Friday, September 16, 2016

Five on Friday

Joining in with Five on Friday today, hosted by Amy of Love Made My Home.

Suddenly, within the span of only a couple of days it seems, the fall weather has at last arrived. Last week we were still hot and muggy with highs up to 30C and very humid. The air conditioning was still on, even at night. The last three days have seen a drop in evening temperatures and in the morning the thermometer is hovering just above 10C, and then it gets about 25C later in the day.

As a result, things in the garden are winding down. I've been a very negligent gardener this summer. It's been so hot and so dry for so long, that I just didn't have the energy or the inclination to deal with it at the end of a long day outdoors with the kids. I'm outside all day with the daycare kids in the summertime, and this summer we didn't have one day of rain while they were in my care. Gardening had to take a back seat this year (sadly).

We only have a few annuals in the gardens each season. I've been picking up perennials over the years, and at least I don't have to do much to keep them going year after year.

Rudbekias did fairly well this year, despite the lack of rain. I did have to keep them well watered, or they were drooping by midday.

August 28

August 28

August 28


today


Starburst something or other. This is an annual, and I've planted them before. They look nice and flower continuously. I'll be getting more again next summer.



Bonus ... my non-stop pink geranium, one of two pots that come in for winter.

Bonus: rose campion springs up all over my garden after seeding down in the fall ... love it!

Donkey-tailed spurge was doing great in another garden last summer. But for some reason it seemed to have died back quite a bit, and there was only one tiny little "tail" left in that garden. I moved it to this new location and it has flourished beautifully. I had plans to do something with this, but I had to leave it alone this summer to get its strength back. This plant has been going since my son was little and we picked up plants with funny names at the gardening centre.


My son's climbing rose. One year we should really give it something to climb on instead of just growing over the back of the bench. I wish it had even the faintest scent, but nuthin'.


The rose is beside the pond which has some new pond comets this summer. My husband bought these cheap fish thinking they would all die by the end of summer (or get eaten by the GB heron). Neither happened, and now he doesn't want to bring them inside. I would hate to see these pretty fish die in the cold, so I told my husband to go and buy a pond heater. Poor little guys!!
 I paid $4 for a weed. On purpose! Last summer our gardening centre had a push to sell weeds to customers in order to promote, um, well I can't remember what they were trying to promote now. It's milkweed, and I like milkweed because it takes me back to my country home where it grew wild in a big bunch right beside our school bus shelter. So in a fit of nostalgia I brought it home with me. It looks great, but it still has not flowered after two seasons. Maybe next year. I was hoping to attract monarch butterflies (oh! maybe that was the promotion?).


That ends the Five on Friday. The rest of this post is filler ;)

My hosta experiment has succeeded and makes me very happy. I planted these around the base of our big ol' white pine tree, and they've gone from this ...


... to this ...


 In about three years. This year I've noticed that it's filled in really well. Might be time to thin the herd next spring. I let the kids play on one branch of this tree, it's our "horse". To keep the kids from trampling down the plants, I didn't plant any hostas at the back of the pine. In the blank spot I throw all the pinecones that fall all over the yard. I like that little spot just as much as the hostas planting :)


Turtlehead flowers are one of my late summer, early fall favourites. The only thing I did well for my garden this year was water it diligently. These flowers really suffer in the heat, so I checked on them every day. I did loose a small bunch that were in direct sunshine :( but this big grouping survived. I have a black aster bush beside it which is dying (I think from aphids). I already gave up on it last year, but it came back and shaded the turtleheads a little bit in the late summer. I think that saved the turtleheads. But the aster is dying again, so I'm not sure how well the turtleheads will do next year.



The bees love these flowers since not much else is blooming.


This summer I tried some ivy geraniums in the window box of the shed. They did really well, and I think I'll put them in there again next year too. They are a much brighter pink that came out in the photo, and in the early evening they just glow hot pink!


I meant to plant creeping thyme in my son's pond area this summer, but I only got as far as shoving it in this planter again. Maybe next year. I just spent a long afternoon pulling creeping Charlie from that pond area last week. Creeping thyme would crowd out that horrible weed and look better too. My husband hates cutting the grass in that little area, so it seems a good solution to me. It's stuff like this that drives me crazy because if I planted it this year, next year I would get to see it bloom all over that spot ... now I have to wait another year for that!


The "godzilla" Japanese fern wasn't a great success. However. I planted ferns from my mom's house, and the first year they looked terrible. The second year they looked MAGNIFICENT! And they've been going strong ever since. I'm hoping the godzilla fern (which was supposed to explode to 3 feet in height!) will show me the money next year.


Did I forget anyone? Oh yes! My balloon flower ... 


