You've all been so industrious.

Ummmmm.....I've been a slouch. We had stellar weather this summer (well except for Irene and Lee). It seemed to be warm and sunny off and on with just enough rain that we weren't slaves to the sprinklers. And during all that good weather, I did nothing! Guess I just decided I needed a summer off for once. I did a slight bit of weeding but nothing too much. I dare say I even stayed out of the nurseries for the most part.

A couple weekends ago I finally decided to do some work, but believe me, I haven't strained myself! I took cuttings of coleus which are rooting nicely. Where I am going to store 30 coleus for 7 months is beyond me though. And while I was pondering storing the coleus I took many cuttings of persian shield and geranium! Not sure what I'm thinking, but there's always room for more plants, right?!?!

I've decided to repurpose three of the cottage beds to veggie gardens. This means digging out (and dividing) daylilies, a bunch of phlox, some shrubs, salvia, alchemilla and a whole bunch of other stuff. It really is quite amazing just how much plant material I have stuffed into what appear to be small-ish beds. At the end of the month we're going to build raised beds and next spring we'll be ready to go with veggies. I'm really excited to have the veggie garden in the picket fence area where the deer won't be able to get at it.

Finished a 4+ weeks of redo of large portions of all 10 beds and the addition of 2 new ones. I have been calling it "The Big Dig" My 8 year old garden had a lot to dig to divide, move and share. Many newbie mistakes to correct too. Soil amended and added to.
For the first time in a few years I can see soil between plants. I will collect the leaves from mine and my neighbors front yards (aren't I nice). They will be run through the leaf blower on reverse to chew them up into a fine mulch to cover all the beds. With so many moved plants I want to protect them in this the newly dug soil from heaving this winter. Also we had a drought the first half of this summer and if we have anything like that next summer the mulch will help. I will also put on a layer of unchewed leaves too.
New plants were part of the redesign too. Planted 10 new daylilies in coral pinks in the new "Hot" color bed along with hot pink phlox, 2 coral pink roses,deep hot pink clematis, peonies and some fill in with coreopsis Moonbeam. I will see how this bed fills out next summer before I add anything. I do not want to repeat my old newbie mistake of over stuffing a bed. Got 2 other clematis to fill some vertical space. I had about 15 other dayliles in pots from last and the beginning of this summer that were part of the 2nd new bed of purples and lavenders.
I had to buy so much composted manure to amend the soil and top soil for filling the holes of dug perennials I couldn't think of buying more plants other then the ones ordered and waiting in pots here. I will order a few companion plants this Jan. for spring. Will try more seeds for annuals next season to fill in the gaps while the newly divided plants increase slowly. I am so excited to see how all the changes play out next season.
We have only less then 4 years to go before DH retires and my garden budget disappears so it is time to learn the art of growing my own from seed.

Christinmk...Love Anemones too. Need more. Shouldn't buy anything new, but your luck at Lowe's makes me think I should at least look,lol. Many of the divides I gave away this Fall ended up in veggie gardens to hold till spring. Works well.

Aftermidnight...What is Couch Grass? My evil invader is Creeping Charlie.

Lavenderlass... I'd love to grow blueberries. Are yours alone or mixed in a perennial flower bed?

Gardenweed... Wow your WS sounds great. I tried it once with little success. I will try again.

Schoolhouse... I keep hacking back my Ivy too. Have a 7yr. old 6'X4'patch in the center of a bed. I have dreams of trunk like stems raising up the leaf cover like a bonsi, if I can last that long,lol.

Natal... Makes me tired just reading about all the big moves and prep.Good for you!

Soxxxx... Lol, no don't tell. I won't.

Adriennemb... Major shape up, sooo much work. Feels good though I am sure. Next summer the prize.Snow before Halloween, ouch. We have until mid November. How do you spend your garden energy in the depth of winter?

Ogrose... Love OG roses too. Just ordered a Damask and a Bourbon from Vintage Gardens for spring 2012. I hear if you keep a pair of swans or a Border collie it will clear geese from an area. At least it is a green solution.

Luckygal...Have the tucking away of summer furniture to do too but have had 2 weeks of rain and am in waiting.

Aklinda... 2" of rain in a whole year. I cringe! We had a very rare period of no rain the beginning of this summer and I was beside myself.

