Sunday, September 27, 2009

FOR A MOMENT I THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE FALL

On Thursday morning, when I saw this sunrise, I was shouting for joy. Several days without seeing the sun had left me feeling a little SAD. Of course I was truly glad for the rain but enough was enough, at least for one week. We moved into fall with almost unheard of low temperatures. It was short lived. Today we will hit 90 again and the humidity will just about match.

When temperatures moderate color comes back into the garden. It is particularly true of the yellow knockout rose 'sunny'. However, with the return of summer like temperatures all the color is drained from the flower my mid afternoon.

The first blooms of the Japanese anemone are opening. They are in a somewhat shady location in the English garden. Such a pretty fall bloomer.

Greg's mist flower is also in bloom.

In the spring I purchased several 4" pots of Manfreda sileri, from the Wildflower Center plant sale. They have an interesting leaf with purple spots. They are rather delicate in that it is easy to break the leaf when gardening around them so I am wondering how I am going to be able to separate the pups that are appearing at the sides. I look forward to seeing the bloom which reaches about 5 ' and which is highly attractive to hummingbirds and moths.

The white mandevilla vine is finally greening up. All sumer it has sulked in a corner of the garden. It was just too hot.

This summer we saw many examples of the English way of training vines up into trees. Admittedly they don't have to contend with some of the vines we have here which would suffocate a tree or bush, but I think allowing this vine to climb into the pyracantha will be ok.

6 comments:

  1. That is one gorgeous sunset. Where I am, the trees get in the way. Greg's Mist Flower is certainly striking.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a beautiful sky. I think you must be up high, and have a great view. We're down in a valley. So, our sky view is through trees.
    Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Morning glories and Patchwork-I caught the sky picture very early in the morning. After the rain it was so nice to see the sun was going to shine. We are up on the Edwards plateau but halfway down a hill. We seem to be a very cold spot and always get more frost than those gardens higher up. The frost just rolls down the hill.

    ReplyDelete
  4. When I worked at a nursery this past spring I was told that the white mandevillas don't bloom as profusely as the others. I don't think it'll hurt that pyracantha one bit!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jean- This one is in a pot, which may be part of its problem, and it will soon be time for it to be cut back and moved into a sheltered space for the winter.

    ReplyDelete
  6. That vine is stunning! I was happy to see the sun too!

    ReplyDelete

I love your comments unless they are spam comments which will always be removed in comment moderation.