They are so pretty. It is nice to look at healthy plants even though they are pictures. I would not want anyone to see my stressed out yard.

Beautiful flowers and garden, "mandolls"!
Your plants are so green and lush! Wow!

I hear ya, "sooox", me too. Stressed out and bug ridden here.
~Annie

mandolls, really nice! I love how your lantana and Sedum mirror each other with their pretty round tufts. I also love that white dahlia-what a fantastic shape and clean color.
I always think to myself that I'd love to wear certain flowers as dresses and that one would be a great tutu for someone in the Nutcracker :)

I'm zone 5 too, but I never expect my lantana to get so big -- because I have heard that they really like the heat. How did you get yours to be so big and beautiful? I just love it with the sedum.

Woo Hoo, I love it when I see (pic heavy)!

I really enjoyed seeing them. Here in central Texas things are pretty crispy from the drougth.

The closest fire yesterday about 11 miles from me.

Thanks - I have been enjoying documenting the gardens this year. We have long cold Winters, but Spring Summer and Fall are pretty great here in WI. We have had a lot of rain this summer, but no huge storms that blow things around.

Silvergirl - the lantana is three or four years old. I have three of them that are in 3-4 gallon pots that I bring in every year. I spent some time in both Taiwan and Cairo, where they grow then as hedges ! It made me realize that if I kept them alive over the winter, mine would get big too.

Cracking - The white Dahilia are a new favorite of mine. "Kenora Jubilee", really prolific bloomers, And while I dont wear dresses - I can see where you are coming from.

I took this pic on a foggy morning a few days ago. It is the view out the back picture window, which is where I view the garden from the most. It shows what an un-tidy gardener I am, but it looks incredibly lush! The pumpkin vine in the foreground is a volunteer, I have just encouraged it to grow along the border of the bed there.

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Beautiful pictures, your garden still looks so lush. Do you overwinter your lantana in the house and keep it green, or in the garage and let it go dormant? I tried the attached garage last year and it died.

bev - I bring them inside, but not into the house. I have turned my attached garage into a studio/workshop. It is heated, but I only keep it at 50 degrees if I am not out there working in it. with the concrete slab floor, the big plants are probably only 40-45 most of the time. Last year I brought them in and pretty much ignored them until Jan., gave them almost no water, and didnt have them in front of the window. They were looking pretty sad. I think this one in the pics lost almost all of its leaves. Then at the end of Jan, I do some pretty serious pruning, start watering regularly again and move them in front of a big window. This one was pretty slow to get bloom this year but my yellow one was already forming buds when I put it outside in May. This pic is from last year.

Lots of great color at your place, especially the dahlias. All your potted plants really add a burst of color.

If your lantana freezes back, do not prune until you seen new growth. Their stems have pith in them and will soak up moisture and they will rot.

This past winter was unusual for San Antonio. We had several days below freezing. Mine eventually came out, but it took awhile longer than normal.

Beautiful gardens.Your dahlias look like they are huge(tall) are they??

My sedums are starting to bloom now as well.
Kathi

The tender perennials that I winter over inside make a big difference in the color of the garden this time of year.

Yes Kathi, my Dahlias are tall. While my yard is looking lush - it is not particularly sunny. The Dahlias only get 4-6 hrs of direct sun a day, so plants that are supposed to be 4ft. with 7" blooms, are 7 ft. with 5" blooms. I love them anyway, but they aren't what they are supposed to be.

Very nice, mandolls. Being in zone 4, do you start your dahlias inside? Looks like your sun conditions are similar to mine with similar results (taller plants, smaller blooms) but nothing ends the season like dahlias. A few times I've thought about not going through the hassle of storing, planting and digging but every August-September I'm reminded that it's worth it.

tj

Hi mandolls - I have tried to do the same here, to get a bit more happening in the Autumn. You've succeeded very well. At the moment 2 good shows in my miniscule plot are Hibiscus syriacus 'Red Heart' and Anemone japonica. The latter is tough and trouble free and I think it would be a great addition for you. I also have fuchsias which never seem to get going until September. Another which I would really recommend is Cyclamen neapolitanum. It starts for me in mid-August and it will grow in dry shade which is a real bonus.

Apologies to anyone who has seen these already.

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Thanks for the suggestions Flora - I copied the http: in the message and it took me to your photobucket site, where I got to look at quite a few pics of your garden. I am so jealous of your stone walls. The picture of that campanula growing in the edges & crevices of the stone is exquisite.

Being in zone 4, (-30 degrees F), there are a lot of things I cant grow without bringing them inside for the winter. Fuchsia and Cyclamen are two of them. I have managed to keep a few hanging basket type fuchsia alive over the winter, but they are always a bit on the straggly side the following years. Cyclamen I havent tried, but I have always loved them. The Anemone japonica sounds like it might work for me!

Nice pictures! Which hosta is that with the lavender flowers?

Lush pictures! Especially that hosta one. Love the one with your weedy white flowers and decoration. You grew those petunias from cuttings?? They are amazing. I'm going to have to try that for a couple special ones that don't come true from seed.

Like the color of your shed too...hey wait. That is almost the same color of mine ;-) We have good taste, LOL!
Your Dahlia collection is great by the way!
Thanks for showing your fall beauties.
CMK

Alicate - I am afraid I cant ID the hosta. My next door neighbor gave them to me and she doesnt know what the name is. It has a long slender green and white variegated leaf, and grows in tidy mounds. It flowers way more than any other hosta I have.

CMK - Yep - nothing like a nice 50's turquoise on a shed! It came that way when I bought the house 8 years ago. All my friends assumed I would re-paint it, but I like it. (I did get rid of the neon green paint in the living room, the intense marigold orange in the bedrooms and the orange shag carpeting).

Petunias from cuttings were easy. I did lots this year. I didnt realize that the seed packets that I ordered only had 10 seeds each. So every time I pinched them back, I dipped the ends in root hormones and stuck the snippings in a domed tray of 1/2 vermiculite/ 1/2 pearlite, and kept them moist. over 90% took. I more than quadrupled the number of plants and was giving them away like crazy. Someone on the "growing from seeds" forum suggested it to me.