Hi Debbie, First I love your sunflowers beautiful.I planted different ones they bloomed but not big think need more sun.I live 60 miles south of north bay and the nights are getting cooler. I also have a pond with 10 goldfish and 2 Koi. I'm making an aqurium out of my big old freezer to put them in this winter in the basrment. I hope they do well.Do you know if i have to bring my glad bulbs in for the winter or can i leave them out. Where in northern ont. do you live?Hope to hear from you soon. happy fall gardening.DarlaMcCauley_124@hotmail.com

Just showing you a picture of some of my sunflowers from a little earlier. It's way past bedtime, but i was uploading some pictures, and thought i'd share this with you, Debbie, seeing as you showed us yours!

This was taken awhile ago - they don't look quite so pretty now! LOL

Oh, what the heck! Here's another lily that i have no idea what the name of it is!
{{gwi:2100453}}

Shasta daisies and friends:
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Miss Sunrise still looks lovely:
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One Stargazer:
{{gwi:2100456}}

And another:
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And one more:
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Some hummingbirds:
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And now it IS bedtime! Goodnight!

Marcia

Hi everyone!

It has been pouring on and off here all day, thunder storms etc, got a bit of water in the basement. Didn't do any work in the garden yesterday, but did a bit today. Moved a few buckets of stones, had to tell hubs not to put so many in or he was gonna kill me. *L* They were a bit err heavy for me to move. *L*

We moved some pots back into the garage and some bags of mulch as I won't be doing any more mulching this year. But it started to rain again so had to go in the house.

I still have a few daylilies blooming and the water lily in the pond is still blooming. Have a few blooms on the roses and of course the sunflowers are going gang busters. The hostas are blooming now too and the petunias I cut back have a few new blooms on them too. I have some purple coneflowers blooming and I think next spring I'm going to grow some more and plant them in the bare spots under the living room window. I really like these plants.
{{gwi:2100459}}

Hi pondlady, welcome! You are quite a bit south of me. *S* That idea about turning a old freezer into a inside pond sounds good. I hope it will hold water, I have never heard of that before, but sounds good! It must be wonderful to have a nice size pond like u have! Mine is only a tiny one about 4' X 6' and only 18" deep.

Glad bulbs need to come into the basement for the winter as they will not survive our winters.

Marcia, I love your sunflowers! They are beautiful! Your lilies are beautiful too, u know I lovvveeeee lilies! And that rose of yours is gorgeous! I love that colour!

Love the hummers too, do they use the ladder to reach the feeder? *LOL* I didn't know that they actually stop flying when they feed. I wonder if there are any hummers up here, I have never heard of anyone saying they have seen any. If we had them up here I sure would hang up a feeder.

Two birds with west nile virus have now been found here so that is not good. I will really have to start putting gunk on before I got outide. I hate wearing that bug stuff. I can't use the stuff with DEET and have to wear a greasy lotion stuff.... YUK. But I guess it's better than the alternative. Just have to remember to put it on. I find the OFF lantern works pretty good and I'm still using the Pic coils too.

Take care everyone have a good weekend!

Debbie :-)

Marcia, your lilies are amazing! I wish I had more, I got two last year from White Rose, and only one came up this year. (Sorry for the above space, I don't know how to get rid of it!)

Above Right now my mums Chrysanthemum rubellus Clara Curtis are stealing the show, previously held by the black-eyed susans. They really love the backyard. The one pictured here used to be only a tiny little plant last year (4-5 stems, less than 1 foot wide), and now it's massive, about 3 feet wide.




Left Last year I got an obediant plant, and this is the first time that it bloomed. Quite nice, the overall effect is quite loose and almost "frilly" when viewed from far (i.e. kitchen window). This one is actually one of the younger blooms, as the bottom ones haven't started dying off yet.


Right This seathrift plant I got this year, it was in bloom, then after that died off, it remained that way for the rest of the summer. Only recently has it been springing up new blooms. They're quite cute, and the foliage is really interesting, almost grass-like. I think it's more of a rock-garden plant, but I like it anyways ^_^.







