How about a Garden Post?

I saw this rose by chance when I let the dogs out this afternoon, and couldn’t resist–a picture was needed.

Then I noticed that all the roses had decided to bloom today!

MLG was here this morning, and commented that he had heard a local garden show on the radio say that at this time of year, you should let the rose hips develop. If you cut them back, they will grow new canes, but it will get too cold for them to bloom. Anyone ever heard this before?

So…my favorite lantana… a couple of years ago a reader from Australia commented that they consider lantana invasive plants. I think the reason they aren’t invasive where I live is that they only last a year. This year I bought a larger lantana at a nursery, and I think it was  one that had wintered over. So it stopped blooming soon after I brought it home, and it just grew and grew all summer.

See? It just took over the whole front of this bed. Just this week it has finally given me some blooms. And then it will be gone. Those plants with the heart-shaped leaves?–those are “money plants” that I grew from seed. They don’t bloom until the second year, so I am really looking forward to seeing them in the spring!

The “giant zinnia” in front of the vanilla marigolds.

Close-up:

The dwarf red abutilon has done well, blooming all summer long.

Close-up. Hmmm. I don’t know what those white specks are. I didn’t see them until I saw this photo.

Sophie says, “oops. not pink.”

MLG was trying to compliment me, and exclaimed, “wow! It looks like a forest.” Umm, yeah. But I live in the forest. This is supposed to look like a garden 🙂 I have a plan. It involves some aggressive pruning. Part of me is still pleased that I have plants growing so well after so many years of coaxing minimal growth in my pots.

And some special visitors in the garden! I don’t really like bugs. But these guys move so slowly, and even though it looks like they don’t have eyes, they turn their head like they are really watching you or the water. I don’t know if there’s a whole herd of them, or just two that move from place to place, but I’ve enjoyed seeing them.

And! something new. How and where to stack the firewood is always a problem. And then the stacks fall over or get messy. And then there’s the tarps. Anyway, MLG started suggesting some things we could do to make it better, and pretty soon I said, “it sounds like maybe I need to ask J. the contractor about doing this.” MLG shook his head enthusiastically in agreement. So here is my new fancy wood shed. J. the contractor mills his own wood, and the outside boards are actually made from a sugar pine that my neighbor had to take down–isn’t that fun?

 

And that’s the garden report for this week.