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

Time does not stand still

BY SKEETER

 Hello Bloggers! I hope you are enjoying some of the wonderful temps we are having here in my Georgia Gardens! Glorious 80's and low to NO humidity! My kind of weather indeed! Above, you see the Crepe Myrtle Bush in bloom. This is Miss Myrtle that did the Splits for me last year when she was a tree. She is making a comeback. Click Here to see that.

I have been out of the blogging loop for a bit. My mother had hip surgery and I went to Tennessee to help my family. I am happy to say that mom is progressing along and is off the walker and on a cane! It will not be too much longer until that cane is doing nothing more then collecting dust.

I had several Blog Postings scheduled before I departed Georgia and had planned to visit many bloggers during my "down time" in TN. I found out quickly that I had very little "down time" during the 3 weeks I was in TN. Family and Friends kept me busy the entire time! Thus, few blogger visits from me.

Once back in Georgia, I found a new computer and a new lawn mower amongst other changes. I was not ready for "Change" as I dont really like change that well. I deal with it in time but was not ready to learn something new so soon after such a long exhausting 3 weeks of worry, lack of sleep, etc. I decided to back away from the computer.  

I now find myself pet sitting our favorite pooch, Zip, his three cat siblings and 3 Horse siblings as well. Zip and my Fur babies are getting along great as they are use to his visits with us. I now find myself ready to get back to blogging as I have kind of figured out this new computer format.

 Here is one photo you saw during my TN visit of the lamp post I created from an old pole. Click HERE if you missed that post. Notice the lush Vinca in this pic.

I return to GA and find dead looking Vinca! What on earth happen to my lush, vibrant Vinca while I was away?

The Saint did a wonderful job of watering all the plants I had asked him to keep an eye on for me. Vinca was not one of them as it is very drought tollerant and never needs any attention from me. Plus, we had massive rains while I was away. We had a total of 12.3 inches of rain the month of August which was close to the record rainfall for that month. Could we have gotten too much rain too soon for the Vinca or what? Any comments on this would be wonderful as I find this a total mystery...

 Signs of rain in the form of beautiful fungus are everywhere in the gardens.

Another thing I noticed was this area. This picture above was taken when preparing for the Post about the Foundation on the West side of the house. Click HERE if you missed that one. 

Look at 3 weeks growth. The elephant ears are now above the porch railing and the black ears are above the AC/Heat Unit. Yes, they like the sun, heat and water in this area. (Rose, do you hear this as I failed to answer your question on the comments for that post...)

All the Elephant Ears in the yard loved the excess rain fall. They were taking over the Butterfly Bush Island. It looked more like a jungle when I returned to my gardens!

I have since clipped back the over growth. I know these huge plants will have to be moved for next year.

New growth was seen on many happy bushes such as this Ligustrum.

Penta's has never been so happy! Too bad I only purchased one this year. Sigh...

To the right of the Penta's, I find a Yellow Iris in bloom! Suprise to me and I can only wonder if this iris is the type Tina recently talked about? Maybe in the Immortality family. Hum, another mystery for me...

Both Angel Trumpet's are also happy!

The Pink that Tina passed along to me.

The yellow scented passed along from a neighbor.

A surprise corn stalk growing in the middle of a newly planted Knock-Out Rose bush! Silly Squirrels, there are better places to hide your corn seeds.

The Saint tells me to go behind the shed and "check out" the Compost Heap. Ha, a Elephant ear and Pothos nicely growing after being dumped as nothing but dead looking debris! It looks as though I planted this but I promise you, I did not. I need to get a pot and dig up the pretty house plants and also move the ear elsewhere. No, TIME DOES NOT STAND STILL, In the Garden...

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

Extending Pathways Pt 2

BY SKEETER

Here is the Butterfly Island Garden with the Key Hole pathway containing a Bird Feeder. (Click HERE to see how this garden started) I found myself walking through the Butterfly Bushes to get to the Semi-Formal Garden. So decided it was time to extend this pathway in my GEORGIA GARDEN. The pea gravel looks white in this pic but that is bad lighting with an older camera, hence, an old photo taken back in 2007.

Spring of 2011, we moved the Butterfly Bushes around a bit in this garden because the Bald Cypress needed room to breathe. You cannot see that tree in this pic. As you can see, this pea gravel is the brown tones so it was moved to the pathways I showed you on Tuesday in my Semi-Formal Garden. Which you can see beyond the grass in this pic.

This was an easy path to construct as it was full of sand and all the old tree roots from 4 sweet gum trees have rotted down over time.

In this photo, I am standing inside the Arbor of the Semi-Formal Garden. I had yet to fill in the blank spot with the moved gravel from the Key Hole path when I snapped this pic. It has since been filled in of course. See how this pathway lines up with the new path?

Here is the new pathway through the island. The Butterfly Bushes are doing great and did not become harmed from being moved. They are tough bushes. I moved these Elephant Ears from the Semi-Formal Garden where they were once located. The dogwood trees had gotten too tall and shaded them. Plus, they were not getting the water they needed during this drought. They are now a bit closer and easier for me to keep happy with water. Here, you can see the Bald Cypress Tree.

Here is the patch of grass that separates the Butterfly Island and the Semi-Formal Garden. I once again must ask myself the question; Do I attach these three pathways or leave them as be? We use this grassy area as a pathway to the Wood/Mower and Garden Sheds. And also, we collect debris and keep it in that area by the sheds as well. We also drive the truck down this grassy path. So at this point, I think this area will remain as is.

Now to the other side of this Walk-thru island. It is time to connect the Island, Swing and Wishing Well Garden.

Once again, Free Brick and lots of digging in the dirt. I spent one day in high heat and humidity taking out the grass. I took it out as sod so as to fill in sunken holes on the east side of the house. That was a tough day and ended with a headache.

Back to work the next day and again, in heat and humidity.

It was tough work in the heat but I was not going to stop until I completed this project. Gravel was laid into place on the third day.

My only mistake, I should have put a curve on this instead of making it straight. But when making it, I was thinking of mowing the grass and how easier it is to keep a straight line trimmed verses a curve. Oh well, I can always go back later on and change this up. But for now, we shall live with it. See that Bald Cypress tree now? It was taking over the butterfly bushes and now it is taking over the Angel Trumpet. The Trumpet shall be moved next spring. Tina, look how your Trumpet is growing this year! It loved the early spring and hot temps.

I do not like the white gravel but that is all we could find in our area. Of course, I could have gotten a truck load of brown tone gravel and it would have been cheaper then a pallet of bags. As I mentioned on Tuesdays post, it is much easier for me to work with bags. I am trying to get Clematis to grow up the arbor of the swing. You can also see faded Castle Rocks used to the left of the swing. I had to get some new ones and they will fade in time.   

With this view, you can see I have yet another garden to attach up with to the left.

The middle of the Wishing Well Garden and looking towards the Fire Pit, Patio and Rock Garden.

I have a vision of an arched bridge and dry creek bed as this area becomes soggy during heavy rains. Which, we have not seen in 3 years! Ha...

You would see the Rock Garden as you walk over the Bridge.

The stepping stones you see in this shot lead from the house to the patio. The Saint has an idea to build a boardwalk of sorts from the house to the patio. Which would now become a deck instead of concrete patio. I think a creek bed running from this area past a bridge connection would tie in together. But for now, no more EXTENDING PATHWAYS, In the Garden...