Above This coreopsis hasn't been blooming very much this summer, but it's starting to pick up lately. I don't know why. The plant itself is very healthy and quite thick and bushy, but there's only been a scattering of blooms here and there. Oh well, as long as if it's living, that's usually fine with me! ; )





Above This picture I entitle "Colour Wonderful" (like the hair product... Clairol? Can't remember). Anywho, the purple coneflowers are fading, but they're still quite nice as they are taking on more earthy tones as opposed to the purer purple that they had for most of the summer. The obediant plant is in the middle of it's blooming stage. And the star of the backyard, the black-eyed susans. These get very big very quickly in my backyard, it's been insane on how such little seedlings grow to be large plants in just 1 or 2 growing seasons!


Oh well, that's enough for me!

-Audric

Thanks for the compliment, Audric! :) The lilies must have liked our cooler summer this year, because i really haven't done a lot with them (other than the usual incantations!). The only problem is that there are never enough!

My coneflowers are just starting to bloom now, and they just happen to be planted with some pink lilies, and the effect is not too bad! I'd post some pictures but don't feel like fighting with Photobucket right about now. The chrysanthemum i planted last year is now blooming - it's called "Dendranthemum Rubrum" and there's a small shot of it over in Far Northern Gardening. Sometimes Photobucket makes pictures smaller than you actually want. Anyway, Audric, i was going to say that it was not very big when it was planted, but is quite large now too.

There's one daylily out there just ready to POP! It's "Strawberry Candy" and there are about a dozen buds on it! I'd better get the camera ready!

I have two sea thrift in my rock bed, but they've been a little overwhelmed by other stuff in there and they didn't bloom this year. I think something needs to be done with that bed!

Hey, our weather finally got warm again, but it has been raining all weekend so i haven't gotten much done except some weeding! This morning, i went out on the deck to wait for the coffee to brew. There's one little hummer that didn't leave with her brother and sister, and she came to the feeder while i was out there. (No, Debbie, they DON'T use the ladder! LOL) Anyway, i compared her just now with the hummingbird pictures above, and she has a fat little belly! Notice that those are a bit streamlined? She doesn't seem to be. I wonder if she's a little piggy or if she's just getting more food now that the others are gone. Anyway, i hope she's strong enough to leave soon because i guess she'll be travelling by herself. Hummingbirds WILL perch to feed if there are perches for them on the feeder. Most flowers don't have perches, so they hover in front of them. I've been treated to close-up views of hummers several times, and they're amazing little things.

Anyway, i should get myself going now. I need to go over to my daughter's and feed the grandcats, since she and her bf are gone to Winnipeg for the weekend.

Btw, Thunder Bay peoples, i'll be there next weekend. Anyone want to get together? There must be sales at the nurseries, eh?! :)

Marcia

Reading your messages makes me feel like I live in the tropics or something.... actually, I am just outside Ottawa. Our nights are around 11 or 12 Celsius these days, days 23 to 25. But the signs of fall are unmistakable here too: lots of blue jays making a racket, mums getting ready to bloom, and that feeling.... it's almost over for this year, guys! Take care!

Heh - tropics. Today this must be the rain forest! LOL It has been pouring down off and on since yesterday, and there's finally some water in the beaver pond again!

Anyway, i had a couple of fights with Photobucket between yesterday and today, and i think i finally won! :) Here's my dendranthemum/chrysanthemum (whatever they're calling it these days!):
{{gwi:2100465}}

I know i once had the name for this daylily, but i can't find the tag and can't find where i might have written down what it is. It's the one i thought was "Strawberry Candy", but i remember now that SC didn't survive a couple of winters ago.
{{gwi:2100466}}

And here's a daylily that was just labelled "Orange":
{{gwi:2100467}}

Happy Soggy Labour Day!
Marcia

About that light yellow or ivory daylily with a raspberry eye - is it full size or is it a miniature? If it is full size, it could be called Moonlight Masquerade, and if it is a miniature, it could be Siloam Tee Tiny.

It's full sized, but neither of those names sound familiar. Maybe if i go through some stuff, i'll find the name written down somewhere. For some reason "Sentinel" comes to mind, but i have "Silent Sentry", so maybe that's what i'm thinking of.

Thanks for the suggestins, though!

Hello everyone!

Has been a hot and wet couple of days here and very humid on top of that. Our parquet in our kitchen has lifted in a few spots and I have to be careful I don't trip over it. *ugh* We are going to Canadian Tire tomorrow and pick up a dehumidifer, if they have any in stock. My humidex is showing 75% mositure in the house and we need to get it down.

