A Tour of My Christmas Decor

I do the arrangements myself. Enjoy!

My Autumn Garden: 2008

Yes, that's the remnants of the garden. We got a few sunflowers, and the zinnias are now looking OK, but we got no pumkins (despite the pretty vines) and hardly any tomatoes. It was a good try, though.

These tomato vines looked pretty, but again, very few tomatoes.

Canned

Look! I turned this:


Into this:


Woo-hoo! I rock!

The Vegetable Patch

Well, we finally have some tomatoes. Unfortunately, they aren't off any of the vines we planted this year. these are cherry tomatoes off of volunteers, cropping up from the seeds of tomatoes that dropped off last year's vines. they are growing up through the cracks in the stone patio. Note that you cannot see that patio.




Oh look! We might get a real tomato off this one! We had one already, but i caught a squirrel eating it for breakfast on my back deck. Oh, well.

Here is the boys' veggie and flower garden. Our pride and joy! Looks like we might get some pumpkins- but I'd be more sure if I saw any fruit actually setting. The vines look better than they have in a while, though- no borers yet this year, and the rain's been consistent.


Here are the boys' sunflowers. The packet was a mix, but this is the only variety that actually came up. They are small, but pretty.



Were getting some cut-and-come-again zinnias, too. I've already cut some, but here's the second flowering. I'll cut these in the morning. These zinnias do better if kept pruned.

This photo is dedicated to Maddy's mother-in-law: what a rose bush looks like if you have no time to dead-head it. "Scraggily" is a good word for it, I think. At least great-grandmother's roses smell lovely as always.
Looks like I'll have good holly for Christmas this year. I can already see the greens arrangements!!!

To the Dahlia Thief

Dear Idiot:

I am so glad you liked my dahlias enough to want to take one home. Next time, please just take the flowers, and leave the plant, instead of pulling it up completely. That way I can share blossoms with others who pass by my garden.

Thank you.

Garden in High Summer

The garden seems to be doing quite well this year. It helps that we've had nicely timed rains, so that my lax watering has gone unnoted by the plants. The tomato vines look fabulous. I even have a little box of herbs that are holding their own, even looking quite good.

I have decided I need more daylilies. They emerge from the green this time of year with a lovely burst of color, bringing out the textures behind. My yellow daylilies are scented, but on the right side of the garden, the perfume is overpowered by great-grandmother's rose. The front daylilies are also unnamed, I got them from my mom. She had bought one of those big collections- I think from White Flower Farm? some years ago, the kind where they send you a mish-mash of types they've decided not to market, so you can even name them if you wish. Late next month I should have some very dark, spidery-looking rebloomers from them, but for now I just have the sharp orange one and the rich apricot. Love them. If I find myself with some time this fall, I may even order a set for myself. I need more daylilies. Really.

The dahlias in the front are also looking splendid. I even have some mums blooming, which came back from last year. When we first moved in, we had a whole bank of them, and lots of black-eyed susans, but they're al gone now. I may reintroduce the susans. These new dahlias are smaller than the ones I planted when we moved in (those aren't blooming yet), but the intensity of the red is amazing. I use dahlias as annuals, and count it a bonus if they re-appear, which they tend to do in the front garden- the house protects things from frost.

We are also quite proud of our little vegetable patch! The boys planted sunflowers, zinnias, and pumpkins, and all seem to be growing fine at this point. it was put in a little late, so I don't know if we'll get any real results. I also lined some tomatoes down the side. We bought a lot of tomato plants this year. When I was young, the Perrygos all vied to have tomatoes by the Fourth of July, but we are not even close this year. Again, things got put in late.

Hopefully, though, I'll have pics of sunflowers and pumpkins in a month or two!