Thyme2dig... Coleus indoors. Did that one year with a very large pot about 20" across. Stuck the cuttings in to fill the pot and raised it on a few bricks under a window. They did great. They were all reds, blacks and magentas which added to a festive Christmas.

Elizabeth

I must be wearing my invisibility cloak today lol
*tucks it away in magic bag*
I shall talk to myself
Cracking- should be interesting to see how your fall sown seeds fare. Delphiniums are a lovely cottage garden plant for those who can grow them and add some delightfully clear blues.
*agrees with self*
;)

Couple days ago I got those plants by the patio moved out and replanted. Looks a lot less crowded and better now. Moving them out made several open areas in the bed for smaller shade and semi shade plants there. I'm thinking I may keep those spaces open, in case the big Sycamore out front has to be cut down (which would mean a lot of shade plants suddenly without shade) ;-( The tree has a bad case of anthracnose and it has not cleared up like I hoped it would. Everyone knock on wood right now that it 'gets better' next year!! It has been a nice shade tree for so long that I would dearly miss it if it were gone. Yesterday was a sucky day for me and I was looking forward to getting outside and planting a few seedlings and other stuff, but it is pouring rain right now. Oh well, guess the newly moved plants are getting a nice drink...

-Elizabeth, mmmmmmm. I like the sound of that Hot bed with all the pinks and corals!! Hope you post pics next year of it ;-)
CMK

Crackingtheconcrete....I am so sorry I missed you. My DH is constantly interrupting me when I am online for any length of time. He is a letter carrier who lives on his route. He is assigned to take brakes and lunch at home. As soon as he comes in I jump up like a Jill in a box to let him sit at the computer.Many times he closes my browser out of habit and makes me loose my place.
When you scatter seed do you scratch the soil or sprinkle any soil on top afterwards? I would absolutely love more true blues that Delphiniums offer.One of the redone beds is meant to be yellow Daylilies and blue companion plants. Got the daylilies but have not got the blues yet. I thought I would have to wait till spring. Never thought of buying seed to scatter now. Worth a try.
I have half a measuring cup of Candy Lily seeds and some Daylily seeds collected. Will buy some seeds to try WSing again too.
Elizabeth

Elizabeth, it's totally okay :) It struck me as funny, and I was laughing when I wrote it, having fun being silly, but you are so sweet, Thank you :)
I fall-sowed because that's when seeds naturally drop (so someone pointed out) , and also because I'm horrific at remembering what I put where come spring, even if I make little maps for myself in a gardening notebook so thought this would be a great time, since I can still remember what's filling space where and how much space it's using.

I sort of fluffed or loosened the dirt, then scattered before a rainfall.

Elizabeth, couch grass (Elytrigia repens) also known as quack grass and a few other common names has creeping roots sometimes the thickness of the wire in a coat hanger and just as strong. I think it can penetrate anything, I've had it go right through a lily bulb and I've even pulled it out of landscape ties. Once it invades a bed it's an almost impossible job to get rid of it without using something like roundup.
What I've been doing is taking everything out of a bed, digging as much of the evil stuff as I can, tilling the bed, waiting for the bits missed to start growing, digging again, tilling and digging again before replanting with fingers crossed, not fun but I found this method works for me.

Annette

Annette, maybe you could share some of your "common names" for couch grass! I'm sorry, it's not funny but I can only imagine the lovely new names you have come up with for this mortal enemy of yours. I don't think I have ever dealt with anything like that in the garden. It must be exasperating.

Not much going on in the garden right now.

- I attempted (and think I succeeded) in rooting some garden phlox cuttings... Someone said they were really easy to root, and I guess they were right.

- Waiting for the sick tomatoes to die so I can clean up that bed. Hoping to get a couple last edible tomatoes from those vines, else they'd be gone now.

- Experimenting with a new way to root rose cuttings in the fridge. So far, not working, LOL.

- Trying to decide where to transplant garlic that's planted too close together.

- Trying to figure out what to put together for a local flower show entry. I think I have an idea, but it's hard because competitions and flowers are total opposites to me.
Flowers are meant to be given, shared, enjoyed. Not made into success factors. But, the garden club are nice folks, and need entries so I figure it's a chance for someone else to enjoy some of my flowers and I certainly don't care about winning anything (what a bad attitude, eh?)