My purple phlox are blooming like crazy and smelling nice, not as nice as the white ones, but still a nice fragrance.
{{gwi:2100468}}

Welcome Audric, very nice pictures! I love the obediant plant, I don't think I have ever seen one before. Very pretty.

We have lots of goldfinches around at the feeders still, I guess they are getting ready for their flight south. Very pretty.

{{gwi:2100469}}

{{gwi:2100470}}

The mountain ash berries are nice and orangey red and I'm hoping that the Evening Grossbeakes find them this year.

I have a few daylilies still blooming and getting ready to bloom.

{{gwi:2100471}}

{{gwi:2100472}}

{{gwi:2100473}}

Marcia, mayb that one hummer of yours that is a bit chubby has been using the ladder.... LOL I hope she leaves soon so she can catch up with the others, so she won't be flying south by herself.

Are u going to try to find those hostas u wanted in Thunderbay? Be very careful when buying hostas, there seems to be an outbreak of a bad virus called Hosta X this year. The hostas I got from Walmart this year, the six Sum and Sumbstance I got in a bag, I dug up threw in the garbage just a few weeks ago and Francee I got from there to, I threw out. I wasn't going to take a chance that they had it. I had seen a few Gold Standards in Walmart that looked very errrr strange so I wasn't taking a chance that it would infect my other hostas here at home.
U didn't have water in the beaver pond until now? Gee I could of sent ya all the rain we've gotten this year. We had over 132mm in August alone, we've broke records for June, July and Augst for rain! *ugh*

Marcia, whatever those daylilies are called,,,,they are beautiful! I have one that someone sent me that I just can't find the name to anywhere! I have looked all over and still can't find it. It bloomed the first time the beginning of August and now it is blooming again. I think it is a Candy one,,,,but which one? LOL {{gwi:2100381}}

Hello Shapiro,, welcome! Compared to me u do live in the tropics! *LOL* Though the past few days it sure has felt like the tropics here, hot and very humid!

Take care everyone
Debbie :-)

Hi Buddies!

Wow..I can't believe it's Sept. already...where did the summer start and end?

I love everyone's pics...gorgeous flowers!

I've been busy moving plants in every bed. I bet I've moved over 50% of them.Some of them I put into a holding bed I made behind the greenhouse until I find homes for them.

Still trying to rip out the lilac roots from the shade bed too, so I can get that weigala into it's place...not an easy task. I broke one shovel and bent the heck out of my pitchfork tackling it. I may need Steve to winch it out with the quad....although that didn't even work for the hops vine.....lol

The kids are back at school.....yippeee. Now I'm trying to organize and clean up the house I've neglected all summer.

The nights sure are chilly, but so far, no frost in my yard..YET!

My brugs are just starting to get buds, and now I'm afraid they won't have enough warm weather to bloom.Only the variegated one has had 3 blooms so far, with another 20 on the way.I may have to move some of them into the greenhouse.

The tomatoes & hot peppers are slowly ripening. I pulled my bell pepper plants out, as they seemed to be disgruntled about blooming for some reason. Could have been the aphid problem earlier in the season....who knows..oh well.

Don't have to worry about making pickles this year..the cukes are horrible this year! I'm just going to let the few that are there to grow big eating size and that's it!

No sign of pumpkins either.The made little 'kins and then they would fall off the vine..never had that problem before.

Just not a good veggie growing year.Better luck next year.....lol

Hey *Marcia*...I'm thrilled you're coming to town again!
Wouldn't hurt to take a trip to Vanderwees and see what they have there, although I bet it won't be much, but ya never know.Do you want to hook up Sat. or Sun.? Either day is fine with me (the Nascar race is Sat. nite)
If anyone else wants to get together, let me know and we'll make a date..maybe swap plants or seeds if anyone has any to share? I'm looking forward to it!

Well, just a quick post. Time to get in gear for another day!

