Thursday, November 8, 2012

Farewell my Pretties

BY SKEETER
My GEORGIA GARDENS are showing Fall Color as a backdrop for my fading plants.
Another view with the Forsythia Bush showing color and Elephant Ears still hanging on. I do not recall the Forsythia Bush ever being so pretty in fall. 
The Bald Cypress tree to the left is turning a bronze (dead looking) color while the Dogwoods are giving me the Red colors I desire in Fall. Crepe Myrtles give the Orange colors you see. The Angel Trumpets are dropping their last blooms and leaves to the ground.
But there is still life in my Gardens such as this Eastern Phoebe at the Birdbath.
And this Mocking Bird hiding in the Butterfly Bushes.
I went out to the Butterfly Bush Island the week of Halloween to find many visitors fluttering about. The Long-tailed Skipper is shaped like a bird don't ya think?
I love the shade of blue on its back. There were a lot of Long-tailed Skippers enjoying a meal.
Underside of a Painted Lady.
Top side of this pretty Lady (or is it another one) There were many of them spotted as that day.
Several Monarchs were enjoying a sip of nectar before their continued long journey south.
The ever so popular (to my gardens) Gulf Fritillary's were busy.
Here is the top side to a Gulf.
I spotted two Buckeyes on this day.
I am going to take a guess and say this to be an Appalachian Eyed Brown. Maybe, maybe not. It was sunning itself on the grass.
I rarely bring any of my flowers inside the house due to these two little fur balls. They like to nibble and that is not always good when some things are toxic.
But I just had to clip some of these blooms to bring inside before nature took them away from me. Oct. 29 and iris still blooming! I put the flowers up high when we left the room. Today, they are still pretty for me. Yes, they were fresh when clipped.
Of course the ever hardy Butterfly Bushes continue to bloom and will, up until our first frost. But other then those, the main colors we have glowing for now are the Coleus in many varieties.
As this one matures, it becomes a washed out color but still pretty to my eyes.
This one grew slim but tall and is bursting with colors as well. coleus sometime return in my gardens as we have mild winters. I hope all the above beauties return as they are such assets to the garden when other color fails, they shine.
 
Today, 7 baby deer went to the birdbath outside my window for a sip. Yep, we are still in a drought. It was a nice sight to see all of them at once on their own without a mommy near by. Two are little boy's as I spotted their little button antlers. Aw, they are so cute. I am allowing the deer to eat as they please in the garden for now. Things are going dormant for winter anyway, so why Not, I say. I shall get the stinky spray out for the evergreen items though. Fall is a bittersweet time of year for me. I enjoy all the lower temps in the air but do not like the idea of saying FAREWELL TO MY PRETTIES, In the Garden...
 
I am also going to be saying Farewell to my blogging friends for the year!  I will pop back in to wish you all wonderful holidays but other then that, I do not plan to write any more blogs for the remainder of the year. I shall see ya in the New Year though.... 

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

21 comments:

  1. Have a good break Skeeter! I am right behind you! You captured the flying critters perfectly. I see some possibilities here for the header photos for next month. We'll talk on that later. Love that bald cypress. I think they've been SO pretty this year.

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  2. Isn't wonderful to know they'll all be back after a season of sleeping? Enjoy your holidays!

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  3. Love your butterfly and skipper photos! Have a cozy winter. I'll look forward to reading your posts again next spring, as the garden wakes back up.

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  4. Have a wonderful break and thank you for sharing your pretty garden late blooms and visitors.
    Tina are you taking the rest of the year off, too?

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    1. I have a few more posts so once they are done I'll be on break too. Usually December is a down month for us.

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  5. Beautiful photos. It is so nice of you to provide the butterflies (and birds and deer) with a drink as they travel on their merry way...

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  6. Have a nice holiday Skeeter, Your garden is very pretty, so colourful.

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  7. Enjoy your time off, Skeeter. It's sad to see our pretties fade but all good things must come to an end. Although it's turned a tad cooler here my roses have started blooming again. Also my grasses are putting on their "blooms". I've planted some fall veggies. I too like the cypress. Lots around here to show me that beauty.

