Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: December 2010

Thought I'd start with a few photos of blooms that are doing well right now.



The rest of the blooms are pretty much the same as the past couple of months, but with some cold weather damage (and by cold weather, I mean a few nights that got around freezing). A lot of leggy, scruffy perennials...can't wait to cut them back after a real freeze. Also, excuse all the leaves. Wednesday afternoon is raking time.








To see other gardens on this bloom day, go to May Dreams Garden, where Carol hosts this monthly event.

Easter Egg Radishes

Okay, so this is an example of planting seeds because of the name. I don't actually eat radishes, but I'll attempt to do something with these. I think I let them get too spicy, but maybe sliced thin with some goat cheese on bread? Mostly, I just like how cute they are. Planted some rainbow chard (transplant) in its place in the square foot garden. Also put in some Italian parsley, a hollyhock (only one of my seeds came up), and mint, which I hope will jump the corner of the bed to the granite. We'll see.

A monarch caterpillar journey

This caterpillar was sitting motionless on a broccoli leaf (in the bed below) for an hour. When I moved him to the butterfly weed, he went right into action.

More fall color at Walnut Creek

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: November 2010

Flame acanthus is enjoying another round of color after I cut it back a little last month

These wooly caterpillars are really into the indigo spires salvia

Copper canyon daisy

End of the Mexican bush sage

Diamond frost euphorbia

The butterfly weed is back after being stripped of every leaf by caterpillars in August

Gregg's mist flower with sweet potato vine

Coral nymph salvia (I thought the lemongrass next to it was dead from a freeze when I planted this guy in spring, but it snuck back in over the summer...definitely not complaining since I do love to make to make thai soup with lemongrass when it's chilly)

Firespike (some of the foliage has gotten a little wilty from the low 40's nights)

Rock rose

Still so excited about my pink turk's cap! Although it picked a strange time to start blooming.

Golden thryallis

Okay, these aren't blooms, but don't these pyracantha berries look amazingly colorful? Saw a mockingbird making off with one this afternoon.

For more gardens around the world today, visit May Dreams Gardens, where Carol hosts Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

Fall in the garden

The copper canyon is blooming alongside artemesia, indigo spires salvia (which the bees and fuzzy caterpillars are loving), and flame acanthus.

The tropicana canna foliage is beautiful, which makes up for the fact that it didn't bloom this year.

Another non-bloomer for the year: plumeria...time to move it to the shed.

The Mexican sunflowers are still producing flowers, but have become scraggly and are mostly gone to seed. However, when I pushed them back, a pale pink Turk's cap bloom was hiding underneath. This plant came from a cutting from my mother's garden and was a small transplant this spring. And it just started blooming in November...very confusing.


The pyracantha berries are bright red now.





And all the veggies in the back and front square foot beds are ready for some fall weather. All the seeds in the front two beds are up now, more or less, with the radishes (last photo) in the lead at week 3. Maybe I should have used more transplants in the front, but I'm hoping all the seedlings survive this stage!

Pyracantha glory

Someone planted this pyracantha bush in what is now a partially shady corner of my yard, so it's gotten a bit leggy; but it's in all its berry glory this time of year. Sometimes I get a flock of cedar waxwings traveling through that snack on it, which is a seasonal birdwatching highlight...except for the presents they leave behind on the deck.

Seed madness

Next week my kitchen table will be cleared of fall garden chaos. This week, I'm just embracing it.

Do you ever find yourself daydreaming over a stack of seed packets, envisioning what the garden will look like in a few weeks (veggies) or months (wildflowers)? As usual, I've got more seeds than I know what to do with, but I love this time in fall when the possibilities seem endless. Later I can worry about keeping everything watered correctly, covering things if we get a freeze, checking for insects...right now, I can dream a little dream of orange poppies, Tuscan kale, heirloom fennel.


Also did a little seed collecting from the cosmos and other flowers. And made some little seed envelopes from wrapping paper scraps (got the idea here).