Talk to ya'll later, Gale

Glad you posted, Gale! I was going to phone you tonight if i didn't hear from you. My email is down at this school AND my darn ISP has gone under, so i have no internet at home right now! I'll be in Thunder Bay tomorrow evening sometime and will give you a call then. Vanderwees or wherever - i'd like to look around and maybe pick up some stuff for fall planting. Maybe they have those hostas i was thinking about, and i'm interested in a shrub called Sambucus "Sutherland's Gold". It can take some shade, and i'd like to plant it at the back of the house. There was one at one nursery here, but by the time i had made up my mind and gone back, it was sold! :(

I have no cucumbers either, though we'll have a few tomatoes, but nothing to write home about. There are a few peppers too, but they should have been way better, considering how nice the plants were when i put them in the ground. I've been freezing beans and did a couple of bags of broccoli last night too.

Hey - found the name of that daylily! "El Desperado"! Someone at Far Northern had suggested one name, and when i googled that name (even though i knew it wasn't that one, "Canadian Border Patrol", i wanted to see the colour), i found a site that listed daylilies by colour. Didn't take long! I've made sure to write it down in several places now, and someone else was singing the Eagles' "Desperado" to me, so i just might remember it now! LOL

Gotta run - i'm at work, and have to start packing up the library in this little school. Down to about 3 kids, and i'm sure this will be it for this place. Sad...

K - talk to you tomorrow, Gale, and to everyone else later. Hope there are some more TBayers out there who read this and want to get together!

Marcia

Hi! everybody - my name is Pat. Ottawa broke every record going today: 122 mms of rain in 24 hours - guys, in "old speak" that's nearly 5 inches of rain in one day. Thank you, Hurricane Frances! I guess we don't have to worry about our trees and shrubs going into the winter season dry. And Ivan is not far behind. There are still some plants in my garden that have not bloomed yet: asters and mums. The Sedum Autumn Joy just started to bloom and the garlic chives is blooming, too. Both are covered with bees and wasps. We have had hummingbirds around till just a couple of days ago. We leave the feeders up till the end of September, in case some stragglers come through.

It has been a good vegie season here, all except the bush beans, production has been low, due to fairly cool weather. The eggplant and peppers are going crazy - I have to make buckets of ratatouille this weekend!

Best of luck to you all!

Hi Everyone!

Another nice day here today, I even put shorts on for a while, but didn't want to scare the neighbours too much so put my long jeans back on. *LOL*

I glued the rest of the bricks onto the landscaping ties, so that bed is now ready to get topped off when dirt and I will plant it next spring when the hostas come up.

I picked the tomatoes in pots in the backyard and pulled out the cucumbers. They hadn't done a thing all summer.
I also pulled out the annuals out of about six pots on the patio and caught the 2 fish and moved them back into the house and emptied their rubbermaid tote. I still have the spillway container running but the water level is just not up high enough to spill over. Man, does the patio ever look big now that all the pots are out of the way. *LOL* I also pulled some annuals in the hosta bed too.

Tomorrow if it's nice, I'm going to try and get hubs to fill up that bed with dirt so then I can put the stones down around it to keep the weeds down.

I also had two huge rubbermaid totes on the patio filled with drapes and blankets I use on the plants when it's cold, so we dragged those in the house and washed those.

Our nice neighbour next door is getting taken advantage of for a ice dam leaky roof that the previous owner knew about and now they want me to go to court to tell the judge about the icicles on the roof. They have started extending their porch out so that they could extend their roof out to sort of get the dip out of it, so the water wouldn't settle there and dam up in the winter time. I felt so sorry for them, that they have found out what a real jerk the previous owner was, now she is the same club we are. We thought he was nice, but now we know better. *sigh*

She is trying to add more gardens so has been asking my advice and showing me her plants. It's nice to have a nice neighbour that likes gardening!

Gale, why are u moving all your plants? Are they getting too big? I guess it was a good thing I moved my little lilac bush when I could this year. It was really easy, son just grabbed it and ripped it out. *L* I'm glad I didn't leave it where it was now after reading the trouble you're having moving yours!

Gale, will your brugs bloom in the house, now that they have gotten buds on them?

Marcia, only 3 kids at one school? Yikes, that is sad.

Pat, hat is a lot of rain! I was talking to a lady from Belleville and she was saying the same thing, they got over 100mm of rain ffrom Frances! I told her to keep the rain there, we have been enjoying 3 days of nice sunny weather after a very wet and cool summer!

