; should I sautee it or make zucchini bread? We are still harvesting pole beans, Swiss chard, red beets, and carrots. The parsnips look ready, but I always wait until after they have been touched by frost for the best flavor.

Zucchini Calabacin 'Fordhook'

Stunning coleus in the stone garden adds beautiful warm color. I usually start plants early, indoors, from seed.

Coleus sp.
The Stone Garden is my container garden.

Another annual that is serving me well this year is the fuschia on the back porch. We removed the hummingbird feeder from this spot, because it attracted black bears. The fuschia proved to be a wonderful substitute, drawing hummingbirds every day. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the hummers -- they don't hang around long enough.

Fuschia sp.
The native plant white snakeroot Agetina altissima blooming next to the outhouse.

Finally, a sign of fall ...

Weeping Japanese maple leaves are beginning to take on their autumn hue

What signs of the season's change are you seeing in your part of the world?

I hope you had a happy GBBD in your garden, as I did.
Pamela

Zinnia and cosmos
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