Lois in Pa

Wren- The blueberries were just planted with strawberries under them, but the deer have been nibbling, so now they're being moved to a new bed (inside the garden, where I can watch them more carefully) and mixed in with bee balm, daisies, coneflowers, salvia and some annuals, probably cosmos, zinnias and some marigolds. The deer don't like any of these flowers and the perennials are all cold hardy enough, to be happy in the kitchen garden...along with lots of clematis, on the arches and arbors.

Butterfly bushes do a wonderful job of protecting almost everything deer like to eat (along the back of most beds) but they're not quite hardy enough to live happily, out in the kitchen garden. No protection from any buildings and more wind, make that a zone 4 (almost zone 3) garden. The fairy garden and the little garden under the plum trees have more protection from the wind, so they do pretty well with the butterfly bushes and the roses. Also, the lavender seems a little happier in these gardens, too.

Sorry, long answer to a short question :)

LOL Thyme, I can't put in print some of the names I've called this little devil.

Annette

wren-garden - for your blue, have you tried balloon flower? They're very easy to grow from seed and also excellent winter sowing candidates. I've had my original plant 10+ years, so they're long-lived. No pests or critters bother them from what I've observed, they thrive on neglect with full sun and produce tons of seed so you can grow more of them. I've never watered mine; they perform the same in drought or wet seasons. You can tell they produce lots of flowers. This year they bloomed the 3rd week of July right through September.

Platycodon grandiflora/balloon flower
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"shoot, we're just getting started, after 100 Degree weather last week, finally Fall is arriving!"

Same here. Time to start planting things that I have held in pots untill it cooled down.

Saturday (the 8th) is our fall swap. Not much to swap this time after our horrid summer.
I am so excited, one of the swappers is bringing me some tadpoles for my pond.

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My repeat bloomer yellow iris is blooming for the 3rd time this year.

This pic. is Mexican limelight salvia.

Thryallis bush. It is really a survivor this summer.

Yellow bird of paradise tree/shrub.

Triple datura. They are 7 feet tall.

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Rose of Sharon

The roses are finally putting out buds for the fall bloom.

Oh my, what can I say other than thank you for sharing your lovely garden, it has definitely brightened up my morning. I don't know how you guys survive never mind your gardens in the heat you've had this summer. I start wilting when it gets over 70 and get into some serious whining when it gets over 80.
Right now this gal is looking out a window at the overcast sky and thinking well that it for this year old gal.
On the up side this is the kind of weather I can get a lot of cleanup done :).

Annette

The salvia and yellow bird-of-paradise shrub are fantastic!!

Lavenderlass... So, I could grow a Blueberry bush in a perennial bed, neat. Good info on the Butterfly bushes. My niece's new house is beset with deer.It's perfect because Butterflies are one of her loves. She has Butterflies used in her home decor all through her home. I will tell her.

Gardenweed... What a beautiful blue in the Balloon flower. I will try them. I could still use a blue that started blooming the first week of July on for 4 weeks to bloom at the same time as the yellow Daylilies. Thanks for the photo.

Plantmaven... The Datura is so dramatic, love it. I second Annette's Awh at your gardening in such heat. I too wilt beyond 70 degrees. I bend over to pull one weed and I am sweating. Most days,do you have to keep topping up the water level in your pond? Have a lot of wildlife coming to the pond desperate for a drink? Enjoy your cooler temps.

Thanks y'all. That's texan for youse guys. lol
I have to be careful or every plant in my yard will be a yellow bloom.

Wren, the pond is new, only a couple weeks old. A first for me.

I was thrilled the other day to catch a picture of a Tenn. warbler....I think.

So far only a few birds and a couple of toads. My little toy fox terrier keeps the squirrels treed most of the time. She weighs 6 lbs. She thinks she's big.

I am too lazy to go get the camera, so here is one from this spring.

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-plantmaven, oooooo. I adore your double yellow Datura. Never tried growing those before, but I really ought to. Love that pale yellow shade too.

