Usually overconfident Tessa is a little unsure of the morning’s developments. Dad’s new mattress was to be delivered today and that meant temporary displacement of the fleecy Tunnel of Relaxation. Plus, we’d expected a lot of plastic wrap crinkly sounds going on of which Tessa is not a fan of listening to.
Instead, the mattress is delayed and Dad was stomping around grumbling about it which could be days, weeks, or months out depending on who you listen to. Glaring at Dad and his grumpiness did not have Tessa’s desired effect.
After Dad settled down, Tessa decided she needed time spent with Dad to recharge her obviously low glare superpower. All that grumpiness must have gone to some good use. Tessa’s look says her glaring powers are almost at full charge!
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Thank you very much for all your compliments on our garden and fountain. We worked hard on creating it some 23 years ago to invite calmness to our world and it’s gone through many, many plant, tree and flower bed transformations. But we all know it really isn’t our fountain – It’s a bird/raccoon bathtub and the personal drinking fountain of all our visiting kitties. We’ll forward your compliments to each and every one.
With less than 2 weeks to go before autumn, let’s take a look at the end of summer flowers around Colehaus. It’s been a pretty full summer of keeping up with watering, weeding and working but it was worth it.
Our clump of Black/Brown eyed Susan’s constantly had to be kept in check. It has a tendency to run and spread and though we like these, and the bees do too, we can’t have it taking over the entire side yard which includes half of the neighbor’s side yard (and he’s allergic to bees). So a small 30 inch diameter clump it remained. Mostly.
Over last weekend, Mom mentioned these to a coworker who “corrected” her by saying the term Black eyed Susan was racist. They are supposed to be called Brown eyed Susan. Mom had never heard that and has decided never to mention this plant again for fear of insulting someone.
We love this Salvia (many Salvias to be honest and there are SO many). It’s a tender perennial and we were surprised that it survived last winter’s snow and cold. That said, it grows in a pot and has completely filled the big pot with roots. This means it needs to be watered twice a day every day to keep from wilting. We ended up moving the entire thing from the front porch to the shadier back yard after one of those 100 degree August days burnt it badly. Both Mom and the hummingbirds were very sad.
Needless to say, it won’t survive to next year. Mom plans to cut a big hunk from it sometime next month to plant in the pollinator bed, hoping for the possibility that it’ll make it through winter in the ground. The rest will go into the yard debris bin.
Our Basket of Gold and mostly white sweet alyssum reseeded themselves last year and gave us billowing mounds of both this year. Mom might thin these next year by transplanting some to a space in the backyard that she thinks would benefit from how hardy and colorful they are.
Our “dwarf” Crepe Myrtle towers over Mom now, proving once again, nothing that grows here is truly dwarf. These used to be one of the last things to bloom here, waiting until well into October. These started budding up in July and were blooming by August 10th. They survived a couple of 100 degree days and are just now thinking of wrapping up for the year. We miss them in the fall but they sure did put on a bright show this summer!
KeeKee says the only bright thing around here is him and his gorgeous pale green eyes. And the dusting of catnip on his lips. But no kissing. KeeKee’s a whapper.
This was advertised on the seed packet as “Peaches and Cream” Cosmos. Maybe we just don’t see it but while it’s pretty, it looks nothing like the photo on the seed packet.
We’ve never grown Hollyhocks before. We didn’t know they take two years to bloom (allegedly around here) and Mom pulled most of them up last year, thinking they were weeds. “They looked like so many other weeds around the yard. I didn’t know,” she said/claims. This beauty made it through weeding and we really hope it’ll come back again next year, or maybe seed itself to come back?
The 12 foot tall sunflower came back from last year’s seed. The top split early on and instead of one big flower, it gave us six flowers of different sizes.
And this sunflower, promising to be a tall one too, became squirrel food early on before Mom could get and extension pole attached. Those pesky squirrels.
The white wand flower perennial was beautiful and the bees and bumblebees enjoyed it. Our pollinator bed wasn’t as full as it was last year so we didn’t have as many bees as we’d hoped. Last year, most of the plants were new. This year they’ve settled into the bed and are growing at their own pace. That is, those that the raccoons didn’t dig up this past spring. Those pesky raccoons.
Probably the last thing to flower here at Colehaus (probably, but who knows anymore?) are the Autumn Joy Sedums. We’d down to two clumps, from 5, and Mom’s says that’s manageable. They’re just so hard not to grow!
