Nothing says Fall like a Scarecrow!!!

Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn. ~Elizabeth Lawrence

Fall is NOT my favorite time of the year, because I know Winter is not far behind.

I hate it when I have to start cleaning up all the flowerbeds and getting things ready to come inside.

I hate to be Cold so I know I won't be spending much time

outside..

I guess that is why I spend so much time outside in the summer...

I just don't want to come inside in the summer...

I did get to do one of my favorite things this weekend...

I went to the Greenhouse to work on Saturday..

I was so excited... I spent the morning listening to Sue tell me about all kinds of things, she started some coleus topiaries they looked so great, I had just started some at home, I hope mine will do ok in the house this winter.

I got my hands in the soil, I got to water lots of plants and I got to transplant some Coleus. Coleus of all things only one of my favorites. I'm looking forward to going back all winter to help with whatever I can..

Than I came home and got started doing that fall decorating...

If I can't get out there and plant I have to decorate..

I got my "FUNKY FLOWER POTS" back out. I knew I could find something to use them for again

Well here it is...

I went to the garden to pick a few Gourds from the

garden. I think I'm going to have plenty to decorate with...

So things are starting to really look like "FALL"

Have A Good One,

Lynn

"SIGNS OF FALL"

The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity. ~Attributed to George Carlin

All the signs are there, it is almost Fall. The days have been just beautiful.Cool mornings and beautiful Afternoons. As I worked in the gardens getting them ready for winter I found a few signs that fall are diffidently here...

This cute little Caterpillar climbing up one of the

Chinese Lanterns I just cut.

I decided not to bring him in with me...

A brand spanking new Monarch Butterfly, so new it wasn't able to fly. I still have 2 more that haven't hatched yet... The color is just so vibrant...

UPDATE...

as I was setting here typing I heard Tom yell, bring the camera..

He was getting ready to dump the stuff I just put in the cart and found this. The other Monarch, drying it's wings too. So we picked it up and moved it over with the other one...

Tom getting it moved...

Here they are together, I was so excited to see them both....

This is our brush pile...At least Tom thought it was...

Until this little volunteer came up this summer and has now covered the top of it...

It looks like it has hair...

The blooms are so bright...

I had no idea what kind of gourds they were but they are great.....

This one really says fall...The Sedum is in full bloom and getting more burgundy by the day. This one has really gotten big this year....

Well I hope you all have enjoyed the walk through the fall gardens. Have a great week and I will talk to you in a few days...

Have a good one...

Lynn

Dreaming of being a kid again....

If you're going to be weird, be confident about it.

- Life's Little Instruction Calendar

If you haven't noticed I love quotes, I hope you are enjoying them!!!

As I was cutting some plants and potting them up tonight, I was thinking of all the things I have already taken to school and wondering where I am going to put all this stuff!!! LOL

I even took my Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar to school for the kids to watch it do it's thing..It is now a cute little Cocoon... We are counting down the days til it is a beautiful Butterfly. I am just having a really hard time this year getting ready to bring everything in for the winter...

I need to live somewhere it is warm all year... No than I would miss all the wonderful seasons we have here.

I'm just glad I have the University Greenhouse to go to in the winter. Where I can play in the dirt all winter long...

I remember the first time I got to go to the Greenhouse... I thought I had died and gone to Heaven.

All the dirt I wanted and all the pots to plant in, and "SEEDS" LOTS AND LOTS OF SEEDS. Not to mention all the plants there were to propagate or transplant.. Then there was the water "unlimited" to water all I wanted and my own hose with "Plant Food" to feed all those little babies...

"WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN THAT"?

I was learning and sucking it all in. I felt like a kid again playing in the dirt NO THEY CALL IT "SOIL". DIRT is what you find under your fingernails!!! LOL

Thought you might enjoy this....

This is how I set in the evenings at my computer, keeping quite warm. This little 6 pound dog has to be the best heating pad around!!! LOL...

It would be great If I weren't "50" something and hot enought the way it is!!! LOL

Her name is Claudia and she is about 12 years old. She is the most loving dog I know. Of course she is just plain "Cute". Especially when she does stuff like this...

She is just wedged between me and the chair...

With her little head resting on the back of the chair watching little Keigan sleeping on the bed...

Pets they are part of the family....

They never complain and love you all the time....

Have A Good One...

Lynn

A wonderful set of videos...

"Life is Full of Simple Pleasures!" unknown..

