My potted Hamelia patens is still blooming, even though the hummingbirds seem to have moved on. I was quite pleased with how this did in its container, so I'm not sure if I will plant in the ground in the spring, or keep it in the container.
In the front garden, by the garage door, the two sweet potato vines I put in have completely overtaken the little iron topiary -- in fact they have taken over the whole bed! Since I took this photo, I've trimmed the milkweed back, they were falling over, blocking the door and covered in aphids - I mean just really icky looking. I hope I left enough so that if we *do* get some more Monarchs coming through, there will be something here for them.
I've got two colors of sweet potato vine -- the chartreuse and this dark one, seen here with some flowers blooming.
Here's another milkweed, this one in the back garden. I love this one, it's much better behaved than the ones in the front garden and it's not covered in aphids.
I managed to get a bit of gardening done last weekend, in the form of pruning and dead-heading mostly. The Buddleia has really grown tall, but the majority of the flowerheads are finished now, so I did some serious trimming. Among the dried out blackness, there were still a couple of lovely fresh blooming stalks, much to the delight of the bees.
And of course, with all the pruning and dead-heading, I was able to add some bulk to the contents of our new compost bin. It felt good to do that, rather than bagging it up and cramming it all in to the trash.
Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.
6 comments:
That's so great that you have hummingbird visitors!
Jayne: I totally understand what you meant about the business. I have not posted for more that three weeks now due to the business. Love your fall garden. I have those two colors of sweet potato vines in my garden too. What fast growers they are! I have to trim them quite often. But I still love them, and the trimming is very easy, so I guess I don't mind :)
Take care!
Ami from Florida
Dear Jayne, I just planted four different milkweeds and do hope they survive. Your fall garden is lovely. Mine is really winding down now, and I see fewer and fewer bees. Your butterfly bush is very pretty. Pam x
You still have some beautiful flowers left in your fall garden.
Lovely flower photos, the one in the last photo looks so fresh as it were summer.
Jayne I didn't realise how many types of milkweed there were - I don't think I remember seeing a yellow one before. Just think of the meal the wildlife will have with those aphids.
I love that milkweed bloom. My wild ones are looking bad, and I was thinking about cutting them back, too.
My sweet potato vines have been blooming, too. Soon, I will be digging them up to see if they produced any potatoes big enough to eat. I will add another post to the ones I have on the subject. Do you ever eat yours?
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