Cleon's Visit

The winter storm named Cleon has been visiting our area. The snow began yesterday afternoon and has continued all day today. They say Cleon will be here until midnight.

My Dearly Beloved shoveled a path out to feed the birds this morning.

Of course Annie had to be out to help him. 

She had to keep watch in case a rascally squirrel decided to attack. 

She tries to communicate with the squirrels. "Don't be afraid furry little beast. I wouldn't hurt you." I don't think she meant that last part. 

She sat patiently in the snow for some time. The birds come in to the feeders. They know who she is after. They also know to stay out of the way if a squirrel is about. 

Did I help with the snow removal.  Of course I did. My DB took a picture of my hat as I was removing my boots. You can see snow accumulation on my hat. It hasn't stopped coming down. Luckily it isn't all ice. 

I hope you all are staying warm and safe.

Fire In The Garden

The garden does seem to be ablaze this time of year. We are having some beautiful fall light.  The light is setting off the golds and reds in the garden.

The sun nearly set on fire the foliage on this Witch Hazel 'Jelena'. For such a small shrub it absolutely commands attention, especially in this light. 

It isn't just shrub and tree color but when frost hits certain plants such as the lily of the valley on the right of this path it turns a beautiful golden yellow.

Every path you take has a shot of color. 

The Serviceberry tree above was alight too. It is amazing how long these leaves stay in this condition. At least this year. We had such a col spell and it has warmed up again.  

While my other Witch Hazel 'Diane' isn't as colorful with it's leaves but just look at those blooms. I was surprised to see it bloom at this time. I thought it would bloom later.

My newest acquisition, Japanese Coral Bark Maple, is beginning to live up to it's billing. The golden yellow and red leaves really set off the coral bark. This summer the bark wasn't quite as red as it is now. I am so pleased.

I hope you have lots of fiery foliage in your garden now. 

Greenbow Gardening Crew

We have a new addition to the Gardening Crew here at Greenbow. I would like to introduce you to Princess Anna VonAnderson aka Annie. Here she is as we are bringing her home today. You are wondering why we have two collars on her?? Well, When she was handed over to us she had on the pink collar that she came with along with the lead. We had just bought her a pink collar (great minds) so we put her collar on and stood around talking and about froze. It was so cold we forgot to take off the original collar. I did that after we arrived home.

Even tho the garden is getting sleepy after a couple of frosts it will not be able to sleep in peace. 

Annie is giving it her best to sniff the entire place over. 

No path was ignored. 

Very intense business getting one's territory properly surveyed. 

She had a meet and greet with one of our neighbors.

She has investigated every gate in the fence line. This makes me nervous. I hope she decides to stay inside our garden fence.

She also knows which door we want her to use going in and out of the house.

Yes, this gardening business is tiring work. Just wait until the squirrels get a look at this little beauty.

It is difficult to photograph a moving target. Don't worry there will be many more opportunities for photographs over the years. What kind of dog is she?  We don't know. The Vet that treated her thinks she may be part Husky. She has more of a smooth coat though. What ever mix we are happy to have her.

October's Flight

This October is flying by. During it's flight rain has graced our garden.

Along with the fall rains come the mushrooms. 

They seem to pop up in a myriad of forms and places.

The most exciting of the pop ups to me are the last roses. This yellow rose is on the climber that I moved from a much too shaded spot to beside the new arbor over the side gate. It is rewarding me for my efforts. 

One of our other climbers, 'White Dawn', not only has a few flowers bursting forth it is loaded with these huge hips. 

The real stars of the fall garden are the white anemones. They just keep on blooming. 

As do these tall wild Asters. In the lower right hand corner of the picture you can see the color of the Tiger Sumac trying to get some attention too.

What has been clamoring for attention in your fall garden?

Fall Rains bring Fairies

It is a curious time of year. The fall rains chase us gardeners into the house temporarily while the garden fairies take this opportunity to come out and about.

Rose Campion chose this day to perch in a small dish garden inside. The tiny staghorn fern and earth star have landed here too.

Can you blame me for trying to capture this sweet creature? 

I hope you are being playfully creative during these rainy days.

