November 1

Elephant ears drying out to be stored.

Cleaned up the shed a bit

Frost got the morning glories, and the swing has been scrubbed and watersealed

Mid-October

Fall is in full swing, and I love it! My birthday mum is opening up. It's variety is Spicy Cheryl. I like it so far!
We've not had a drop of rain in October yet. The blue skies have been beautiful, but I'm a little tired of watering!

My camera wasn't working quite right when I took this, but it is the prettiest mum! It was at Farm Fest.

Finally Fall!

For my birthday, my Aunt Connie gave me a gift certificate for a greenhouse that sells beautiful mums and pansies, so Saturday David and I went to pick out some fall flowers. The mums aren't open yet - the greenhouse lady said it was because of the late heat. This one will be orangey. Can't wait to see it!
I love the pansies and violas in these little pots over the red bench.
I love the colors of fall - all the oranges, yellows, reds, and browns. So yummy!

September 4

The hot dry August gave way to record setting rains the first couple days of September. The dusty backyard turned into a muddy yard, but the puddles are gone. Today it is 74 degrees and sunny - perfect September weather.The house got a good power washing yesterday and looks so much better! The north side was pretty green and icky, so we knew it would look better. What we didn't know was how nice the rest would turn out. Apparently it was quite dingy!
I'm still amazed at the transformation of the morning glories. A month ago, I considered just pulling them up as the bare trellis would look better. I'm so glad I didn't! The one that gets the most sun is thick with green leaves and vines, but both have lots of colorful flowers.

Dry August

It has been one hot dry August. But, the Blanket Flowers seem not to mind too much.

The basil is thriving. I need to make and freeze some pesto for the winter.

The hyacinth bean vine requires very little water.

And this guy has been pretty tough.

The fern and hosta bed looks pretty awful compared to this same time last year, but at least it's almost fall!

Morning Glories

The morning glories are recovering! They look amazingly good now, considering what they looked like a couple of weeks ago.

Is It Fall?

It looks a little like fall outside. Yellowing hostas, brown ferns, wilted impatiens. Unfortunately, it's still August. It has been so hot and dry the last few weeks that the flowers and such are really struggling. And I'm struggling to get myself out in the land of mosquitoes and sweat to do anything about it.

The morning glories look fairly awful. They've had a rough year. First it was the Japanese beetles. Then the hot dry weather. Most recently, aphids have threatened to cut their growing season short. They look fairly pitiful, but I think all the bugs have been taken care of. I'm not giving up though - trying them again next year!

Guess that's the news from the garden! If it's going to look like fall, I sure wish it would feel like it!