As I was checking a few of my favorite blogs today I came across something that looks so interesting. I have only begun to watch them, but I really wanted to share with you. There is so much to learn from them and the video is just beautiful how it is put together.

So when you have time sit back and forget the TV and the Reality Shows and learn a little about gardening...

I plan to spend the evening doing just that...

This it the first parts to the series:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6320912252148666793&q=

Here is part 2:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2437285178897644131&q=

I know you are saying have you LOST YOUR MIND, it is 4 hours of video..

Well just watch a little at a time, the blog will be here and the links will be to so keep coming back to visit!!!

I KNOW I SHOULD BE OUTSIDE DOING MORE OF THIS ....
But I have my hot cup of coffee and my Bon Bons and I'm going to sit back and just enjoy and learn.



So have a good one,
Lynn

Looking around at what is left of the flowers...

Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of their character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning. ~Lydia M. Child

As I was looking around at what is left of the flower beds today and thinking how quickly the summer went by...

I looked at what is left still blooming. I'm always thinking of ways to extend the flowering season just a little longer. Of course I'm thinking of spring 2009 already and wondering what to plant in which beds and in pots that will make the summer seem longer.

Thanks to a few great Coleus friends from Dave's Garden I will have plenty of coleus for next year. I have received almost 35 different varieties in the mail this month. Some are already potted and others still in my kitchen in water rooting. I will have a whole bed of Coleus in 2009. It has to be my new favorite flower. Did you know there are over 1000 different ones??? I had no idea how many there were.Then there are the Coleus Gardener's that can actually identify LOTS OF THEM... I am amazed at that...

Here is a wonderful place to look at their beauty...

http://gardening.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=gardening&cdn=homegarden&tm=36&gps=324_567_0_0&f=11&su=p284.9.336.ip_p504.1.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.coleusfinder.org/

I know for sure I will plant more Fan Flowers. They are still beautiful and blooming like I just planted them yesterday. But in fact they were one of the first things I planted.

I even got them early enough to propagate a few new starts off and plant in other hanging baskets. Seeds are starting to form and I am collection for next year.

This cute little yellow & purple Torenia was another great choice this summer. This was a new color, I have grown the purple ones for a few years now, but this one just popped with all the purple around it...

This one was given to me late in the season and is just now blooming. I'm hoping it will form a seed pod for next year. I tried this one last year and planted in the back bed, but it didn't come back. It is a form of Moon flower. Are you getting the idea that I love purple... although this one is called Big Blue Lobillia. I'm just glad it bloomed this year so I could see what it looks like. This one was grown from seen back in March and it is a perennial, so I was lucky it bloomed...

I have no idea what this tiny little one is. I'm going to have to check out Dave's Garden for Plant info. Dave's Garden is a wonderful site, you can post a picture and within hours you will have an ID.. I'm sure I bought this one a few years ago but I can't find the tag anywhere. It may not be planted in the right place, it hasn't gotten any bigger in the last couple of years. But when I get the ID it will probably tell me what conditions it needs to be in...

I hope all you Gardener's are enjoy what is left of the season...

The weather is going to be wonderful here this week...

So Have A Good One,

Lynn

Fall Plantings...

Can we conceive what humanity would be if it did not know the flowers? ~Maurice Maeterlinck

This is Helenium and it is still going strong.

Of course the stonecrop seedum is beautiful also, and the Marigolds will be around until the first frost, Coleus have to be my favorite for the lasting color they give until frost also. These are a few websites that will give you more of an idea of what to plant for fall...

I hope you enjoy them...

http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/fall-flowers.html

http://gardening.about.com/od/fallinthegarden/tp/Top-10-Fall-Bloomers.htm

This is a new one I got from a great friend this spring. She just pinched hers off and I rooted it and now it is finally blooming and beautiful.

It is Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender'

I am taking this one to school with me tomorrow, I don't want to loose it...

What a pretty little face it has...

About three weeks ago one of my Dave's Garden friends mailed these from Virginia, just as cuttings. They are now rooted and growing quite well and ready to come inside. Hopefully they will make it through the winter at school too... I have even ID all of them now just keeping track of them til spring. I need to get the tags ready for them. There are hundreds of coleus' I have no idea how they keep such good track of them.

I know you are thinking what is this???

These are what I call my inside plants...

Tom's saltwater fish tank. Talk about color in the winter. Everything in this tank is alive even the rocks... I love to just sit beside it and watch. Always something new growing and we are always adding new fish or creatures as I call them...

Ok now that I am completely off the subject of flowers I will see you later...

Have a good one,
Lynn

A Sunday With Nature...

