forgot the last one.

And then just for fun, I doctored up the jasmine which is still blooming on my chainlink fence.

Great season, Mocc. Your plants are well on the way to grown up. : )

Don B.

I perfectly understand the need to go out to the garden to photograph those "last" shots of beauty! There's the appreciation of nature in all of its stages. You have been able to capture fall's glory.

That photo of your camellia sasanqua in pink and the coral bark Japanese maple is fantastic.

I recently posted a thread with some of my photos in black & white. Your photos inspire me to look again at my own to see what I have to share.

Hope your reno is going to plan.

NHL, I had you in mind when I posted the leaves curling and changing color. I haven't tried them B&W yet, but I will test them. Please do look again at your shots to share during the downtime. I always enjoy your hosta and their pictures.

The reno is doing fine, the contractor is chatting with the window guy, and the lead carpenter/framer is beginning to do the window frames to accept what we are ordering....They won't be "name brand" windows for residential, they will be like commercial windows built for store fronts. Tempered glass, and with features to make them hurricane proof WITHOUT installing plywood protection when storms threaten. For us old folks, picking up plywood panels and holding them in place to bolt down is just not a good plan. I'm sure the insurance company will agree.
Meanwhile, it is getting very exciting as we get more like a real living space.

Mocc, these pictures are beautiful! You've captured the transition to fall so beautifully. The textures in these pictures are awesome.

You led us gratefully into spring early this season (while many of us northerners were chomping at the bit waiting, waiting, waiting for Old Man Winter to leave) so it is only fitting that you lead us once more into a prolonged fall, Alabama style! My hostas are all snow covered now, I miss them, so I thank you for allowing some of us to savour the last vestiges of hosta beauty that is your garden.

I still don't own a Squash Casserole (hopefully to be rectified next spring ðÂÂÂ) but I can recognize it nevertheless, thanks to you.

Jo

NHL, I had you in mind when I posted the leaves curling and changing color.
Thank you Moc, that was sweet of you to think of me! You remembered then how much of a fan I am of the fall colors!

I haven't tried them B&W yet, but I will test them.
Please do try it sometime. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Please do look again at your shots to share during the downtime. I always enjoy your hosta and their pictures.
Thank you! I will! Thanks for the words of encouragement.

Hurricane proof, commercial windows sound like a very good idea! Glad that it's all coming together.

Mocc, did all of yours go down with the cold front? They said on the news that it was 26F last night. The ferns did freeze, but most of the hosta didn't.The passion flowers didn't go down either.

(Sigh) It looks like a long drawn out decline again.

bk

bite me... it was NINE degrees this morning ...

where the bacon???

ken

Ken, you had me roaring with laughter!!! We currently have a weather advisory...."stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary" ....no visibility, snow squalls, etc. what the?... it's not even winter yet!

Aha, well, the bacon is on the salad. In New Orleans, they serve "Jackson greens" using old Andrew Jackson's preference for red eye gravy (bacon BITS and some of the grease with vinegar and a dash of coffee)....I think.

Well, I spent about 2 hours searching for the lyrics which included "living on Jackson greens" and could not find it.
But I had a fine time looking. I also took more pictures, in light so faint near the final shots, that I had the flash going off. Will take a look at what comes through to share. What I saw was the same sort of "frosted" look, translucent kind of leaf, that I found in early spring when tender leaves were unfurling too soon. I also got the rest of my tender ferns and jasmine and peace lilies under the Teahouse roof..

Looking forward to more pics! ðÂÂÂ
I'm still "gardening" vicariously through you....as I hear the wind outside and see the white-out conditions out the window.

Oh my, Jo, and to think you and I are chatting 2000 miles apart, the whiteout conditions not taking out your power, and I'm thinking COLD is when I have to put on a jacket!

I feel for you, Lady. I'd love to have a cuppa hot cinnamon spice tea and watch it snow, no worry about power lines down for weeks afterward, or anything else uncivilized.

