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The garden is beginning to shut down

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It feels like it’s gotten so cold outside! I think that’s only partly true though. I’m sick again with fever and sore stomach so I’m just freezing, even inside my own home!

Looking outside at the garden that I don’t dare walk in when I’m feeling this cold indoors I can see that the leaves from the big maple tree have begun to fall over the lawn and garden, and some of my plants have started to die down.

Those that are shutting down for the winter include the balloon flowers and the Phlox. As I mentioned in earlier posts many of my flowers are still going strong, although I suspect they won’t be for much longer!

We still haven’t had any frost … or at least I don’t think we have, certainly we haven’t had any hard frosts, but I expect within the next week we’ll have our first. That might be the only thing that shuts down my roses! I swear they want to keep blooming and blooming. Silly plants!

Some of my visitors have mentioned in comments that their gardens have been hit by frost already. How is everyone else’s garden fairing this first week of November?






Datura is smelly in a few ways

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This weeks theme is Smelly

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So the photo hunter theme this week is smelly.

With gardening as a hobby I know both good smelly and bad smelly.

Those of you who read this site or any of my others probably came here expecting a photo of something that smells good. I certainly have plenty of photos of lovely scented plants and flowers.

As one of my internet friends says “If only the internet had scratch and sniff capabilities”. You know I’d apply that technology to some of my photos.

The picture that I posted above is of a Datura plant seed pod. The seed pod doesn’t smell, but the leaves of the datura plant sure do when you touch or rub them between your fingers. The smell is a mix of skunk and coffee grounds. At least that’s the way it smells to me. It’s very repugnant.

It’s flowers on the other hand have quite a pleasant strong fragrance. As you can see it’s large seed pod is also quite ornamental.

All round it’s a very interesting smelly plant.

Vibrant plants – gorgeous colors

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I have so many great photos of flowers and plants that I took last week that it was really hard to come up with just one for this weeks GTS.

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These leafs are Canna Tropicana leaves. My cannas never did flower this year. It’s been a strange year for a few of my plants. It did however produce the colorful leaves that it’s known for and I think I can forgive the dear plant for not flowering since it has such vibrant leaves.

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This photo is of a black Hollyhock.

My hollyhocks did well this summer. No rust on the leaves and as you can see they produced lovely flowers. This hollyhocks blooms are such a deep purplish red that they appear to be black. It’s blooms look as glossy and vibrant in the garden beside my ever producing raspberry bushes as they do in this photograph.

If you’d like to see one of the most gorgeous rose photos I’ve ever taken please stop by Breath of Life Photography. It’s a delight!

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

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