Well time to get going. Marcia, have a good time in Tbay and drive safe!

Debbie :-)

Hi , gardening is my favorite passtime. I'm always changing things around which my husband can't understand although I try to explain to him that gardening is trial and error. He now helps more since he's retired but grumbles a bit. My grape tomatoes are doing pretty good considering the rotten summer we got. The cukes are pretty good too since they're planted by a cement wall which keeps them warm.I have a rock garden that I'm quite proud of and would like to show you a picture of it but don't know how to put it in here.

Hi again, would someone explain to me how to put my pictures in here?
Thank you
claire

Claire, the first step to posting pictures within the messages is fist uploading them to a remote-linking image-hosting website. They may sound complex, but it's simply a site that allows to to put images there so you can show them on boards, such as these. Photobucket is a very common one. I use it for the pictures that you saw in this thread, as well as the pictures in my member page.

If you're using photobucket, they make it quite easy to post. In your album, underneath each picture they have three small headings: Url, Tag, and Img. Simply click on the text beside of the heading "Tag," copy it (ctrl+c) and paste it (ctrl+v) in the spot, in the message, where you want to put it. It should look something like , but without the spaces inbetween the "". When you preview the message, the picture should appear right there, like this!

It's not that hard, a few tries and you'll get it down pat!

-Audric

Hello everyone!

I worked in the garden today, digging out the good soil for an old bed and putting it in the railway tie bed I'm trying to fill up for hostas. Hubs has been a big help to me and we have almost filled it to the top.

The lady next door said she has a helper up here helping with their roof repairs and moving her plants around that if i want him to help move stones to the backyard just to let her know. So as soon as I get the backyard ready for stones I'm going to ask her if I can borrow her helper. *LOL*

Hubs and i wanted to go down south for my mom's 80th birthday, but we can't find anyone to look after the house and the animals, so we will be going for Thanksgiving. I haven't seen mom for a year and a half since she was in the hospital and her back is still causing her a lot of troubles since she fractured it a couple of months ago, so I want to go and spend some time with her.

I tried to catch some fish again today, but I missed the one I was trying for and none of the others came up to eat...so I'll have to try again tomorrow *L* The hornwort keeps getting in the way.

My sunflowers, purple phlox, one lone water lily in pond, purple coneflowers and dayliles are still blooming. I picked a couple small zucchinis today too.

Claire, welcome! What zone are u in?

Gale, how is your plant moving coming along?

Jak, how are u doing, how did your gardens do this year?

Marcia, how is the renovations coming along?

Take care
Debbie :-)

Thanks bonsai going to try that photo bucket right now so I can show off my flowers too heehee!

Hi all! I'm finally back online! And high-speedily, no less! LOL

Gale and i had a great visit in Thunder Bay on the weekend. We hit three different nursuries and i came home with several plants, some bulbs, and of course some of Gale's offerings! And i found the hosta "Summer Music"! It has been planted in a shade bed already, along with some Lamium "Golden Nuggets" that i bought as well. I got some statice too (can't remember the latin offhand), and a small campanula "Hot Lips". I took some pictures at Gale's but haven't put them on the computer yet - too busy trying to set up this internet service. I still haven't gotten my email set up properly through Outlook Express, but i can get it on the web, so that's okay.

Anyhow, i should get going and change my email address at a few sites. Will write more another night!

Marcia

Hi bonsai I think you were the one wanting to know my zone? Im not sure but I am 100 miles north of north Bay!

Hi
It was another rainy day here today, but we got a bit done.

Son came over and caught the last 4 fish. I found one floating dead in the tank today though, the blind one, so that was sad. It was about 6" long. He told me today that I would need to buy bigger bags to transport them in from pond to house as the last one he caught today just barely fit in the baggie! He brought in one water lily and the last pump yesterday too. There was a water lily blooming so he just cut the bloom off and placed it in a vase for me to enjoy.

Today I finished picking the last of the tomatoes and placed them on newspapers on the plant stand. The others there are ripening slowly.

Marcia, u went to high speed? Kewl. How are the renovations coming along? Sounds like u got some nice plants too and Summer Music? That is a nice hosta. I would try to use something other than Outlook Express, u get hacked a lot using that and a lot of viruses come thru there. I used Outlook Express for about one week and ended up getting hacked, I deleted it. First time I used it and first time in 7 years I got hacked too. *touch wood*

Claire, I was the one asking about your zone. You could be in zone 4 or 3. I know Timmins is zone 3, but don't know what zone North Bay is.

