Fall Blooms

This spring, we were the recipients of several pots of asters, the result of thinning by a friend. These are more pink than the asters I already had in the garden, and they're looking beautiful right now.

My other asters are a little slower. They still look like this:

Next to these darker purple asters, I have some goldenrod, which is also just opening.

 

It's a very lacy goldenrod.

This is a dry well my husband made off the front porch, to take water from a gutter. I love the way this looks, and it works really well. This summer we added some rounded beach rocks from the Lost Coast of California, where we vacationed.  It's surrounded by hostas that are beginning to bloom.

I have a few plants that arrived recently to still put in the ground --some ground cover sedum, some orange yarrow, and a catmint.  It had been very dry, but we got a good soaking rain today, so the ground should be good for planting over the next few days.  There are also a few things I'd like to divide --hopefully I'll get to them before it gets cold.

September

 The little red bugs on the milkweed pods have turned into larger orange and black beetles. I don't know what kind of beetle they are, but the contrast between the orange and black is kind of cool. I hope the birds are filling up for their journey south.

The Autumn Joy sedum is just beginning to open its buds.

The gardens look mostly green, but if you look closely there are still a few things blooming. An overblown rose with beautiful color:

Some dianthus in the pot, mostly smothered by the sweet potato vine:

 

Isn't this guy a monster? Of course, that's why we planted him.

And the dark red sweet potato vine in the other barrel is actually blooming! I didn't even know it could bloom. It's pretty, although the blossoms stay hidden inside the leaves.

The bachelor's buttons are still blooming, and I hope they're dropping lots of seed for next year. I love the blue, and I have too little blue in my gardens.

And finally, I walked down to the edge of our property, along the road that I drive up each day to turn in the driveway. I really enjoy this view, but I don't usually have a camera with me when I see it. The building in the background on the left is the barn, and the house is completely masked by the trees. The trees in the foreground are locust, and we call them our Dr. Seuss trees because of the way the branches have grown -they're old and gnarly. When they bloom in the spring, before the leaves come out, they look amazing.

Expecting Beneficials

 Someone has taken up residence in one of the fairy houses . . . and we're expecting more.