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes. ~e.e. cummings

Wild Wonderful West Virginia.... I let my daughters talk me into spending a day in nature today...

WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!

They said it's ok Mom just a little fishing.

No one was thinking it hasn't rained in a few weeks the water might be down...

Wow was it down.

We went to Arden, it was beautiful there but their was very little water and we had to walk across a lot of rocks!! Did I say a lot? Well it was REALLY A LOT! I finally just said I have walked far enough, so I put my chair down and their I sat. Just enjoying the view and the sound of the water running over all those rocks.

Tom did get a little fishing done, and enjoyed the day with nature...

Then we were on the move again... To see some more beautiful nature...

At least this time the rocks were flatter, the water was beautiful..

BUT...

Then they said come on mom it's just like steps, you can make it...

I think I had just about had enough of nature for the day, so off into the sunset they went!!!
And down another set of those so called steps...
While I stood there taking pictures
Then turned and walked away, letting the kids do what kids do while they are young...

But at least I got a lot of beautiful nature pictures. I bet it is beautiful here in the fall. I might just have to go back and check it out...

FROM THE ROAD...

Have a good one,

Lynn

Anyone getting tired of watering flowers???

'Tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes!~William Wordsworth, "Lines Written in Early Spring," Lyrical Ballads, 1798


It is getting that time of the year when everything is singing it's last song...

We haven't had rain in forever...

I never thought I would say that, with as much rain as we had this summer...

With all the rain everything looked so good. Now everything is so dry and the rain barrel is dry and the ground is as hard as a rock. I took down two sets of Funky Pots and pulled up all the tall zinnias. They were so dry and looking really bad. The Profusion Zinnias are still going strong though.. They will be a definite for next year. Except not as many Cherry ones they faded to much. The coleus are doing great as long as they have water, so I think I will do a whole bed of them next year. I'm planning on taking lots of them inside for winter so I can propagate more in the spring...Here is one called "Watermelon" that will go in for the winter. One of my Dave's Garden Buddies sent me about 15 different coleus from Virginia a few weeks ago and they have all rooted and are planted in a big pot to take in for winter.. I know I am crazy, but we already knew that!!! LOL On my way to work in Barrackville each morning I see a bed of nothing but coleus and they are still looking beautiful and they will probably look that way til frost. I want a bed just like that next year...

Remember a few blogs ago about seed snatching??? Well I want to go to this house and just pinch back all her coleus when she is not looking... of maybe I will call and ask first!!!

The new French Marigolds that promised 250 blooms per plant have really done their thing too.

If it weren't for all the annuals the yard would look pretty plain this time of the year. I just hate to give up on them and retire to the fact that fall will soon be here.

We need rain bad and the weather report says maybe Saturday, Hurricane Hanna will hit!!! So come on Hanna...

But the fall Sedum is blooming and needs no extra water. The butterflys have been all over this and the bees.

Ok time to go... Talk to you this weekend when it is raining.....

Have a good one..

Lynn

Bringing things inside... Can it really be that time??

God loved the flowers and invented soil. Man loved the flowers and invented vases. ~Variation of a saying by Jacques Deval

I spent the weekend replanting and getting things back inside. Everything I have read says you should start bringing things inside before you turn the heat on. So inside they are coming. Especially all the houseplants. Things have grown so much this summer. I probably should have cut a few things back but they looked so good. I couldn't put some things back exactly where they were last year but it's ok...

Here are a few begonias in my new plant stand. In front of the window I hope they do good here for the winter...

Things back on top the hutch looking up at the sky lights. I love the light in my kitchen and dinning room, and so do the plants.
Thanks to the Master Gardener Classes this winter I learned to propagate from a leaf cutting and this little begonia is thriving, I hope it likes it by this sky light...
This is one that got moved it may or may not do good here. Thank goodness for all my kitchen cabinet tops...

I have lots of space to sit plants up there and have one of those long tiny hoses to hook to my kitchen sink for watering up high. It reaches all around my kitchen. Thank goodness I only water about once a week up there...LOL
This is my pot of who knows what??? They came from the greenhouse this winter, a little pinch of this and little pinch of that...

Tiny babies and look now beautiful they have become this summer.

The only one I know for sure is the tall one, it is Mother of Millions. It was about 1/2 inch tall when I planted it. I see why it is called what it is because babies are everywhere. I'm taking them to school for the kids to take care of in Kindergarten so they can watch them grow this winter and have their own plant to take care of...Have a good one,

Lynn