Friday, September 17, 2010

As the Season Winds Down

The variegated Impatiens, planted in a dented and squished aluminum kitchen pot I found half-buried in the far backyard this spring after it was cleaned of all brush and briars. People usually do a double take when they see this "planter" in person. The way it's bent and deformed from so many years in an old chicken coop which had fallen down, it really looks like an aluminum purse, lol. As soon as I found it I knew I'd use it as a planter. The bottom was already rusted through in a few places, making for great drainage!

The middle of September and my dahlias are JUST beginning to bloom. I think 5 of my 7 plants will flower. I don't know why they're so late. They were planted in the beginning of June, as always. I can only think that the dirt around the new vegetable garden isn't as rich as that in the front yard where I usually plant them. I'm going to try to winter over the two plants that won't flower. This dark magenta one will be beautiful once it fully opens.

The first dahlia to bloom is starting to put out a lot of buds. With any luck, we won't have an early frost. Dahlias will bloom right up to the first frost, no matter how cold the nights are and how short the days are. I just hope we don't get ONE early frosty night like we did a couple of years ago. It dipped down to the mid 20s a couple of Septembers ago, just for one night, and killed the dahlias. Then we didn't get another frost until late November. I could have had flowers for another couple of months. Let's hope this year that doesn't happen! I love watching the colors change as the blooms mature.

The Cosmos have been late this year too. They're just beginning to flower. They're more than six feet tall, and have 6-8 flowers right now. The three different colored Zinnias in this photo are more than five feet high. My annuals are twice as high as they've ever been, and my perennials are half as high, lol.

Not much of a photo, composition-wise, but I wanted to show the pink Zinnia section in the cutting garden. They range from pale pink to carnation pink to a deep raspberry color, and vary from single petal daisy-like flowers to almost fully-round "buttons." The granite bench can be seen in the background with the orange nasturtiums and the dark purple Tradiscanthia in the planter next to it.

6 comments:

  1. Lovely as always Casey...Bring your coffee out later and join Granny and me on the bench...we will be the two sitting quietly taking in the beauty!
    (that's before we head over to Annies for Marius' party!! :)
    mare

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  2. MARE, ALREADY DROPPED INTO ANNIES' PARTY.I HAD A SHIRLEY TEMPLE,GAVE MARIUS A GUMMY KISS AND HUG. WISHED HIM A HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND MISSED THE SURPRISE. I WAS TAKING A NAP ON ANNIES PORCH.

    CASEY, GRAMPS WAS GOING THROUGH SOME JUNK IN THE GARAGE AND FOUND OUR PEEPOT WE USED TO TAKE CAMPING YEARS AND YEARS AGO. IT WAS STILL IN GREAT SHAPE. HE WANTED TO KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT. LOL, I SAID PLANT SOME FLOWERS IN IT AND HANG IT ON THE THE OAK TREE IN THE FRONT YARD. IT'LL MAKE A GOOD CONVERSATION PIECE. EVERY CONTAINER HAS A USE.

    GRANNY

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  3. MARIUS,

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAAR MARIUS.
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.

    GRANNY

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  4. Happy B-day Marius!!!

    Casey, you need to add some fuzzy animals to your posts-like raccoons, wolves,dogs, cats, etc. :)

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  5. Your garden looks so healthy! Quite an accomplishment for a summer with so little rain. There must be a very dedicated gardener maintaining everything :)

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  6. Thank you, PX. Luckily we have 'city' water, not a well, so I was able to water as much as I wanted to. Before living here I've always had a well and living so close to the Sound, we always had well problems in summer, to the point of saltwater creeping into the ground water when it got really dry. I probably over water here sometimes! But it's a good thing I don't travel. If I don't water the flowers no one else does either.

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