Fall garden glance

The temperatures mercifully fell into the 70's this week and our fall garden also went whew! A short lived treat, though- we head back into the upper 80's for the next 5 days.

Enjoy the color in the garden with me!

The chard stalks are an incredible red...

The figs are in full production...

The castor bean has almost reached the phone lines...

and is visited on a regular basis by the insects...

and also has an incredible red / burgundy green combination...

This darling flowering weed proves that weeds are not all "bad"...

The perennial periwinkle is also blooming now...

and the porcelain berry vines have lots of purple and blue berries...

 

Lastly, the datura topiary is in its third cycle of blooms this summer...

 

which means our evenings are filled with a delightful scent.

Happy Weekend!


Thank you, Cindy, at My Romantic Home, for Show & Tell Friday.

This goes with That

That is how my garden grows. Maybe we should call it creative chaos!

Late summer in Bay Village is in full swing. We are located just two blocks from Lake Erie (No, you cannot see across the lake!) and have the benefit of being next to what looks like a big ocean without the salt. Ironically, there is a huge salt mine located under the lake, with its access on Whiskey Island, a mere half mile from downtown Cleveland. We are within a quarter mile of the lake, which means that our fall season is longer and warmer than the outlying areas and we are able to grow more tender plants. We also stay warmer all winter with less snow. Yeah!

Are you familiar with the nicotiana plant, otherwise known as the flowering tobacco?

The flowers are white and fragrant. One caveat about nicotiana- it easily self sows. Look closely at the next photo. You can see the white flowers amongst the green seed pods. When the pods mature, they will burst open and scatter the seeds. The next summer, you will find babies in the oddest places. Fortunately, they are easy to remove. We let it do its thing and pull out what we don't want.

 Mmmm, can you smell this? The datura topiary is close to the nicotiana in the garden. It smells divine in the evening also.

Ligularia is an underused perennial. Its daisly-like gold flowers bloom in the mid summer.  The leaves are a deep green with a burgundy tinge and are huge.

We hollowed out this birch log to fill with flowers last summer for my daughter's wedding. This spring, we brought it outside and thought- why not? So, we planted it with ferns and placed it under the dappled shade of the lilacs.

I wish you a happy weekend!

If only you could smell this gardenia with me!

Don't forget to join me next week for my 100th post!

I'll be giving away a hydrangea wreath with the hydrangeas from my garden. I have been picking them daily and filling up all available vases with the blooms to dry them. I am running out of room!

Thank you, Cindy, at My Romantic Home, for Show & Tell Friday.

Thank you, Jessica, at A Few of My Favorite Things, for Favorite Things Friday. 

Thank you, Artie at Color Outside the Lines for Vignette Friday.

My birthday garden

I celebrated my birthday this week enjoying the mid-summer flowers in the garden. With a lot of watering, everything survived the heat wave. I don't know how the folks in the South handle this heat! I guess I am a Northern gal, through and through!  

I promise- no hydrangeas this week!

One of my favorite summer flowers is the datura. Technically, it is really a brugsmania, but that's too hard to remember! They smell incredible, but only in the evening hours.

 

We caught the flowers with a visitor:

 

Our poor tomatoes on the left were eaten by the deer.

Cool closeup!

The dahlias are just beginning. (Has anyone noticed that we are about 2-3 weeks ahead of the average year?) 

We take up the dahlia tubers in the fall and store them over the winter in an area that stays around 50 degrees. I love this color...

 

This is a front yard urn of goodies. Unfortunately, the deer started feasting a few days ago on the back side of the urn.

Here is a closeup of the trailing petunia:

The Oriental lilies are in full swing.

I am hiding- no makeup on!

Succulents in a miniature pot...

Lastly, here are our pineapple lilies beginning their blooms.

Their foliage is an incredible combo of greens. We also remove these tubers from the ground in the fall. They'll be open next week.

Thank you, Cindy, at My Romantic Home

and

Jessica, for Favorite Things Friday.