I'll download the pics from my phone a bit later. Hopefully a few came out. There was such a stillness about the garden tonight. Not a breeze, my breath visible before me. Quietness because of the heavy dew on the mulch and brown pecan leaves beneath my feet. The two doxie girls with noses to the ground, following a scent down the pathways. My empty spaces beneath the camellia sasanqua where I'd toted away the big pots of bougainvillea, peace lily, staghorn fern, birdnest fern, wide tongued sansiviera....something else, what was it....

So I'll be back. I hope that feeling of stillness comes to the camera's eye.

Just a few more. It was really cold and night fell quickly.
It is already 29 at 9:30 pm and that was last night's low. I think it is going lower tonight.

I think that is about all there is, my friends, so let's keep dancing!

Love the one with the fish statue! Is that your Clear Fork River Valley?

Kathy

Kathy, yes, that is Clear Fork River Valley. With its heavy substance, I guess it took longer for the cold to impact it.
I haven't gone outside this morning yet, it is still 28 F and the construction crew is here. There was frost on the car windows early.

It is time for the hosta garden to rest.

Geez,Mocc,I didn't think you even had a dormant season! It was 14 degrees this morning,and my hostas have been gone for quite awhile. Nice pics,though,of yellow leaves. I have no leaves to see at all,not to mention tons of leaves covering them up. See ya next season. Phil

See me next season? Phil?

Are you the famous PUXATUNY PHIL who goes to sleep in the fall and doesn't show up until Feb 2nd? Or......

Well, I hope to see you around during the Winter Alphabet season. So hang with us, Phil, better days are coming.
Enjoy the downtime.

No countdown here Moc, temperatures climbing close to freezing today. Crunch, crunch, crunch is the sound of footsteps on the frozen skin of earth. Oaks are the only trees stubbornly holding onto their leaves. 4 feet of lake effects snow in upstate New York, so I guess it could be worse. Hosta have all decided there's no use fighting Mother Nature.

It looks like y'all are going to have a good dormancy giving your garden a good opportunity to rest up for a nice Spring. See y'all in the Spring; time to prep the snow blower and test run the generator.

Adios,

Jon

Great pictures, JonnyB, those are seriously evergreen trees. I was hoping for the ravine dry streambed, and yes, it looks great too.

Last night must have done in the rest of my hosta because there was a heavy frost this morning at 9am still on the ground.

The construction crew showed up before 7am with jackets gloves and watch caps on covering the ears. They are framing the windows and setting new deck posts, making room for my outdoor shower. It will be grand, in a cottage sort of way. Indeed, adios....but remember the Winter Alphabet begins day after Christmas I believe.

Hey, I'm with MOCC.... I hope you fellas return for the Alphabet too!

Jon, your pictures are really nice! Isn't it wonderful to live in a climate with seasons?

Jo

I enjoyed your pictures Jon. That snow (combined with a good eye for photography) can really put on a beautiful show. I, myself, am planning to stay put and enjoy this hosta forum during the down time. I see it as a time to reflect, share information and pictures. So I'll be here.

Moc your mention of the outdoor shower reminded me of what you had said in an earlier thread. That is, that your husband liked to work around the house and garden, and that the outdoor shower was for him! Boy do I relate. Unfortunately our climate and size of property does not allow for a shower. Too bad for me!

Johnny, the lake-effect snow only affected western NY. That must be really bad. I lived there once. During snow storms coworkers could not travel south or north due to huge snow drifts over roads and stayed in the office over night. People got stuck with their cars in snow drifts and then got hit by snow plows.
We here in NY East only had 1 inch snow, is now in the low 30 dgrs. I tried days ago to mulch tree leaves on hosta beds, but the engine of the lawn mower cut out, too cold. But the tree service cut 2 maples down, that's good.
Bernd

OMG, Bernd, is this going to be another winter like the last? Not fit for man nor beast.

Best wishes to all for a normal winter all around.

Thanks Moc, Jo, NHL and Bernd. The snow in my pictures was last week, but it is just clear and cold now, but some flurries soon maybe.

NHL, Mother Nature has to take credit for the beauty. It was tough to frame the pictures with Shasta pulling to get a sniff of everything along the way. The White Pines are growing all around what was to be an access road for a cranberry bog that was never completed.

