This past Sunday afternoon I spent an hour or so walking through my yard, enjoying the beautiful shapes, textures and colors of the fall garden. Want to see what I found? Wish you could have been there. The weather was great! Here in the South (middle Alabama) the weather is just starting to cool off -- to the upper 70s and lower 80s.
We have a large sycamore tree in the back yard that gives cool shade during the summer. The leaves have just started to fall. When the tree is bare of leaves, and if we haven't raked up to that point, the leaves are several inches deep. Of course that's understandable if you know that each leaf is nearly as large as my two hands put together!
These zinnias have really taken off since the temperatures have tapered off. During the middle of the summer the were leggy and drying out. Now they are so perky. I understand why they are one of my friend's favorite flowers. As you can see, they grow up through everything!
This tiny plant is called a tickseed and comes back every year. It's resting beneath the celosia's and cannas. And that's one of those giant sycamore leaves beside it.
Celosia or cockscomb. This plant and all it's sisters living in my garden, came from sees given to me by one of our clients at work. Really, he brought me the flower heads (they're soft and velvety in texture) and these teeny tiny black seeds kept falling off. When the flower heads started drying out I put them in a bag and shook out the seeds. That was about four years ago, and now I have so many of the things they've become almost like weeds! This year I let them grow up where they wanted, then moved them. Some of these plants have grown as tall as me this year. As you'll see later, the bees love them.
This little plant can be a real pest. I am constantly pulling it up but this vine spreads like crazy. It's even climbing my roses and some of my bushes. My Papa used to call it hummingbird vine. But it's pretty, and for some reason it reminds me of Christmas.
Here are a couple of pictures of my roses. These are knockouts. There's nothing to growing them, except pruning. One of them is nearly as tall as my outbuilding -- it grew several feet this year. I'm going to hate pruning it, but if I do the blooms will be all over the place next year. I have had these four years now, and no problems at all. One of my favorite things is to go outside and get cuttings for around the house. Unfortunately these knockouts don't have a fragrance.
I couldn't leave out these three beauties! These are all vinca, and come back every year. This year I did with them what I did with the celosia, and transplanted them when they were large enough. They have just about taken over my garden, but the color is wonderful!
This year I planted some dahlias. They make beautiful cut flowers, especially since the flowers are very large and full. Several in a vase make a stunning arrangement. I have some on my dinner table right now!
See the bees? They were humming something fierce Sunday. They didn't like it when I started cutting some of this celosia for drying. I was amazed to feel the breeze from their wings when they passed. I've always thought of bees as being a spring and summer insect, but the mid October weather wasn't holding them back. There were hundreds of them in the yard.
Finally, one of my favorites, the sage. This plant came from a cutting from one of my mom's plants a couple of years ago. Last year we had a couple of dogs running through the yard and I thought they had killed it. Came back with a vengeance this year. I have it at the edge of my patio, and when you brush up against it or pinch the leaves, the smell is just heavenly. And yes, red is one of my favorite colors.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Isn't God's design incredible?
Reese
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