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  8. This is the reason why I love autumn so much! :-) No other season (well, maybe spring) gives me this explosion of colours. Many thanks. I really loved the photos.

    Greetings from London.

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  9. A need a break to get my winter MoJo on track. Feel free to use which ever pic you desire! I was shocked as to how many butterflies were at the Butterfly Bushes that day. They had me captivated for about an hour just watching and snapping photos of them. I did not get all my bulbs into the ground as planned that day due to the distraction. LOL....

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  10. A break?? You will be missed.
    We have Eastern Phoebes here a lot too, they are so cute. We also have Kingbirds that look a good deal like Phoebes. Loving the blue on the Longtailed Skipper, it is a cool butterfly. Your garden still has a lot of blooms! Ours in waning a good deal.

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  11. Love the butterflies and the coleus, Skeeter. I will miss seeing your postings so keep in touch via FB!

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  12. Have a nice break Skeeter. I always enjoy your beautiful southern gardens....

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  13. I'm surprised at the butterflies too! We actually had frost last night, but my car said it was only 39°. Love the shots of the trees.

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  14. You have some wonderful images of critters. I never saw a long tailed skipper and it does look like a bird with that tail. It must be mimicking so as not to be a bird's dinner.

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  15. Sop many great butterfly shots. Have a restful break from blogging--sometimes it is overwhelming.

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  16. Tina, for some strange reason, my comment is out of line. When I posted that it was in response to your comment and under your comment. Strange how it now shows up way down the list of comments. Strange :-)

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  17. Carolyn, Yes, I know those pretties will be back after a long winters nap…

    Gaia, I shall be refreshed and surely after a long winter of being out of the garden, I shall have more creative ideas on new projects…

    Gail, I still have some blooms going strong but I need to back away from the computer. I have things in the house to tend and the holidays seem to keep me busy as well. I’ll be back before ya know it though….

    Aaron, we life in the middle of many acres of woods and we love the wildlife. So we have decided to embrace the animals rather then fight them from our gardens. We provide corn for the deer, many different types of seed and suet for the birds and many birdbaths. We enjoy observing the wildlife come into our yard….

    Melanie, Thank you so much. I will be back before long…


    Cuban, Like I said, I have bittersweet feelings about Fall knowing my pretties are going to sleep. I love Spring when everything comes back to life. But such is life and I deal with it…

    Janet, Yes, Phoebe’s resemble the Kingfishers and are bug eaters as well. I love the Kingfishers crest on their heads. They are real chatters swooping over the lake too….
    Yep, I need a little break from the computer. I read lots of blogs even though I may not comment on them. That, research and FB take up a lot of my days and I have been neglecting the house a bit. And now the holidays are approaching, well, I just need to back away from the computer and tend to other things for a bit. I’ll see ya on FB though…

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  18. Lynn, I will still be popping in on FB so you will see little snippets here and there…

    Troutbirder, Thanks that means a lot to me…

    Randy, So far no frost for us but I know it is around the corner. I am hoping for another mild winter but then again, the bugs were really bad this year so maybe we need a bit colder winter this year. Of our many trees, those you see are the ones that have the best color. Most are pine trees or non color bearing trees…

    GWGT, You have never seen the Long-tailed Skippers before? Oh my, you would enjoy photographing them and I bet you would take some wonderful pics of them really showing off their blue-green iridescence color! You shall just have to come to GA sometime to see them…

    Carolyns shade garden, It does become a bit overwhelming for me as I neglect other things by being on the computer too much. My bad though, and time to prioritize my life a bit. At least I can see this and do not need a professional to tell me. LOL….

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  19. Skeeter your gorgeous fall colors with all those critters make me long for my garden to have critters this time of year too....

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  20. Hello Skeeter, sorry for this late visit. At least I was able to see your wonderful colorful garden before they went totally off. And the butterflies, oh so lovely. And those coleus are super like for me. We also have a few of them here, though of different color. That is only our simulation of fall colors, LOL. Happy vacation Roxanne.

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