Well today has been somewhat nice. No rain at least and the sun just now breaking thru. I've been outside potting up the annuals into smaller containers to bring in for winter. It was kind of sad having to dismantle all of my big pot plantings. But I know that, now it is getting so cool out, one morning I would wake up to find some badly nipped annuals! I already have taken cuttings of all the coleus I want next year rooting inside. I've still got to dig up nearly a dozen Pelargoniums (annual geraniums), two cannas, plus a number of newly gotten canna tubers I potted up last week. Those can take the cooler temps okay though, so will wait awhile for those. Oh yeah, still have to dig up the lemon grass and rosemary to bring in as well. But those can wait too.

Here is all of the annuals I am going to be overwintering this year. Oy! Maybe I am in over my head???! LOL.

I really like the tall variegated leaf on the right (flowering maple?)
Does your black ipomeoa continue growing all winter indoors?

Plantmaven, how old is your Thryallis? I'd never even heard of it until a recent plant sale. Picked up a small one. Do you prune yours? Does it die back during cold winters?

Nat ~ I got it at a swap. It froze to the ground this past winter. So that is all this year's growth. I really like it. We had some really hard freezes.
I don't remember your zone, but the link shows 9 - 11.

Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: Thryallis

I'm in 8b. So I guess it would do the same as yours. We had a number of hard freezes too. Some years we don't have any.

Same here, you just never know. I love anything yellow. I am effected by colors. Yellow makes me happy. Any shade of brown depresses me. If I had to live in a brown worls, I would commit suicide.

K

@Lavender Lass-have you ever tried Nepeta for deer resistant plantings? I have had excellent results with it Nepeta Six Hills Giant in my gardens in MN zone 3. I have used it for years. I am trying it here in Alaska with the darn moose and it seems to be working well so far, but I am not sure it will overwinter as well. Our soil here is so cool that it doesn't come up until much later then I am used to.

It has been so wet here this late summer and fall that I have pretty much not done anything in the gardens except try to keep up with the weeding. I am very happy with the gardens on the whole, still unfinished and untidy but I consider that part of it's charm. It looks like all of the perennials I started with winter sowing this year are taking to the garden quite well. The foxgloves were awesome! I have never lived in a climate that I could grow them before. My poppies are still blooming-pretty sure it is the unusually cool wet weather even by AK standards. Still working on clearing up brush piles and downed trees (not very ambitiously)and trying to figure out how to get our building project off the ground-perhaps I shouldn't divert so much money into plants. Nah!

I spent the morning pulling an old roll of wooden snow fence out of the weeds behind the garden shed. It had laid there so many years that the pickets had all deteriorated and the wire was part of the soil. Not to mention weeds had grown up through it, so I had to yank and pull until this big "monster" arose out of the ground. Got most of it, but later discovered more poking out of the ground nearby. It was buried too deep, and I decided I'd had enough of that job today. So then I took a hoe and leveled off the ground back there, pulled weeds, filled in a big ground hog hole and quit. I've never seen so many walnut hulls in one place! Already dreaming of planting annual cut flower seeds back there next year.

-Hey Ariel! Yep, you are right. That is a variegated Abutilon/flowering maple. Not sure of the cultivar name. I took a cutting of it, so will see how it does. Right now it looks like a limp noodle, LOL. Maybe I can get more going inside to share. This is my first year with the Ipomoea/sweet potato vine, so am not sure if will bloom (hasn't yet) over winter or not. My Pelargoniums/annual geraniums bloom over winter inside and are spectacular. A couple were even in bloom one Christmas, so I brought them upstairs to enjoy.
CMK

Well I received 2 peonies in the mail today. Sandra Bernhardt and
Festiva Maxima. I just finished planting them and the weather is
beautiful. These are my first ever peonies.

Christin, that's gorgeous, but I love variegation. I might follow your lead and try to root some of my variegated ipomoea since that's one of my absolute favorite things this year, but I had read an article saying it wasn't worth it and to just buy new. However, I want to try anyway (in my view, five bucks could go toward another package of seeds)
Peonies sound great :) I just planted 18 huge lily bulbs in containers.

roper2008 - I think you're gonna like Festiva Maxima:

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Beautiful flowers gardenweed. I'm sure I'm going to love them, and it's
suppose to be fragrant too.

I've just been catching up on this nice long post, and you all are making me feel like a slacker. My gardens here in northern Michigan are mostly put to bed for the year, so I don't have any pretty pictures like yours to show.

The garden in front was my veggie garden until I started growing flowers for market and I expanded to the field in back.

