In just a few weeks we’ll have our first frost, and a few weeks after that we’ll likely have our first snowfall of the year. And although, given our current warm temperatures, that may be hard for us to believe, trees and shrubs have no doubts. The warm yellows of the woods bordering our backyard, above, and the orangey- red of Staghorn Sumac, below, are proof.
Every Saturday, The Propagator encourages gardeners around the world to share six things that are happening in their garden. Here’s what’s happening in my garden, as I start the process of emptying pots and cutting back tatty looking annuals.
I’ve started to empty out pots of annuals ( I need to let the pots dry before storing them in an unheated shed for the winter), and one had a purple-leaved Sweep Potato Vine (Ipomoea batatas) which, for the most part, seemed to do nothing except provide food for slugs all summer. So I cut it back to just a few leaves and gave it a big drink of water. A last supper, if you will. Two days later it pushed out a gorgeous flower! I watched this honey bee delve around in its depths for a bit before it emerged and paused long enough for me to take its portrait.
Have a great weekend everyone, and if you’re in Canada or the United States, have a great Thanksgiving long weekend.
Beautiful colours and what a great shot of the bee! Love the sage and want to grow more in my garden too, so will look for the S. farinacea. Have a great weekend Chris.
Thanks Cathy – you too!
That’s it, the fall colors are coming to you too… Very pretty blue salvia with the zinnias next to it. Have a good Thanksging
Thanks Fred!
Salvia farinacea is native here, and I’ve found ditches filled with it in the hill country, mixed with Gaillardia and sunflowers. Your version is more colorful, and beautiful!
That is so interesting! The little I read about this cultivar indicates it was, indeed, selected for colour and maybe size.
Great bee photo.
Lucky timing!
Happy Thanksgiving! What a great backdrop for your celebration. I always loved the Red Sumac, are those Sugar Maples in the background?
And to you! It’s a mixed deciduous woods, with maple, basswood, oak, ironwood, hickory…
Beautiful woods, Florida is sadly lacking in woods where I am. Our Thanksgiving is closer to the end of November.
Oh right…how could I forget …the last Thursday, followed by a huge shopping spree?
LOL, something like that. I cook but have never attended Black Friday.
Snowfall in October! I get it. That is how your climate works. It is just difficult to imagina. Is that sugar maple behind the snowberry?
Yes, it is. Usually no snow here until early November…usually frost by mid October, but night temperatures aren’t forecast to be lower than 10 (50 Fahrenheit) for the next two weeks…
Gee, it gets cooler than that at night ‘here’!
We have a few straggling dahlias, a dandelion or two, and that’s about it here in our WMass yard. That’s a lovely shot of the bee nestled in the Ipomoea.
As of now, the kale looks good, and some of the Calendula, for some reason. Also the odd dandelion!