White Mist Flowers and Monarchs!

The White Mist Flowers are in full bloom, and apparently they are a big favorite with our visiting monarchs.  We counted 12 monarchs on one shrub at one point.  I have always loved the white fall flower on this hardy plant, but now I have an even better reason to love it!

Some new plants

Two weeks ago, I planted a bunch of fall plants.  I was at a big store, and they had 12 packs of broccoli, cabbage and lettuce.  I didn't really want twelve, but the price was right.  Unfortunately, the seedlings were so small, that they didn't fare very well.  Cabbage worms ate most of the leaves on my cabbage and broccoli, and something, probably a rabbit, munched away all but two of my lettuce seedlings.

So I decided to pick up some new plants to supplement my previous plantings. You can see in the picture below how much bigger and healthier the new plants are then the two week old plants I previously put in the ground

October Plantings

I spent this morning putting in the last of my fall garden plants. I feel like the garden is now ready for autumn!  I have newly planted Radish, Carrot and Beet seeds. I have some broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage plants growing (though they have been attacked by caterpillars and may need to be repurchased and planted.)I also planted four Brussel Sprout plants - something I have never tried before. I have a whole pile of strawberry plants still growing from last year.  I have some lettuce plants as well as some seeds from last year. 

My new fave tool

Having recently dug up the sweet potatoes, I decided that I finally needed a garden fork.  I went to Home Depot and purchased a $35 tool. Bu then one of the outer tines bent the very first time I used it.

So, after returning the broken fork, I decided to go to Natural Gardener, and picked out this one.  It cost more, but it is way more solid.

What I love most about it, is how, when I dig into the ground with it to prepare the soil for new plants, it pulls up all the sedge, without breaking off at the root. I am hoping that I might actually get on top of my sedge problem with this new tool!!

Starting the winter garden

I haven't been gardening much.  With the hot winter, I kind of just let it all go. There wasn;'t much living anyway.

But as the temperatures dip below the hundreds, all of a sudden the soil calls again :o) 

Sweet potatoes

I harvested sweet potatoes today!  For the first time ever!  Woot!

I planted these babies back on May 15th.  The schedule says they should be ready to harvest on September 15th... but in my mind, I thought I was supposed to harvest them on August 15th. (That's why I keep a journal.  Maybe I should look at it before pulling up plants!)

Anyway, I got a decent number of potatoes - probably about a dozen.  They are somewhat smallish. If I grow them again in the future, I think I will wait another month before harvesting them.

I then set them in the garage for ten days to "cure" and I am now storing them in the fridge. I can't wait to try them!!

Lots of August Rain

The fire bush is a-fire :o)

We have been very busy recently, so I haven't gotten a chance to upload any photos.  Bu there are a few photos from some plants around the house.  Everything is so well watered and in-bloom.  Much different than our regular August!

My skyflower is doing great, both the one out front and on the porch!

Even the Obedient Plant, which always looks sad, it brightening its new far corner!

Last Christmas, I received this plant from a neighbor, who had a bunch of leftover cuttings.  It was literally just a piece of a branch.  My neighbor said to "stick it in the ground and water it"  He said it was not cold-tolerant, so it needed to remain potted.  Somewhat hesitantly, I stuck it into one of my existing pots.  And their it remained for many months.  This spring, I saw some new growth on it.  And today, it had this gorgeous flower.  The flower only lasted a few hours, but while it did, it was amazing!