Autumn – Barefoot Lily Lady

Dancing in the Wind

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.”
Emily Jane Brontë

Six on Saturday: Fall Cleanup

Taking advantage of a window of dry-ish weather here in Wisconsin to clean out my flowerbeds.

My ceramic garden frog hangs out in various flowerbeds every summer holding succulents. I brought him in today for a good bath. Now he’ll spend the long winter months on my countertop holding something for me. One week it may be apples; at Christmas a few favorite ornaments; or perhaps a small offering of pine cones and acorns.

This pretty little Heuchera ‘Green Spice’ was hiding its almost heart-shaped leaves beneath a clump of garden phlox that had worn out its welcome. Locust tree seed pods and a few bright red maple leaves from our neighbor’s tree keep it company.

Hydrangeas have taken on a mellow, fall-ish hue of pink. I’m fairly new to the beautiful world of hydrangea gardening. I am enamored, to say the least.

Here’s a little glimpse of a fun up-cycling summer project. Hubby transformed freebie drapery rods into garden stakes with just a coat or two of Rustoleum spray-paint in a lovely shade of “Gloss Grape.”

I’m a hopeless cause when it comes to growing roses. Hubby dug out a struggling rose which had refused to flower for me this year and last. I guess the rose wasn’t finished with me as a gardener. A bit of root was apparently left behind, rewarding us with one sweet blossom…and a little reminder to not give up so easily.

Sadly, my pots on the porch were finished off by frost…but this little survivor wasn’t finished with the show. I’m a perennial gardener for the most part, but was super fascinated by the beauty of annual gazania and think it shall make an appearance every year in my garden.

Thanks for visiting my garden. Check out our ‘Six on Saturday’ host site The Propagator for 6-picture-tours of gardens all over the world and instructions on how to join us.

Six on Saturday – “Hello” to Autumn

Like most Midwestern gardeners, my season in the garden for 2018 is coming to a close and, as always, I have so much left to do. Over the past few summers, taking care of Momma has been my first priority with time spent in the garden has been very limited. This year Momma lives with me, so my gardening strategy has been to squeeze at least one gardening task into one of her daily naps. I know I’ve accomplished a lot more this year than the past two or three, but I still feel a tad bit overwhelmed. I have four new daylilies (purchased in June) which are still awaiting planting in my flowerbeds, hostas I’d like to divide, weeds that need to be pulled, bushes needing trimming, mulching that should be done, and my newly arrived mail-order of new tulip and daffodil bulbs awaiting burial in a sunny garden location. I’ve had all sorts of reasons (excuses) – hot rainy weather paired with mosquitoes; cold rainy weather paired with soggy ground; and plain ol’ busyness paired with the tiredness that comes from late nights taking care of my mom as she wrestles with the fiend, Alzheimer’s.

With only a suggestion, my wonderful husband painted a few of my garden trellises to renew their almost spent life cycle. Here’s one he painted red for me. It looks amazing as a backdrop for some orange zinnias that are still lookin’ snazzy on the edge of a flowerbed awaiting fall cleanout.

One of autumn’s faithful beauties is most definitely sedum. So, so, so pretty.

Our fireplace woodpile houses a few chipmunks who love to use the top log as their stage for their morning ‘chippy’ serenades. I noticed something fun when I was looking through photos…their stage has a lovely heart shape in the wood-grain on the end.

One of my favorite shades of green in the garden is this one – a lovely chartreuse-y green that lights up the garden wherever it is planted. This ‘Tiger-Eye’ Sumac graces the north-east corner of our backyard deck.

I don’t recall planting cosmos this year, but I’m loving this fuchsia pink volunteer…and so are the visiting bees.

This beautiful cherry red zinnia makes me smile too. With very little effort, late summer and early fall are rewarded with this cheery flower. I’m a perennial gardener, but there is always room for zinnia in my gardens.

And I always, always wish I had planted more zinnia.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my very first contribution to ‘Six on Saturday’– a fun blog meme hosted by The Propagator, and introduced to me by Carolee, whose blog “Herbal Blessings” makes me aspire to be a better gardener. Please take a moment to check out both of their blogs. You’ll soon find yourself virtually wandering through some pretty amazing gardens all over the world and I guarantee you will learn something along the way.