today's flower: dwarf iris

the first dwarf iris of a bunch shot up this past weekend.

weekend gardening events

if i could only go to one gardening event this weekend, it would be the seminar on native bees in new hope, pennsylvania.

(bee pendant from my etsy shop)

brookside gardens

today you can feel fall in the air.

the leaves are just beginning to get color and the wind is blowing them off of the trees and swirling them around the streets.

one of my favorite places to visit during this season is brookside gardens.

this public garden has so many lovely plantings set in wonderful vignettes which showcase all the beauty of autumn.

strawberry festival

well, it isn't exactly a festival, but the one strawberry pot has produced quite a few non-stink-bug-eaten berries this year, creating somewhat of a party- a festival of sorts-in my mouth.

crazy colors of fall

we had 69 days of over 90° days this past summer and rain in bunches when it did fall...but somehow the autumn color has been more spectacular this autumn! my dwarf fothergill continues to impress as it morphs on...

dwarf fothergill

my dwarf fothergill never fails to show off in fall...although, i have never seen this color in it's arsenal of awesomeness!

floating garden

this floating garden inspired by traditional japanese art themes will no longer be just a fantasy once vertilignes manufactures it. 

fall foliage

more fall color from another maple...we are still not in full effect foliage-wise, but the strong storms that blew through earlier today made it seem like fall. now leaves are swirling through the air...mounding on the ground...and beginning to change from green to awesome. one weird note: it's 76°!

dwarf fothergilla

other than the sugar maples, we are not seeing a lot of color around here yet...which is fine by me: hold off winter til the last second, please! while weeding today, i found this blazing leaf in the middle-at the bottom-of my completely still green dwarf fothergilla. a peak at things to come.

sugar, sugar maple

hands down: my favorite shade tree for autumn color is the sugar maple...at the first hint of fall, the sugar maple's leaves go from chartreuse green to golden yellow... depending on weather, rainfall, blah, blah, blah...the large leaves may gyrate through various gradations of red, hot pink and orange: 

it can be stunning, especially when the autumnal sun illuminates them like so many stained glass windows in an outdoor cathedral... the thing about the sugar maple is, you have to be fast to catch the color wheel transformations: the tree can do its thing in like, 48 hours and then drop everything to the ground. i feel fortunate i was able to see this old specimen while walking the dog, because its gone now!

today's haul

i quietly abandonded my garden in the field a few months ago...the drought killed most everything, and what didnt die was neatly trimmed of all fruits by the deer or infested with one kind of insect or another. i hate giving up on anything, but the fact that i am the only gardener up there not using multiple pesticides and chemicals combined with only once-a-week maintanence of the plot makes for no food: thank god for farmer o'bier's or we would have starved! luckily, my little square foot garden rocked the earth and has provided me with a little something every day. today, i got the last of the ripe pear tomatoes, some of the gazillion green beans planted, a few more mini banana peppers and an eggplant to roast. smaller is indeed better, in this case!

Digitalis lutea

i love foxgloves! but they are short-lived, and that always makes me sad. so when i saw these self-sowing sunshine-y yellow numbers, i was thrilled! digitalis lutea is offered by my friend barry at sunshine farm & gardens: an awesome place!

garden fantasy: smashed!

well, my vegetable garden in the field is becoming a worse failure than last year's epic one, and here is the pepper pic to prove it. i dont even know what happened to them, but the deer have neatly trimmed all tomato foliage and fruit above the cages...and the corn too is nibbled down low...the onions have disappeared...i saw the bugs that ate the cantaloupe and pumpkin vines...the sweet potatoes melted...this field sucks! i used weed barriers everywhere, but no poisons. ugh! i have seedlings ready to go in, but i am rethinking it. i hate giving in, but i might have too. the sad part is i would starve if i were dependent on this garden for actual food! luckily, my square foot garden, raised beds and planter boxes seem to be doing well: onion, arugula, flat leaf parsley and mixed greens are producing well...i collected squash blossoms the other day and a couple of yellow crooknecks today...the first yellow pear mini tomatoes are ready and the larger varieties are growing (no color yet, though). i have yellow beans! and basil! so, that is sort of a happy ending, right?

bird watching

today is my admin day: i clear emails, muddle through my in-box, organize myself with lists, clean my studio and get generally organized. because it was warm yet overcast, i did most of my work-on the computer, of course-outside...and spurred on by the world series of birding, i decided to count all of the birds i saw while doing it. the first bird i saw was a pileated woodpecker, who cruised through the trees right in front of me. the last bird i saw was a ruby throated hummingbird-the fist of the season!- which i had (somehow) anticipated, and made a double batch of nectar for earlier in the day. in between, i saw the great blue heron, 8 or so osprey, titmice with chickadees, cardinals, american goldfinch, eastern bluebirds, two red bellied woodpeckers, various crows, harbor gulls and a white breasted nuthatch that cracked kernels of corn from the bird feeder on the loblolly pine. another bird-y thing happened when ot and i went to the beach: i heard the crazy call of a pilleated woodpecker...then a second...and then many many more: i dont know how many, but a lot! from the trees these birds were screaming for about 3 minutes..then silence. wow: it was cool! purple martins should show up any second since the sun is setting soon. the highlight of the day was definately the hummingbird-who is buzzing me right now, coincidentally- because it's arrival signals the beginning of summer, a week before the unofficial start during memorial day weekend. i love summer!

strawberry pot

the mister snagged these huge concrete pots from a demo site he was working on right before the backhoe dumped them into the trash: nice job! with my huge oak gone (r.i.p.), the berries are flourishing and taste delicious. i just hope i can pick a few before the birds eat them all: cant believe i cant find my critter cover! i must add a note to my master gardener app: clean the shed.

plum peonies

I love the idea of peonies: big gorgeous fluffy heads bursting with color! in reality, mine had always fallen over and became infested with ants, so even if I wanted to bring them indoors I couldn't. but then I ran across these plum peonies this morning: standing erect despite the rain and looking gorgeous! I might have to rethink peonies...

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men at work

i never see women at my vegetable garden plot: not sure why, but it's true. maybe they know something. today all the mens worked the field. not hard enough though: i'm calling in the farmer for a deep plow, otherwise these weeds will be taking over in a few days.

how to share your extra plants

This OSUSOWAKE (which means sharing in Japanese) planter uses a new lightweight material called Puffcal to grow plants. Once the seedlings sprout, you can cut up and divide the material to distribute to friends and family.

vintage watering can

the mister ran over one of my vintage watering cans: he's calling it art:(

onion plants, ahoy!

hey, guess what? amongst all the weeds, i have a few onion plants settling in for the winter: excellent!