There is a pond that was going to be used to flood the bogs for harvesting and in case of a freeze before harvesting. It is about a 3/4 mile hike there and surprisingly another 3/4 mile back about 3 times a day as demanded by Shasta.

I tried to upload a video. Maybe the link will work.

SUCCESS!!!

Jon

Here is a link that might be useful: Pond destination

This post was edited by jonnyb023 on Wed, Nov 19, 14 at 20:04

Jon, the video worked! It is a gorgeous scene. What beautiful color. You just want to be able to pull up a chair and view it all day!

You may be right about Mother Nature taking credit for the beauty, but you get credit for capturing it in a photo! I'm not even sure how you were able to manage with Shasta pulling on the leash!

Well, you just have to wait until she fixates on a strand of grass which (I think) captures scents and then be quick, real quick.

:)

No,Mocc,Punxatawny Phil,is in Pa.,and he lives in a nice cozy house indoors,until those animal haters get him out,every Feb. 2nd! I feel sorry for the little guy. I just mean,no hostas until the spring,and I hope for a'normal'spring,whatever that is! Maybe I'll show a teaser photo before then? phil

Glad to hear you won't be hibernating, NCPhil. A nice teaser photo, do you mean perhaps what your glen looks like with the leaves gone and perhaps a bit of snow on the ground? And, of course, all the hosta sound asleep.

The contours of your property have to be challenging. Not flat ground like my small space.

Here was my countdown today and yesterday, that is get two large maples removed and a total of 5 tree stumps ground out to at least 8 inches below surface. The picture shows one pile of ground up maple from 3 stumps with holes already filled up. They had to leave all chips for me! Buddy's Tree Service today brought his smaller remote controlled grinder which could fit through my garden gate. What a show with chips flying everywere, and he controlling that heavy machine via pushing buttons on a remote!
Bernd

What a beautiful piece of property, Bernd! You could go for years just filling up that piece we see, never mind the rest of the property! How's that for Hosta heaven? You probably hear the wistfulness in my voice? Or is it a plaintive cry? Sigh...... Those wood chips are gold!

Bernd, that will help with root intrusion, won't it? I'd love to have some of those chips myself, and maybe some of the tree rounds about 2 foot tall for plant stands. I don't know how long my pine tree rounds will last. You'll have some breathing room next spring.

Josephine, 350 hostas is enough. The more hostas, the more work, so there is a limit. We have 0.45 or so acres, so not much.
moccasin, Both maples were shedding branches, did not look good, added to raking leaves, were not needed for shade. Yes, their roots were hindering hostas - now I will cut through any roots without reservation. That will help hostas. Those places of the removed 5 stumps are prime hosta property now - I am adding top soil and manure for next year. But I still need to plant the 4 hostas I had removed to facilitate grinding.
Bernd

Ken, I'm not whining about the weather. I'm whining because my hosta are so ugly and they won't go down.

bk

This is typical:

I'm with you Bkay. Mine all look awful and it takes forever for them all to go dormant. Our lowest temp was 46 last week, now our nights are in the mid-50's. I put them all in the atrium where I don't have to look at them. I go out there every 5-6 days to remove dead leaves to keep any mold/fungus issues. I'm having a real problem getting inspired to buy more right now. Whine...whine...whine. Just praying for rain here...the city is now prohibiting irrigation between 9 am and 6pm., and I can no longer wash my own car in my driveway. Whine...whine...whine.

-Babka

We've had that watering restriction for years now, except ours is 10 am to 6 pm. Now we can only water two days a week depending on your house number. My lawn is just about gone with two years of twice a week watering. It's really hard to get any watering done Thursday and Sunday before 10 am and after 6 pm. We can hand water, though. So, my hosta are safe.

A lot of it is political correctness, though. There has been huge growth of new homes to the north of Dallas. They didn't expand any of the water sources as they area grew. Then they got that Asian snail and one of the lakes was shut down while they built a new pipeline. After all, "why should those people in Dallas get to water when we don't?". So both Dallas and Ft. Worth instituted more restrictive watering rules. Now those folks in the North Texas Region feel lots better. We can't water either.

