Overall this year, we have had quite a moist summer...
And 4 years into planting this garden (or as I refer to it - the nursery garden)
I'm quite happy with the results...
I'm hoping that I can spend some time this week in amongst the expected showers (surprise... more rain!) transplanting and dividing up some of the plants into other areas around the house and sharing with passing by neighbors...
So here are some quick pictures of what my garden has in it now as we have hit Mid-September...
A wood and twine sculpture that my nephew Dylan and I made on Labor Day.
Pretty cool for a small fall garden sculpture - fits the fall and halloween mood I think...
Some of the Poppy Seed Heads collected.
They were my first this year, after years of trying to grow them...
Thanks Grandma for the seed packet from your kitchen drawer...
Magic seeds those were...
A toad visiting the garden - lots of toads around here...
And a Swallowtail Caterpillar munching on the end of the Cilantro...
Hailey (one of the neighborhood girls that plays with Chloe on a regular basis) found this one...
I was able to show them, when gently poked at, the caterpillar raises it's head, and fleshy "horns" emerge and an odor can be smelled (defense mechanism).
The kids of course loved that and thought it smelled like fruity cereal...
These Toad Lillies were planted last year, but I don't really remember a good bloom like this year... Now these I can get into - Wonderful!!!
The St. John's Wort is still blooming and growing...
It has become a nice focal to some different areas around the house, and I think I've even spotted some new plants from this one around the patio area. If it didn't get so large, I would leave it, but that little one will have to be transplanted because I prefer the moss to plants in amongst the flagstone...
This lovely Spider Wort also keeps putting off random blooms.
I enjoy that this plant is maybe a foot tall, and has been enjoyed all season!
I have some taller ones as well with a dark pink bloom that are over 2' tall, and they took a beating and never really recovered from some of the storms we had this summer. So I think they will be part of the plants that get divided and moved this week to a better location for them.
This is a picture of some Iron weed, some ornamental grass, and I am totally drawing a blank on the purple/blue blooming plant. The Iron Weed this year hasn't bloomed much because of the deer deadheading it. Just like the sunflowers I planted... But you know, I don't mind too much...
Off of the same plant, this Hydrangea at the front of the house gets a variety of bloom colors. Blue as you can see above...
And this light pink/green/ivory color. All nice and big...
Hydrangeas were one of my mom's favorite plants in her garden...
I carried them in my bridal bouquet for my wedding...
Love these through and through...
And these Sedum are in a bit of a shady spot, so they haven't bloomed as early as expected.
We are just starting to get some of the darker pinks showing up.
I think I will divide these too this week and put some in and around the garden on the big hill.
I'm not quite sure why I haven't done that yet.
Guess it just shows that growing a garden and also having two children in the middle of it all, puts some priorities into one's life. Which is why I refer to my garden right now as the nursery. I am growing as many plants and dividing them to get more and this year, collecting seeds, so that in the next few years, I can move into the adolescent garden.
So far Chloe (21 months old) loves being in the garden. Her little brother Riley (due Jan 2010) will hopefully feel the same... Can't see how he won't...
Thanks for stopping by my garden blog for a bit!
http://www.MarshasGardenBlog.Blogspot.com
(for those of you viewing it through FaceBook)
Hope you are enjoying your garden a little every day...
