Gather In

44 this morning, windy and cloudy, then sun, then showers. Warmed to lower 60's.

Today's garden bouquets. The one in front is in an Early American Pattern Glass jar that is missing its lid, but doesn't it make a perfect vase?

Lavender plants came in the mail yesterday, so you know what I had to do today. The tiller came out--again--and new ground was worked up to plant them. My flowerbeds are so full there's no room for more plants. And since I seem to keep ordering them, I had to find a place to start a new bed.

This is not the perfect way to start a new flower garden, I know, but I seem to have put the cart before the horse. Last week I tilled ground for new peony plants, today for the lavender and for several other plants now on their way. I have to admit I'm excited about this. It's been years since I established a new garden. I kept thinking it was time to scale back since I'm getting older, but this year I've decided what the heck, plant while I can and enjoy it, and when I'm finally unable to care for them, we can just let them go. In the meantime, we'll have lovely flowers. I hope.

Since the day warmed up nicely, we spent most of it outside, cleaning up and putting away. It always surprises me how much must be done--garden tools that had accumulated on the cellar house porch, garden chemicals, flower pots, hand tools, garden ornaments, etc, all needed to be put away for winter. There were wheelbarrows--count them, we have at least 6, most destined eventually for our booths--to be put up, a garden bench to be moved to a better location, some tomato stakes to put away, and on and on. It took several hours, and there's still a bit to do, but we made a really deep hole in the list.

It's fun to be out in the gardens at this time of year, although sobering to see how the vine-y weeds have run amuck while I was so busy canning. Even so, some plants that struggled through the summer are blooming like crazy and growing well. The dill re-seeded itself and now we have some lovely young dill I can harvest and freeze. A few squash plants are still hanging on and have a few blooms, and the calendula has seeded and spread all over a part of the walled garden and blooming nicely. The cannas I started from seed have a few blooms, and I must remember to dig the roots this year. There are green onions because the potato onions I planted have sprouted, and beets and kale and of course turnips.

And flowers. Flowers everywhere. Roses, zinnias, those ones I call stevia, Victoria salvia, the calendula, a few marigolds, chrysanthemums, all are loving this cool, damp weather. There are chives in abundance, basil still growing, and the perennial herbs have tender new growth. It does my heart good to see all this, and I feel grateful because the plants have managed quite well without me. Even some small lavender plants, some that I started from seed and others that I bought, are looking strong and healthy and I am hopeful they will survive the winter.

I will have to get back out there soon and do some cutting back and cleaning up, but for right now it's all good. Now I'm looking forward to the arrival of seed catalogs, when the whole cycle will begin again. I have to admit, it's exciting. Because next year, in the gardener's mind, will always be better, there will be more time, less weeds, and fantastic results. 

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Booths and Gardens

55 and foggy, with a clear day expected. Some light rain last evening and the evening before has been a blessing.

I am so grateful for these cooler mornings. The little bit of rain we got wasn't nearly enough, but it helped cool things down. And the heavy fog and dew added a little more moisture so the gardens look happier, and so do we. We will have to water again this evening, but we had a day or two respite.

Not much news from here. We stocked our Marietta booth yesterday but I forgot to take photos. July was probably the best month we have ever had at this location, clearing enough to pay all our taxes for the year--here in WV that's personal property, real estate, the business taxes and tax on our gas well. That's a good feeling. Riverbend booths are also doing exceptionally well, again probably the best month we've ever had. 

We restocked Riverbend Friday. Here's a few photos of the changes.

The dressing table we took in last week. Below is the stool that goes with it.

A different way to display hankies--in a spoon rack.

The Delta variant of Covid has us worried, however. Will this become the Covid Journal again? I hope not. Larry has a trip to Florida coming up, and the news from there isn't good. He'll be at his sister's home and not traveling around but still there are the airports. In our county there are currently 21 cases, but after fair week I expect that number to go up. I guess it's time to mask up again, although the masks we have are not the kind that can protect us, but just protect others from us. Still, every little bit helps, I suppose.

On the garden front, Larry picked and we shelled limas the other day. It's the first time we've raised them, and they've done well except Larry jumped the gun and picked most of them too soon. But since we've not raised them before he wasn't sure when exactly to pick. There's another bunch coming on soon, so they'll be bigger beans I'm sure. Even so we got enough for half a dozen meals and I'm happy since it was only a half row. We'll grow more of them next year.

The tomatoes are starting to ripen fast now, and I'll be making Jenn's chili sauce today. We really liked it; it makes a fast and easy meal with kielbasa or other sausage and put over rice or pasta. We're eating tomatoes three meals a day, heaven in my book. Mostly what we have right now are the Black Crims, Indigo Cherry, and German Pinks. All are heritage varieties and are really producing. The late cabbages are doing very well despite the drought, a testament to Larry's watering. My late lettuce, kale, beets, onions and squash in the small rock-walled garden are all doing well once they got large enough that Clyde the cat quit digging in there. That was frustrating; I'll need to find a way to keep him out if there is such a way.

That's about all the news for now. I hope all of you are well and getting a little rain. Seems like it's dry almost everywhere.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

In Bloom

71 this morning, rain and storms off and on all day. Very humid, but cooler this evening.

