While the winds and rain swirl around us, I am hunkered down inside trying to get all of my plants that I had outdoors all summer ready for hibernation. I am also drying the lone sunflower head that made it this year through some pretty massive summer storms. I love the the uniform pattern of seeds still in the flower! Enjoy.
It’s been a busy week, but a post will be coming this weekend! In the mean time, enjoy this photo I took during our wonderful week of weather.
Quintessential Fall. Sorry, Instagrammers, I have been duplicating the past couple of weeks. I promise not to next time!
Enjoy.
We got our first snowflakes today! Overall, this weekend has been very cold, but after snowflakes flew this morning, it ended up being nice and sunny, so I went out and took a hike in an area park to get some nice autumn pictures.
Ellicott Creek in the fall.
Because it was so cold, I am thankful I got most of my yard work done when I did, even though now I am questioning myself as to whether or not I planted my spring bulbs too early this year. My parents came up to visit us (the first time since my daughter’s birthday in April– their social calendar is busier than mine), and I wanted to show my mom all my work that I had done in my back yard, and I came across this:
My bulbs are confused by the warm fall weather we are having.
I noticed that in the new extended spring bulb bed that I made, that some of them are popping up. I hope this doesn’t mean that I have lost them until the following spring. Western New York has had an unseasonably warm October, with temps in the 60s and 70s, I have even notice that my clematis and a few of my coneflower varieties have new blooms!
I just hope they still manage to come up in the spring. Good thing it was only a few bulbs and not a lot. After seeing this yesterday, I went out this morning with my daughter and noticed that the deer ate a good part of my ryusen weeping japanese maple. That depressed me a little, but I know it’s too early to start wrapping things up, so I will do the “wait and see” for the next couple of days. If it becomes more frequent, I will have to start covering things earlier than I would like.
The deer are now taking a liking to my little Japanese Maple.
Looking at this carnage somehow got me thinking about the past growing season– what I did right, what I did wrong, and I what I would do better next year.
Most Improved Duty: Watering
Yes, I must say, I worked really hard this year, especially after purchasing three trees, to make sure everything was watered. I learned my lesson last year when I didn’t water my arborvitae enough and they died over the winter because they lost more water than they had. I want to make sure everything has an adequate water supply as we go into the winter. I am even watering in the fall here, when we go without rain for extended periods of time.
What I Need to Work On: Plant Placement
Ok, so this one is kind of a misleading title. I mean, gardening itself is a process where you are constantly moving things to another place to see if does better, or transplanting because they are outgrowing their place, etc., etc. I think sometimes I get so plant crazy that I end up planting things too close together and then there isn’t any room for them to grow when they actually mature. Maybe I am just worrying too much, but I just want everything, and with such little space to plant things, I wonder if I am crowding some out!
What I Need Work On: Taking Better Care of my Containers
I will tell you I need to water these better than I do. Containers always dry out faster, and I somehow seem to neglect them. I must be better with this next year!
What I Did Well On: Creating Balance
I can honestly say that I feel I have finally created zen with everything that I have planted. It feels good, nothing is lopsided like it used to be, and it genuinely makes me happy. Even after tearing out everything behind my garage for a third time in two years, I can now say I am satisfied. I actually feel like I know what I am doing.
So, how did your garden do this past growing season? What would you like to do differently next time?
Some of you have already seen this picture, as I posted it on Instagram the other day. I couldn’t help but give it an encore. Enjoy.
Have I told you how much I love fall?? Haha, yes, I have mentioned it before, and for good reason. The transitional season that will be ushering us into winter is so spectacular in its own right, with the leaves on the trees turning vibrant colors, you can’t help but be in awe of such beauty.
All spring and summer we takes hundreds of pictures of our gardens, posting them on every social media outlet we can, and blogging about them. But, do we ever think about taking pictures of our gardens as they wind down? I was doing some last-minute yard work this weekend — putting away my garden decor for the season, and I couldn’t help but notice the beauty that surrounded me, despite the imminent ending to another growing season.
So, here is a collage of pictures from the garden as it nears its end. I hope you take a look at yours and feel the same way too!
Happy First Day of Fall!
Enjoy.
Camping in the country means waking up in the morning with a thin layer of dew covering everything. It also lays claim to this spiderweb. Enjoy.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend– we made it to the beach for one last time this season, and then wrapped our summer up with a camping trip! With the weather so oppressively hot for the weekend (extremely rare, we usually have rain and cold), I wanted to make sure we got in everything we wanted to do this summer. We did, but I have to admit I can’t wait for the slower pace of the fall. I have to wait another two weeks before I can think about staying home all weekend!
I also wanted to make a note that my blog celebrated its one year anniversary on September 4! I am very proud of myself for publishing something once a week since then! I am grateful to all of my readers who have stuck with me for the year! I had an idea for this blog a year before I even knew where to begin with it. I started this blog out of professional frustration, I guess you could say. I wanted to get back into my writing habit since I mainly do design and layout for my day job. But I figured if I was going to do anything extra, it would have to be something that I love. And, I truly do love writing blog posts every week. I love to pass along any new tips or knowledge to anybody who is just as clueless as I am about gardening. So again, thank you for taking the time to read my blog every week. It really does make me feel that I am helping someone out one way or another!
Looking forward, I have a couple posts in the hopper that I am still working on, but this week, I wanted to take you to a small, beautiful place in the southern tier of Western New York, also known as my home! Two weeks ago, I mentioned that my brother got married. The wedding took place in the beautiful setting of the Nannen Arboretum in Ellicottville, NY, also known as the “Aspen of the East”. A small, rural village that is one of the most beautiful. Here are some pictures I took on my smartphone, since I had didn’t have time to get out the DSLR. Bridal party duties came first!
The wedding venue.
The Bent Trowel 