I also found out the name of the pretty daylily in the rose garden. It is called Wineberry Candy and it is blooming like crazy still.
{{gwi:2100475}}

And here is another Lemon Teddy

{{gwi:2100476}}

Take care everyone

Debbie :-)

Hi
It was sunny today until I got up then the sun disappeared and we got rain. I tell ya people should pay me to stay in bed. *LOL*

We didn't get any dirt shovelled today or stones moved. We had to go to the mall to pick up a dehumidifier, a sympathy for a couple I have chatted with in a garden chat fo six years, whose daughter died from a blood clot in her lungs. So sad.

The neighbours are redoing the front of their house and roof and came over and cut the bottom of my garden gate so now I can put some stones under it and still be able to close the gate. It is so nice to have nice neighbours! She showed me her new raised garden beds and they look great! They are also expanding their balcony to be big like ours is. So we are sharing ideas, that is nice! *S*

Jak, how are u doing? Tina, are u out there? How is work coming along? Gale, are u still moving plants? Janet, how is the pond coming along? I didn't have to clean the pond filters once this summer! That is amazing!

Take care everyone and check in and tell us how u are doing.

Debbie :-)

Hi all! Thanks for asking about me Debbie - I have been very busy this summer and have neglected my internet friends!

My veggie garden did o.k. but my tomatoes got wilt. They produced all right but looked very ugly. My asparagus beans - a new variety this year - were a waste of space, I won't try them again. My garlic did great, as did things like lettuce, carrots, beets, chard,and beans. We are slowly taking out plants now, cleaning up those raised beds and getting ready to plant garlic for next Spring.

My shade garden was competely ignored this year. Because the weather was cool, we never even went back there, sitting on the porches or lawns instead. Our pool was just plain cold, I went in about 6 times, grandson about 3 times (including the one time he fell in head first - he always wears a life jacket inside the pool fence, thank goodness.). Husband was there and kept calm, helped him out, told him he was diving already at only two years old, child went from being frightened to being rather pleased. We are starting swimming lessons this morning!

The pool was cold because there were huge trees all around it, so the sun wasn't getting there. I had a tree service take 8 trees down (mostly Manitoba Maple, which often fall down all by themselves!!!)to allow sun on the pool. The tree service chipped them up for me and left it for me to use as mulch, so Mulch Mountain has kept me in shape all summer *LOL*.

We both have arthritis in our hips now so we decided we should sell our beautiful home and move to a bungalow. This means that we worked like crazy to get done all of the things that bugged us about this house in the first place *LOL* and then started looking in nearby towns. Found the perfect house, offered, accepted, then someone else bought it out from under us. Found another *almost* perfect house, but the owner refused to negotiate any terms - no flexibility on price, closing date, wanted double down payment, refused a survey - the house has been for sale for 6 months, guess why it hasn't sold!! So we took down our sign, had a glass of wine, and decided to stay a while longer.

Meanwhile, I had DS dig out the dead weeping mulberry and planted a Gingko Beloba Pendula instead; took out most of the sad looking flowers from the front (north side) and put beautiful ferns there instead, ripped out the lilies (decimated by red lily beetle) and prepared that bed for daylilies instead, did the Weed Control thing on the lawns, did the Grub Control thing on the lawns, did the Grass Seed thing on the lawns, and mulched, mulched, mulched, so the place looks the best it has in twenty five years. And the pool is in the sun!

My side garden has red leaved and green leaved cannas, and giant nicotania that I got on a trade, shasta daisies, purple coneflower, and datura, all blooming now, very crowded but looking very lush, thanks to Frances. (I am near Ottawa too, so last week we got the rain of the century). Havent had to top up the pool all summer - good for the water bills *ha ha*!

So all is well. DD is working away, loving her job as a 911 responder and enjoying the Fire Department; DS is driving us nuts, hanging around here with a long face because he isn't working and has no money (duh!); DH at least feels we made an effort to move, which is what he has wanted for a while, and most of the work here is done or is contracted. So I am looking forward to a little consulting work, and some fun with our little one, whithout the nagging feeling that I should be doing something else.