I have 200 allium bulbs and 50 lily bulbs on their way, so I'm not totally out of work yet. Also I am trying some greens and things in the hoophouse to see how far I can push the season this year.

TM

My garden is nearly ready to take a break, altho anenomes are still blooming away and much of the other spent plant foliage is still green. I'm not willing to cut them all down yet. I need to trim the English Ivy back one more time, had a whole week of nice weather to do it but filled the days with other non-garden projects. All pots and statuary are in the storage barn for the winter, and at the end of the month I'll move the table/chairs in there too, then wrap the glider in its tarp. When I do that, to me it's truly the end of the season for me.

I can't believe I haven't purchased one new daffodil bulb. Normally I'd be planting at least 150 for naturalizing. Perhaps when I see those clearance racks with 75% off the sacks I'll have a change of heart. Sometimes they are so hard to resist!

Peonies are one of my favorites,too.

Wow! Everybody is busy.
kay

You're all making me jealous. I 'm getting married in a month, and we "accidentally" found a house we couldn't resist in a nearby neighborhood. So, I haven't been able to do a single thing in my garden, because we're waiting to see if the new house thing works. Inspections are today. Normally, at this time of year, I'm out scrounging for other peoples leaves for mulch in my gardens and to fill my compost pile. But that's all on hold. And I keep driving by the (hopefully) new place and itching to rake, dig, prune and yank. I'm hoping the snow holds off so I can transplant at least a few of my native butterfly plants yet this fall. If they don't survive, I can always start anew.

Thinman, where are you in northern Michigan? I'm in the NE suburbs of Grand Rapids. Looks like you have a gorgeous property with beautiful fall colors.

Hope everyone continues to enjoy the season. Join us over at the wintersowing forum, if you get lonely during the winter months.

Martha

Well, Mother Nature is doing all sorts of fun things!
Lookie what we woke up to on Saturday morning:

And once the snow melted, DH and Dad started to work on some raised beds:

Finished the first couple today. We're converting 3 of the beds in the cottage area to veggie gardening next year.
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And now Mother Nature is up to her tricks again and about to dump 8" of wet snow on us. The leaves are still on the tree, shrubs, japanese maples.....blech. Could be a disaster. Who the heck fooled her this year and got her panties all in a bunch?!?!

Thyme, I love looking at pictures of your garden and surrounded by such natural beauty, just a wee bit envious. Your raised beds look great, good job guys. I've been growing more veggies in amongst the flowers the last couple of years, mostly heirloom beans (my latest addiction) with some other stuff thrown in.
I hate it when the snow comes before the leaves fall, you're right it can do a lot of damage.
We're preparing for another long winter something we don't have to deal with most years or maybe this is going to become the norm? :(. There's nothing worse for a gardener than Mother Nature getting her nickers in a twist or worse jammed up you know where. She can be so mean at times.

Annette

Beautiful garden! The gardens in this yard are not lookin so cool. Rather blah in fact...... No snow yet although it sure is cool today. And windy! Makes for a yechy day outside! I'm sure the white stuff won't be long away now.

I think I have kinda given up the gusto I had a few weeks ago and am ready for the snow to cover up everything I didn't get done! So sad...... I just hope the kids have a nice couple of hours for trick or treating. :)

Ginny

Wow, I can't believe the weather y'all are having! Saw on TV that Martinsville, WV is getting snow, too, wonder how that will affect the race tomorrow!

Here in the South, it's been cool, but weather expected to be back up in the 70's tomorrow and next week. However, we'll pay the price in Jan and Feb, and, of course, all next summer.

Today the garden club I recently joined visited my garden, such as it is after our horrendous summer. I met such a nice, knowledgeable bunch, and generous, too. So glad I joined, am looking forward to being a part of this group!

11" so far of heavy, wet snow. DH has been out there twice banging off shrubs and trees. What a wonderful husband. But alas, both the shovel and the pole he was using to bang off snow are now stuck up in our big magnolia tree! At least the snow was banged off before they got stuck. I think we're probably going to get another 5-6 inches or so. Crazy!!

Preparing the garden for winter snows is like cooking a big Thanksgiving dinner - it takes careful planning and good luck to get exactly the right timing...

CMK's variegated abutilon is Abutilon savitzii. It has coral flowers and is more of a shadelover than most abutilons. Lovely plant, one of my favorites.