Evolution of the Veggie Corner

I am guessing that those that read my blog regularly remember that back in June I got a hankering for a veggie garden. This little plot (click to see the beginning) ended up a great success despite the near drowning it had in June to the drought-like weather in July, August and September. 

A bit of success has spurred me to expand my options. As you can see in the photo below there were big sparse lilac shrubs at the back of the garden area. This is the corner of the garden I used to call 'the neglected corner'. I can't say that any longer.

You can also see that the tall fall asters are thick and takes up most of the space on the left. My DB dug out the lilacs. They didn't ever do well what with all the trees behind them. Then this second year of drought really took their toll.

They only thing I don't like about this is that I can see the neighbors pool and house too well. I will have to work on that.

I needed more upright growing space so I have put an arch of cattle fencing onto fence posts. I plan to plant a grape or two. Then the cucumbers can grow up these instead of inside the raised bed. 

To raise the bed we bought some 'planter stones'. This is a dandy interlocking system. I didn't want to use wood because I was afraid it would rot too quick and this way I can sit on the sides to weed or harvest.

St Fiacre watched over the veggie garden this year. His watchful eye was most appreciated. This was his view of the garden. 

Now he is elevated so to have a better view of the raised bed. With his new paint job he ought to last another 10 years.

The compost pile has sat here behind the barn  for years. It started out with a wire surround. Talk about not lasting long. The surround didn't last long at all. I wanted to neaten it up a little bit so... 

We used the same planter blocks to surround the compost. If I find I need more room  I can add layers to the blocks. I think this will do for now anyway.  I can also throw a piece of fencing over it when dogs come to visit. They love to forage in the compost. If they only ate leftover veggies it would be ok but they like noshing on corn cobs and spaghetti squash skins. Things that don't digest well... if you have a dog you know what I mean.

In the opposite corner is a nice shaded spot. This is where I have set a bench to have a place rest. I left a big swath of the asters. They are one of my favorite fall bloomers.

The only thing left to do is to figure out a way to block/stop the view to the neighbors boring garden. I thought about more shrubs but they take up too much room. I like being able to get around the garden easily.

I sat here and decided I wanted a bit of formality. I placed a row of small boxwood along the edges both sides. This view is as I sat on the bench taking the picture. We also need a load of soil to raise the level inside the blocks. I haven't had the heart to tear out the tomatoes and green peppers that keep on giving although at a slower rate. Enough to keep us in salad tomatoes for sure.

Sitting there you can see the compost pile. Left over shrubs. I am sure I will find a spot for them. To the left of the compost has become the wheelbarrow parking lot. 

As you can imagine I am not all that formal of a person. Certainly not in my garden. I couldn't help but to use a bit of whimsy too. My DB had brought several pair of these wooden spoon & forks home with him from his deployment in Vietnam. You can imagine how old they are. I thought they would be a nice touch as salad fork and spoon to crown the garden entrance.  

So here is the neglected corner transformed into the VEGGIE CORNER. 

I can't wait for next spring to get another round of veggies growing. 

I want to thank my DB for being the backbone of this neglected corner make over. Without his help I would still be working on it next spring to get it all accomplished.

September Arch Project

My goodness September has sneaked in here and almost gone before I have been inspired to put up a post. My problem is that it has been so dry the garden is drying up. With this my inspiration to post dries up. It seems the weather affects my creative spirit here in blogland.

With some watering I am having some Moon vine blooms. They looked so pretty with the full moon shining on them this week. 

This hardy begonia hasn't been too unhappy with the lack of rain. It is in a place that is neglected most of the time. I am so happy I took a chance on growing this in my zone 6 garden. It seems to be doing just fine.

While I have felt it is too dry to plant much I have had a project or two going. The first is a new arbor we installed.

We bought one of those kits. Right now is a nice time to purchase these things as they are marked down due to the season. Of course the season doesn't matter to a gardener. 

The only thing bad about these kits is that the arches aren't very wide. So I had to modify it with wood left over from the big arch we built several years ago. 

I have a big yellow rose planted on the far side to climb up over this arch. I can't wait to see the cheery yellow blooms greeting everyone that passes through here. Have you been doing a fall project?