What's blooming today?
Wordless Wednesday
New York Asters
Now that the weathers beginning to cool most of the plants in my garden are beginning to die down but the New York asters still look pretty good. Not quite as good as they do in this photo which was taken about a month ago or so, but they still look nice enough.
Over the next week or so I’m going to be going out in the garden to trim plants and prepare the garden for winter. I hope it’s not too cold outside when I do my garden winterizing!
I love my New York Asters. Aren’t they just lovely? The flowers are only about an inch across and they don’t bloom until mid September or so each year.
Even though we’re nearing the end of October my New York asters are still going strong.
I’ve only got one of these plants. I must remember to look up how to divide the plant during the winter and then I can go out in the garden come spring and hopefully divide the clump into three or four pieces. I’d love to have one or two of these 2 to 3 feet tall Asters “bushes” growing at the front of the house.
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Well I managed to finally get out into the Garden on Sunday. It was a lovely day and it was high time that I got out there to tidy up my garden and begin pruning the roses.
Last Autumn I didn’t even manage to put my garden to bed. By this I mean I didn’t do the usual winter protection. I was just too ill. So I’d have to say that I really haven’t done much in my garden at all since perhaps last September and at that time it was mainly only watering the garden.
That’s 7 months of not doing any garden work. Do you know how my body is feeling right now?
I was outside for about five hours. Once I got started I couldn’t make myself stop. Surprisingly I felt pretty good while I was working away. However once I got back inside I began to notice that my back was stiffening up. Now the bottom of my left foot is numb. I guess I must have a pinched nerve in my back! Oh the damage I do to myself when I garden. I tell you – it’s an extreme sport for me.
There are so many plants growing it’s unbelievable! Some are way ahead of themselves. For instance, my daffodils rarely make an appearance before mid-May, yet I have two that are up and blooming and more to come. Some of my supposedly later blooming Tulips are also up and about to bloom. What else was growing well? Strawberry plants, raspberry canes, several clematis, helebores, columbine, monkshood, toad lilies, regular lilies, oriental lilies, several types of tulip, hyacinth, muscari, lavender, Chionodoxa, snow drops, sedum, astilbe, geranium, new york asters, phlox, hostas, trilliums, peonies, rudbeckia, honeysuckle vines and on and on. I’m sure I’ve missed some of the perennials that I saw out there.
I believe that most of the roses will end up surviving. There’s a lot of dead branches but there’s life in the lower areas. Some are quite hardy and are already leaving out at the tips and upper branches. I didn’t survey each rose because I was trying to systematically work my way through the garden one area at a time.
I think I managed to tidy up half of the back garden beds. If my body cooperates I’ll go back outside later today and try to finish up the back. Then I’ll have to do the side of the house, the front garden and boulevard. Oh my … it’s a lot of work!