Garden Ghost

Some pretty strange things have happened to us since moving into this house here in Georgia. The Saint and I have always joked that we have a ghost living with us. Both Smoke detectors have gone off with no reasonable explanation. One night I was awoken by the sound of the trunk release button to the car being activated over and over. The car was parked in front of the house and we went out to investigate. We would close the trunk and it would pop back open again. That went on for about 30 minutes. The car doors were locked and no one was inside but something was pushing the button in the glove compartment! (Insert Twilight Zone music here) Our poor cat Skeeter was knocked out of his bed several times. He would look at me as if to say, "why did you knock me out of my bed mommy"? Our cuckoo clock is often stopped.

One night a little child named Nelly came to me in a dream. She had long blond curls and laughed a lot. It was as if the dream were real but most of my dreams seem real as I dream in color. The next morning I spoke out to Nelly and asked her to stop playing little pranks on us. I told her that this was our first house and that we really liked it and would take good care of it and not do anything bad to this house. Hey, it works in the movies sometime, so why not give it a try, right?

No unexplained event has occurred since that day. The clock still stops but since that is on the wall to the front door, we think the jarring of the door being closed may be the culprit. If not, then Nelly kept her one fun game.....

What does a house ghost have to do with my garden? Just stay with me a bit here and you will soon find out.

Look at the pretty Black-Eyed Susan's (Rudbeckia mix) from last years crop in the picture above, standing tall. I planted these from a packet of mixed seed two years ago. They have thrived and loved this planter and provide beautiful blooms and don't seem to mind the drought conditions in which they have been under. I don't do a thing to them but remove the old foliage each spring then more return.

Here is a beautiful Susan from this year, as are all the pictures from here on. Susan, is so pretty with her yellow petals surrounding her perfect brown eye. Look closely to see the circle of deep yellow about 3/4 of the way to the tip of the petals. I just noticed that!

I am always excited when Susan opens up her petals to reveal which variety she will be for me. By tossing in a mixed seed packet, I have no idea what all I have. One thing I do know is, I sure do like seeing Susan in my garden. Just look at my painted lady!

The painted ladies, as I call them are my favorites as they remind me of some Texas wildflowers we enjoyed on the roadside while in Texas.

But how can I call them my favorites when the old fashioned Black-eyed Susan is a standard of the south? Hum, maybe I don't have a favorite after all....

Here is where a Ghost has come into play. Someone or something is playing an ugly trick on my beautiful Black-eyed Susan's this year. Look at this strange looking bloom below! With the showing of the first one, I had thought I had some type of Susan I had not seen before.

Then as time passed on and more strange Susan's started to appear, I knew we had something really weird going on in the planter. Look at what I assume to be a Painted Lady all weirded out!

Green-Eyed Susan? What is going on with that? Frances was showing a virus ridden echinacea going on in her garden during her GBBD posting. I think the same thing is happening with my Susan's.

I must say, some of the blooms look rather pretty in a strange sort of way. I am always a sucker for the abnormal in things such as the ugly pet, (my pets are not ugly though) the not perfect seashell no one will chose, etc. So why not flowers as well?

I have healthy flowers intermingling with the strange looking odd balls and don't know what to do about it. The healthy Susan's did not stand tall this year as they all fell over to their sides as if in distress.
Does anyone out there know exactly what is going on with Susan? I took out all strange plants and piled them near the compost bin. I wonder will it be okay to compost them or should I dispose of them elsewhere?
I had thought that maybe the drought has something to do with this strange behavior but I cannot help but wonder if Nelly has something to do with this? hummmm...
Since Frances showed something similar happening in her gardens, I guess it is safe to say I don't have a GARDEN GHOST, In the Garden...