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My garden is getting it’s Fall colors

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It looks like my garden is beginning to get it’s fall colours. I believe my roses are starting to go through their last bloom of the year … wait, what am I talking about – my roses often bloom right up until Christmas!

Nah … well my Browned Eyed Susans and Phlox David are certainly on the way out, however, just as those plants are winding down, others are beginning to shine.

For example, my Toad Lilies are covered in buds and I expect I’ll have blooms next week. I’ll also have blooms on my three Monkshood in the next week or two as well.

My Sedum are already changing color and looking lovely:

Sedum blooms

The large potted Chrysanthemums that I purchased at Costco at the end of August are blooming away too:

chrysanthemum flower blooms

Aren’t they lovely?

My Cosmos have been blooming all summer, but this one looked so pretty the other day and it happened to have a bug on one of it’s petals as well – can you spot it?

Cosmo flower

How is your garden doing this month? Is it changing as the temperatures change? Tell me what’s blooming.






Spectacular Toad Lilies in the Fall Garden

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I think the Toad Lily is one of the most unusual flowers that I grow.

In the Spring the plant appears as small sprouts emerging from the ground with several oblong green leaves. As summer passes the Toad lily plant grows to about two or two and a half feet in height in the form of long stalks with oblong green leaves.

To tell the truth it doesn’t really look like much for most of the growing season. However, when many of the other flowers in the garden stop blooming the Toad Lily is just getting started. By late September most years the buds begin to appear and then by early October the Toad lilies begin to bloom with their lovely speckled flowers.

Aren’t they pretty?

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

Working in the garden – Spring cleaning

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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!

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