Flowercents: Malva sylvestris 'braveheart'

Friday, 30 October 2015

Autumn Garden

Here it is, October is nearly done and I still haven't blogged! So here are a few quick photos from this month. The star of my October garden is my burning bush, and here you can see the leaves, strewn across the pathway. I had no idea this would look so nice when I planted this shrub here. My only regret is that I can never see this bush from inside my house. Next up is a little chrysanthemum plant that I bought for 99 cents, well worth the price I think. Then there is the chrysanthemum from last year. It really did well this year for some unknown reason. Next is a solitary bloom from a Malva. I think it is a seedling from the Malva I bought last fall, which never overwintered. I'm still picking the grape tomatoes that are growing under cover, and I have two peppers left on my pepper plant. I'll definitely be growing these prolific peppers again next year. Our cat Tiger celebrated her 16th birthday a few weeks ago. That is about 80 in human years, and for the most part, she acts 80 too, ha ha.

Pathway strewn with Burning Bush Leaves

Burning Bush

Chrysanthemums

Chrysanthemums overwintered from last year

Chrysanthemums

Malva Braveheart

Red Bull's Horn Peppers

Little tomatoes still producing

Tiger on her 16th Birthday

Dew on the grass

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

September Garden and a New Kitten

September is one of my favourite months of the year, and while the garden is certainly looking less colourful, there are still things worthy of a photo or two. It is also a great time of the year to visit your local nursery for finding bargain plants. The first photo is one of my bargain finds and it is called Malva sylvestris 'braveheart' and I just love the name. Next is a flower from my hibiscus shrub that I thought was dead this spring but obviously wasn't, and another hibiscus photo that I took at my local nursery. The dahlia is also a bargain plant that I bought earlier this summer, and it just recently started blooming. It came without a name but I think it will be one of my favourites. The hydrangea blooms always looks so nice, even though the flowers are basically dead. Wouldn't it be nice if all spent flowers looked this pretty? This is the first time I have ever been able to grow zinnias past the seedling stage. I don't know if it was our drier spring & summer or the fact that the slugs and snails didn't find them this year that made the difference. My castor plants are still growing, and as you can might be able to see, they are taller than my tall sunflowers now. It is a zone 10 plant so it won't survive our winter but I might save some seeds. In other news we adopted a new kitten! His name is Chester and he has added a lot of love & laughter to our home, not to mention trouble. Chester loves to sit on the computer keyboard and turn off the monitor and do all sorts of other things that make life interesting. Our older cat Tiger is not very happy with this new intruder, but I hope she will adjust eventually.