I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that this favourite flower of mine will come back really well next summer. It struggled a bit this year, and I have to cut back the ornamental grasses in the spring because they're getting a little aggressive in the same garden and blocking the sun from my sun-loving plants. Hang in there balloons!



And I think that's all for now. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Wendy










PS my sunflower was devoured by the rotten chipmunk!!

23 comments:

  1. What lovely flowers around your garden. I hope the chipmunk at least found the sunflower tasty.

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  2. When you are as good a photographer as this nothing is filler. These are all great examples of your photo skills. I love all the flowers and always find myself captivated when looking at them.

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  3. Hi Wendy! I always love seeing your beautiful flowers and gardens. And I absolutely love how your hostas experiment turned out. That looks awesome!!

    Have a great weekend Hon! xoxo

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  4. I love those blue balloon flowers and always had them in my flower beds in NC. You have some gorgeous flowers that bloom all summer long! And I love the banner photos at the end of your post. How creative! (I'd like to try that too!) Hugs, Diane

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  5. Lots of nice flowers! We have some Rudbeckia like yours that have been blooming brightly for over a month.

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  6. Lovely flowers in your garden. I has been a difficult year for gardening here too with the changeable weather patterns of very dry or floods. Naughtly chipmunk eating your sunflower!:)

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  7. Hello, what a gorgeous post. So many beautiful flowers. The hostas looks pretty around the bottom of the tree. HAPPY Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

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  8. In spite of the heat and dryness your garden has produced some beautiful flowers. Love the rudbeckias. I don't know what happened to mine this year - they never appeared. I very likely weeded them out early in the spring as I tend to forget about them. Time to get some more and put a marker in! The little fish look so pretty in the pond.

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  9. It is hard work keeping a garden going in hot and dry weather - but you have achieved lots of colour and a variety of pretty blooms. And kept your hosta and ferns going too. Some years we have so much heat we have no flowers for months on end - but that's the tropics for you :)

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  10. Wow what wonderful plants. So much colour and variety, your garden is a real picture.

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  11. Oh gosh, Wendy, I thought by your opening sentences I was going to see a failing garden withering in those hot temperatures of yours....but no, your garden is lovely. You have some gorgeous plants there, vivid in their brightness and colour. I must say what your son's rose lacks in perfume makes up for in it's beauty. It won't be long now till Fall will be there with all it's glorious hues. I can't wait to see the Fall colour you magically capture at your place.

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  12. So nice to see your garden plants blooming so beautifully in spite of the hot weather and the rotten chipmunks. Lol! I like the view of your garden behind the wooden chair.

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  13. Flowers in your garden are enjoying nice weather and sunshine.

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  14. Milkweed is the most fragrant thing in my garden.

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  15. Such pretty flowers! My favourite is the balloon flower. One of the upsided to the dry and hot summer was that there weren't as many weeds to battle!

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  16. Hi Wendy, I love all your photos. I'm a perennial lover, yours look amazing along with the annuals you planted. It has definitely been a hard summer. I didn't water my perennials much that had mulch around them as they weren't drooping but I found most plants are stunted this year...I should have watered more lol!! Have a great week!

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  17. Hi Wendy, I love all your photos. I'm a perennial lover, yours look amazing along with the annuals you planted. It has definitely been a hard summer. I didn't water my perennials much that had mulch around them as they weren't drooping but I found most plants are stunted this year...I should have watered more lol!! Have a great week!

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  18. wow.. that is all in your garden! i am so envious.. but then again i'm not much of a gardener. far too much hard work than I have the time for right now.. so kuddos to you. If it looks so good it's it's neglected days I can only imagine how nice it must look in it's good years. The hostas look especially great.. I have been meaning to do something similar around one of our trees.

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  19. It looks like you had some wonderful successes this year - love the balloon flower and the turtleheads. So kind of you to insist on the pond heater :) I always feel so bad for the wild things outside in winter. Everything looks healthy and happy there! xx Karen

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  20. Love how the flowerpot looks on the chair! Nice flowers ♥

    summerdaisycottage.blogspot.com

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  21. wow your flowers seems straight from heaven so BEAUTIFULLY captured ,loved those blue tiny unique flowers too never saw here around,
    due to hot weather i also neglected my garden and a voice poking me from inside to just get up and invest some energy in garden that needs it though

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  22. Hello ! well your garden looks fantastic to say you hardly did much !! the hosta idea is great. Our sunflowers did well and I put a lot of the heads in the potting shed to dry out for the birds for winter....but a mouse or two enjoyed the lot of them ! haha best laid plans ! Gail x

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  23. That's your idea of negligent gardening?!! It looks so beautiful!! Of course, my favourite are the Rudbekias, oh and Balloon flower is so unusual.

    -Soma

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Thanks so much for leaving a comment, it's nice to know when you've stopped by! :)

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