That's all, folks. Enough already, too, I bet you're thinking!

Cheers!

Hi all.

Things have been pretty busy around here as well. Finally got Jasmine in her bedroom downstairs and are working on the rest of the basement now. Painted the floors yesterday.

DHs father passed away 3 wks ago so we were (still are) busy with family throughout. He was a lovely man and is missed a lot by all of us, particularly his wife - 61 yrs of marriage!!

Kids are back in school- yay!! and both started jobs at call centers the first week of school. Finally.

The new job is great. First week I wandered around figuring things out - now I'm already crazy busy with implementing improvements, catching up on stuff that had backlogged. Great bunch of people to work with, I think I am going to be happy there.

The garden is a wild jungle. Picked all the tomatos, tomatillos yesterday - most still green but I dont' want to have to deal with picking them during the week if there is a frost warning. So it'll be the daily 'red' check instead.
Should get a fair amount of sp. sauce canned in the next few weeks.
I left the peppers as some of them are starting to redden. Easy enough to pick them if frost is imminent. Out of 3 sp. squash vines I have on squash growing. I don't think I'll be growing them again next yr. All the room the vines take up for so little produce. The most we've ever had is 4 sq. Lots of zukes - I'll be shredding and freezing.
Cukes were pathetic, I pulled them last weekend. About half dozen misshappen cukes - no pickles here this yr. But...tonnes of dill!! Oh well, good thing I like to use dill in winter stews and soups.
Have frozen alot of beans already and will be canning the remainder I picked yesterday today. Still some on the vine I will leave to seed. Onions picked and drying, will be braiding them this week sometime.

Pulled a lot of out of control annuals yesterday to make it easier to go in and start cleaning the beds. I will not plant purple datura again - big plants with dissappointing blooms. Not showy enough for me, the flowers don't stand out enough against the dark coloured stems. I actually like the whites better. If I can find some yellows for next yr I'll try those.

So still have to do my seed collecting.
Still a lot flowering in my front beds. Lots of things reflowering for the second or even third time - what a strange yr its been!!
The cannas are in full bloom - not the best blooms, the soil is too acidic still but will amend it after I pull all the summer bulbs in preparation for the spring bulbs.
Are you all getting ready for spring bulb planting? What are you planting this yr?

Been reading along, just not having time to post lately. Glad to hear you're all doing well.
Marcia, sorry I missed you when you were in town - this has been my first 'free' weekend since FILs passing. That and getting into the swing of having a full time job again! Hopefully next time I'll be able to join you guys in the nursery trips/get together.

Well, enough from me for sure!
Tina

Hi again bonsai, I still can't put my pics in here, PHOTO BUCKET won't sign me in. I am in zone 3
Thanks
Claire

Hi all

I finally got back in the garden this morning. Being on the receiving end of school children, start up was hectic as usual. Last week, however, it was even more hectic as we had to reorganize classes since we got an additional teacher. Oh well, it was a good thing as a number of split classes became straight grades.

Back to the garden, hubby went out and bought a number of bulbs and we got those planted this morning. Hopefully, we should have a nice show of flowers next spring. The geraniums in the garden are now blooming (they just grew leaves over the summer) and if it doesn't freeze for another couple of weeks, I may see my delphiniums bloom too. Perennials over all seem to be in pretty good shape unlike the annuals who are looking a mess these days. They need to be pulled and tossed into the compost bin.

I need to get back to doing some school work tonight. I just thought I would pop in and give a short update.

Danni

Hi everyone!

It was another nice day here today. I emptied out some more pots, brought in some more garden ornaments and pulled out some more geraniums and put them in paper bags.

We have so many bags to put to the street this week I'm going to have to help hubs. *L* We have a new by law that says we can't put our garbage out the night before because of bears, and last week hubs missed the time to put it out so we have twice as much as usual, plus all the leaf bags from the garden too. I sure hope they pick up everything.

Found out our drain in the kitchen sink was leaking and under the cupboards is all wet. So I had to clean that up and disinfect it, put a fan on it to try and dry up the cupboards. Plumber is coming in the morning. *ugh*

Hubs was sick today so we didn't work on the stones and I'm getting anxious. I just hope the warm weather holds out. Had a big thunderstorm tonight. I hope the sun will be out tomorrow and dry things up a bit.