I took my camera for a walk through the flower gardens this evening. There is so much color right now. In winter, it will be hard to believe that these colors were real.

I wish I was one of those people who keep track of the names of the varieties they plant. All I know about this rose is that it's beautiful, fading pink to yellow/orange in the center.

Fuzzy pic of feverfew, which is about finished now, but hopefully self-seeding again for next year.

I do enjoy the simple modesty of begonias. They seem to thrive so easily in pots, and I put them in my gardens like that sometimes to fill empty spaces.

Bee balm, gazing at itself in the gazing ball. Also a self-seeder.

Old-fashioned tall phlox and double orange daylilies come up here every year.

Mandevilla, which I think is supposed to be a vining plant. I nip off any bits that want to vine and it seems happy enough. Such bright flowers.

Ye olde standby for planters, petunias/ These have been exceptionally pretty this year.

I believe this hydrangea is Hydrangea macrophylla serrata.I am so in love with it. After years of trying, I finally have a good plant. Now to keep the deer away. This bush is covered with bloom this year.

I call this stevia--I believe it is a variety of stevia anyway, but not, I think, the one that makes sweetener. I like this plant for its hardiness, it's wide range of colors, and for its constant bloom clear up to and sometimes after frost. 

A climbing red rose that was a marked-down buy several years ago. I believe I'm getting my 5.00 worth.

Drift roses planted last year. They've grown fast.

These lilies are 5 feet tall. I don't know the variety. They seem pretty happy to hobnob with the coneflowers.

Sweet little lemon lilies have a hard time here. I think this flowerbed is too dry for them. But they solider on regardless.

Here they co-exist with coreopsis and coneflower.

A new rose this year--and did I keep the tag? No, daggone it. the deer have been mowing this one off until last week when Larry put a piece of chicken wire over it. Not the best solution but it will do for now. The grateful plant immediately sent up a flower in thanks.

I am not sure how this little vine got into this pot. Maybe a leftover from last year? I don't know, but I like it.

Autumn sedum getting ready to bloom--if the deer don't get it first, as they do almost every year.

Coneflowers are so dependable in my dry ridgetop gardens. They seed themselves and I leave them to it.

Mingling with tall salvia leucophylla that has self-seeded here every year for the past 30 years, ever since I brought some seeds home from some plantings at work.

Self-seeded calendula mixes it up with the potato onions in the overgrown herb garden.

Can there be any leaves prettier than this coleus?

Color everywhere, even my golden yellow dog.

Come winter, I will look back at these photos and not believe that things were truly this green, this colorful.

Ad lastly, my long-awaited white phlox. About 40 years ago, I was working as a substitute mail carrier on a rural route. At one home, a patch of white phlox grew in deep green shade, and every time I delivered mail there, I would stop for a few minutes and just take in the cool beauty of it. I wanted some for my gardens so bad, but until 3 years ago never bought a plant. This year I have my first blooms, and I am so very grateful for them. They take me right back to those young days when I was so hungry for beauty, and my place was still so rough and raw. It took a long time to get them to where they are now and they're far from perfect, but they make me happy, and I can feel myself relax whenever I am in them. It's been worth the wait and the work.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

More Spring Flowers

49 and cloudy, after a day and night of wonderful rain at last.

I am so grateful for the rain of the past 24 hours. I know it probably ruined some plans but we needed it badly. I'll have to get out and weed as soon as I can, because this is sure to make them jump out of the ground.

I snapped a few more flower photos as we were on our way out to the yard sales yesterday. The sales weren't so good with the rain, but the flowers were just fine.

First, my new garden sign. Sage advice, my friends.

I was at the wrong angle for this photo of the rambling rose by the driveway. This, as I recall, was supposed to be a tea rose, but here we are, bright red and rambling.

I call these Japanese iris, but I wonder if that's the right name for them? I can't remember where I got them but they were given to me years ago and have spread well.

The red spirea looks like it will be beautiful this year. I gave it quite a haircut last year and I think that helped it immensely.

This little pink rose bush is about 40 years old. It doesn't bloom like it used to but it hangs in there.

I am not sure how these peonies ended up here, but I am pretty sure I didn't plant them there. And of course, they're the best ones I have.

Lemon balm makes itself at home anywhere. I have to watch that it doesn't take over my gardens because it would be happy to do so.

I've waited three years for a bloom on this peony. It's just gorgeous--and of course I have it planted in the wrong place because it is reaching for the sun. So I guess I need to move it but I hate to take the chance of losing it.

The last of the tomato and pepper plants waiting to be put out in the garden. A pity we didn't get them in before the rain, but it was so very hot and dry I was afraid they'd die even if we watered them.

Some new little shrub roses, called drift roses. The photo doesn't do them justice. They are all sorts of shades of pink, peach and yellow, just beautiful. I planted these last August, I think.

A view of the Japanese iris and the peonies behind them. 

A close-up of a red rambler that used to be the prettiest pink tea rose. The grafted dose died back, and ta-da, we suddenly have a red rose.

Another poor photo of a pink rose, planted  years ago. I need to find a way to get better photos of pink flowers. 

There are still more things in bloom. I'll be grabbing more photos soon.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.