November Garden

     The dreaded first frost of autumn has yet to arrive, but it won't be long now so I took a few photos of my castor plants yesterday just to give you a chance to see how very tall they are now. The second photo was taken when I was standing beneath them looking up. The funny looking seed pods haven't turned brown yet, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to save any seed. I picked a few of the pods and placed them underneath our garden shed, in hopes that the rodents will find them tasty (insert evil laugh) since they are very poisonous. Don't try this if you have young children or pets that are likely to find them.  

     The Burning bush, or euonymus is a deciduous shrub with fiery red leaves in the fall and my only regret is that I didn't plant it in a location that I can see from the windows of my home. 

     A couple of years ago I decided to grow some plants in our unused fire pit, with Japanese blood grass in the middle for the fire. It's still a young plant but I am happy that it has survived with the shallow soil and nearly solid bottom of the fire pit. 

    My grape tomato plant is still producing tomatoes (photo from October) but I noticed a bit of blight on it yesterday so I have to say goodbye to garden tomatoes for another year. My bell pepper plant is still alive too, and I even found a red pepper on it in a couple of weeks ago, but I think that will be the last of them. 

    This past summer I had the pleasure of talking to Dave Ledoux from the BackToMyGarden podcast and you can find my interview here if you are interested in listening: BackToMyGarden 

Castor Bean Plant

Castor plant

Burning Bush

Burning Bush 

Burning Bush

Japanese Blood grass among hens and chicks

Chrysanthemums

Dahlias 

Tomato plant

Mini Bell Peppers

Maple Fairy Garden

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.

Malva sylvestris 'braveheart'

Hibiscus Blue Satin

Hibiscus at garden nursery

Dahlia

Hydrangea Nikko Blue

Hydrangea Nikko Blue

Hydrangea Nikko Blue

Spirea Shirobana

Rose Hansa

Zinnia

Rudbeckias and Oregano

Morning glory

Morning Glory

Butterfly Bush Petite Plum

The Castor plants are now taller than the tall sunflowers!

Elderberries

Burning Bush (Euonymus)

Our new kitten Chester

August Survivers

Wow, it's been a hot and dry summer here and I'm wishing we had an air conditioner like normal people, ha ha. At least the birds have grown accustomed to my new birdbath with all this heat. I'm growing two new varieties of tomatoes this year in a large 6 foot long container placed underneath my patio. This has been a good place for growing tomatoes, since they get a lot of sun and yet stay out of the rain to prevent blight. My grape tomato is growing like a weed, and has started to produce yummy grape-shaped tomatoes and there are dozens and dozens yet to come. I also have some Manitoba tomatoes, and while these have produced my earliest ever ripe tomatoes, each and every one of them so far has had blossom end rot. I am trying to give them all the water they need, but it has been a struggle. The heat has been relentless and it seems this variety needs more water than most. My grape tomato is growing right along side them, looking happy as can be while these sometimes look a little thirsty. I have a new Dahlia this year, and I can't stop taking photos of it. The first photo is one of the earliest blooms and it's interesting how the colour has changed with the weather. I'm also growing castor plants for the first time. It is about 5 feet high now and is producing strange looking seed pods and flowers. I love the tropical look of this plant with the  big giant leaves, but this plant is highly toxic, so be forewarned. The uses for this fascinating plant have ranged from medical, to high-performance motor oil, and all the way to chemical warfare.  

Dahlia Fantasy

Dahlia Fantasy, a later bloom

Dahlia Fantasy Bud

Dahlia Crazy Love

Hydrangea Nikko Blue

Morning Glory Early Call Mixed

Poppy

Sunflower

Larkspur and a poppy

Castor Plant

Giant Castor Leaf

Seed Pods

Manitoba tomatoes and Grape tomato on the right

Steller's Jay at my bird bath

July Blooms & Caring Parents

        Here are some photos of flowers blooming in my yard this month, along with a few from our trip to Manning Park last month. I just love the way the little Colombian ground Squirrel parents stood watch over their young. They couldn't even be lured close with peanuts, one of their favourite foods. We ended up giving away most of our peanuts to the brave Clark's nutcrackers. They took the peanuts right out of our hands. Some of them can even catch the peanuts when you toss them up into the air. The peanuts were tossed, not the birds, ha ha. It's a whole lot of fun and worth the drive out to Manning. I'm linking up with Tootsie Time for Flaunt your flowers Friday. 

Colombian Ground Squirrel

Parent Guarding its young

Clark's Nutcracker

Daylily

Daylily Strawberry Candy

Daisy

Nigella self-seeded from last year

White Nigella

Nigella and Butterfly Bush

Gladiola

Echinacea 

Poppy

Lily