Whine, whine, whine.

bk

BKay, is that Squash Casserole? I don't think it looks too bad myself. Mine is still clinging to its color, and now we have some warmer nights again. However, with the sun lower in the sky and only a few weeks before first day of winter, I'm thinking the sun won't have the effect it had during its high-in-the-sky days.
I figured out during the summer that my problem was not keeping the hosta away from sunlight IN THE SUMMER. No, it was KEEPING THEM IN THE SHADE in the WINTER. So now is the time I'm supposed to be raising the shadecloth over them.

The hosta garden is over ankle deep in dead pecan leaves, which I must blow away before I get crowded in with shade cloth. My cloth is the 90% shadecloth, so it is very effective.

Babka, the fact you get no frost and have to contrive a dormancy for your hosta is amazing to me. Have you tried a ceiling fan to circulate air in your atrium? A tub of ice, a fan blowing cold air over them, I mean, any old port in a storm.

Note: I am ringing the bark of my smallest pecan tree to kill it. I plan to do something similar to the next pecan tree as well. But it will have to be taken out in pieces, hopefully by the young man who did the 25 fioot pine stump earlier this summer. He did not harm a single hosta.

Dormancy is a good time to do the dirty work in the garden. The house is all to pieces, the rest of the lawn is too with lumber and construction crew compressing the ground, and the hosta garden is all brown looking, so why not do ALL the messy stuff and be done with it.

Mocc- We'll get (hopefully) overnight lows in the low 40's in another month and by then all the hosta leaves will be gone. I'm convinced it is the shorter daylight hours that triggers dormancy, and the cold weather that keeps them dormant. Air circulation is not a problem with just 2x2's and shade cloth above and air space under the decking. Birds can fly thru there.

-Babka

{{!gwi}}

Babka, I always admire the look of your home. The atrium, the deck, and your landscaping--besides the hosta too. I cannot quite wrap my mind around your climate conditions though.

Phil thought south Alabama had no frost or freeze--- we are not quite that mild. You really have milder conditions for whatever reasons.

Sorry about the rationing of water. It's been dry here as well, but no restrictions on water.

Mocc- We are tempered by the ocean and bay and mountains. Mediterranean is the best way to describe us. No storms, or really high winds. Citrus and olives and avocados grow here. We don't ever get really hot or really cold, but it doesn't rain here in from about April to the end of November. Then it piddles over the winter months. 9" -12" total rainfall for the year in a good year here. (only 3" last year) The occasional earthquake makes life interesting, but the last shakers I felt were in 1989.

This is Silicon Valley. Folks come here for the weather and scenery, not to grow hostas, that is for sure.

-Babka

Yes, that's Squash Casserole.

bk

Thanks for straightening me out, Babka. I did not realize you were in Silicon Valley region.

BKay, are you still UP on Squash Casserole? You have a bit colder climate than we do here, but not enough to change the hosta behavior by much. Your SC is at least 2 years younger than mine, I think, since mine arrived in 2011 and took a while to find its groove. Last year it looked promising, and this year it performed from early to late. Your SC looks almost as mature as my first one, so next spring I bet you'll be happy with it.

Oh, I'm happy with SQ. It just looks ugly right now, as they all do. Even my So Sweet #2 looks awful.

bk

Bk, I think I understand how you feel. We northeners enjoy a fall transition, then shortly after, the cold weather does the rest and the Hostas go fully dormant. You, on the other hand in Texas seem to go through the torturous "slow-motion" dormancy stage and it must be difficult to see your hosta's mostly "limp". It really is a trade-off, isn't it?

You have a longer growing season, but with that come those periods such as you've shown us where I'm sure you'd rather just see them go dormant faster. I feel for you and your hostas! :-(

Jo

This post was edited by josephines67 on Sat, Nov 22, 14 at 15:18

bkâ¦..I went through the same thing here. Some were looking tired but when we got down to the lower 30s for a few nights three-ish weeks ago other than some looking a little limp nothing was showing signs of turning. When it warmed back up to the 50s everything perked back up to normal. I was out of town for 3 or 4 days last week and when we returned everything was either totally yellowed or mostly yellowed. I still have green in some of my stems but other than a couple that still have some green all of the leaves are solid yellow.