A real cold Saturday night and Sunday morning nipped the morning glory vines on the picket fence and the corkscrew vine on the porch - finally. I had just been bragging how good they still looked. So yesterday I removed them all, looks so bare out there now; but it's one of those rituals that tell you it's time for most other things to be put to rest too.

No snow here yet. The neighbor informed me he had his little John Deere tractor with the plow all ready to go. thyme, your garden and surrounding land is so pretty, those raised beds fit in great with the stone. Can't wait to see the veggies next year. Did I just say that? Hear we are thinking of veggies already!

Martha, I'm in the Harbor Springs area, and we do love our property and surrounding views.

ThinMan

Got five bags of leaves shredded today, the remaining two bags were filled with pretty much wet leaves so instead of trying to fight the shredder I dumped one of those bags on the veg garden and sat the other nearby under the eaves of the sheep house. I saw some parsnip plants a couple inches high, probably seeded by the older plants I tore up in August. Now they are under leaves.

It was a sunny 63 degrees, but I had a heavy sweatshirt and a hat on the whole time. Worked up a sweat, but thought it wise to keep covered up.

Will be disassembling a patio I have built upfront few years back to create a flower bed in it's place. The material will be used to make stepping stones up the hill.
Removed 11 Leland Cypruses - they were too large for the space, covering sunlight, and some were dying, leaning over, etc. Stumps will be grinded in few days, and shrubs planted for privacy and winter interest.
Planted about 700 daffodils, crocus, grape hyacinths. Tulip bulbs are still chilling in a fridge.
Got rid of worn out bird houses, decorations, small flower pots.
Removed few branches from river birches to allow more room and light for a fig tree and roses.
Pulled out hundreds of Chrysanthemums and gave them away - those guys spread like a wild fire.
Planted about 50 tall bearded iris and few perennials I found on a clearance rack in a nursery.
I love to dig in a dirt!

Natalie, what are your shrub choices? I'm a huge fan of shrubs and love to hear what others are planting. I also hope you'll post some spring photos when all those bulbs are blooming!

Plantmaven- Your garden pictures are so beautiful...but that little bird is just charming :)

Gardenweed- Your peonies are lovely. We have some that came with the place that look very similar...and they have a nice fragrance.

Thyme- Your garden is so pretty! I'm looking forward to seeing all your new veggies, next summer.

Freezengirl- I do have Walker's Low catmint. It's in the kitchen garden. For some reason, the barn kitties leave it alone out there, but when I try to plant it closer to the house...disaster! LOL That's one reason I have so much lavender.

Wren-garden, I have my blueberries mixed in with everything else, but I don't put acid on my soil, either. If you decide you need to add acid, then they'll look great with azaleas, rhodedendrons and hydrangeas (if you like the blue ones). I don't grow any of these (the first two are poisonous to horses) but I'm pretty sure they all like acid soil. Think about what else would grow under/with pine trees.

As for deer...they can be a challenge, but ours are so darn cute, we try to make the garden work with them, rather than trying to get rid of them. I've read all deer are different, depending on where you live, how many they are (how hungry they are) and if there are so many...they just devastate everything. That being said, we've had good luck with butterfly bushes, lavender, catmint, bee balm, daisies, coneflowers, cosmos, marigolds, zinnias, peonies, daffodils, lilacs, plum trees, clematis, columbine, pansies, and mints. Hope that helps your sister, a bit :)

Oops! That should say Italian plum trees. We have three that came with the place and the deer ignore them. I even have roses planted between two, with butterfly bushes in the back and peonies and coneflowers (and lots of daffodils) in front. Also, there's an apple tree, but it's very old and the deer don't bother the branches. Although, they will eat any apples they can reach :)

Thyme, I love your cottage garden! Your ornamental grasses are beautiful! How did everything fair with all the snow? We occasionally get snow and the last couple times it's been the wet variety. Down here there's a lot that's evergreen. It hurts to see things bent over from the weight of the snow.

Got my Brushwood Nursery order last week. I was very impressed with the careful packaging and amazed at how large and healthy the vines were.

Planted a couple flats of pansies this week. I think I'm done with gardening till early February. Painted the porch landing rails this week and now I need to get started on the porch swing. Hope this beautiful weather continues.