Hey Jak! Nice to hear from u again. Sorry about the tomato wilt, that is too bad. We had blight one year and it was awful.

Glad to hear grandson is ok after his dip in the pool. I liked the comment hubs made about his diving already. *L*

Sure sounds like u have been very busy this summer, especially with 8 tree worth of mulch to move. *L* Our stone mountain kept me in shape all summer too. I'm too scared to get on the scale to see how much weight I lost I just know that my belt needed to be tightened up two holes and if it isn't my pants start to fall down. *LOL*

I'm sorry to hear about your arthritis. I have that too and this damp summer sure didn't help it any. Maybe u could change your living quarters to the main floor? Glad daughter is doing well and enjoys her job, get ds to help in the garden helping u out to pay for his supper. *S*

Son and I are talking again and that is nice. He was over quite a bit last week and helped out. He was away this weekend at a aircadet conference and I'm sure I'll hear all about it tomorrow after work. He is now a commissioned officer in the airforce.

Hi Tina, I'm sorry to hear about your father in law. :-(

Glad u are enjoying your new job and staying out of trouble. Errrr u ARE staying out of trouble aren't you? *L* I don't know what happened to the cukes this year, we didn't get a flower, never mind a fruit, Guess just not enough sun.

I collected some seeds from the dwarf lavertera today. I looked at my petunias, but I can't figure out where the seeds are. *LOL* I planted Jolly Jester marigolds this year and i won't be planting them next year. I thought they would be shorter and the flower would be much bigger. They grew like wild flowers, not like marigolds, I like the shorter marigolds that stay neat and tidy.

I'm not planting spring bubls this year. I killed a lot of spring bulbs when I did the raised beds too. I will miss them in spring, but not the weeds. *S*

Hi Danni, your delphinums haven't bloomed yet? Are they normally this late? What kind of spring bulbs did u get?

Take care
Debbie :-)

Hi Deb

The delphiniums are new as of this year. They are the Fountain type and because it was their first year, I didn't expect them to bloom at all. It will be interesting to see if they manage to bloom before the first killing frost.

As to bulbs, we got some fringed tulips, pastel tulips and some mixed packages of hyacinths, grape hyacinths and daffodils. The mixed packages were planted in the planters where I have some hostas located. Another package of mixed bulbs went in the front bed. The pastel tulips were planted under the crab tree in the front and the other two packages of fringed tulips are in the bed along the fence. Since hubby had bought the bulbs, I didn't know how much they were and my jaw dropped when he told me we had just planted $90.00 worth of bulbs. It sure didn't seem like 90 bucks worth. Sheesh!

I sure hope you get your drain fixed as dripping water can cause a lot of damage. You keep mentionning rocks and moving rocks...I must have missed it but how did you end up with so many rocks and what are you doing with them?

Danni

Hi Everyone

It was another nice and hot day here today. It has been nicer in September than it has been in July. *L*

Moved some stones ysterday, but today it was too warm for me to do any.

Danni, I am using stones on the walkways and old gardens that I have covered over to help keep the weeds down. I use to use wood chips on the paths, but went to stones this year so I just have to do it once and it is done. The wood chips broke down in about 3 years and I'd have to repeat the process.

I dug up my rose garden this summer and have 120' of raised beds put in and then moved the roses and hostas and lilies back into the raised beds. Then I covered the rest of the floor of the rose garden in stones and have lots more room to sit out there. I just like the look of it better. Instead of a cottage garden, it is two tier raised beds running along the fence. I will not have enough stones to do all the back yard, so will need to do more work on it next summer. If I could get the dump truck to dump the load over the fence into the backyard it would be a heck of a lot easier than dragging it from the front driveway thru the rose garden, pass the pond, along the side of the house to the backyard. *LOL* I'm bushed by the time I get one bucket pulled around to the back. *L*

I did look at bulbs at Walmart, they had 8 tulips for almost 4 bucks I think it was. But I didn't get any. I can believe that your hubs spent 90 dollars as some of them sure seem to cost alot. But they will be pretty in the spring. *S* I had Magic Fountain delphs but i pulled them out this year and put in a raised beds. I don't think they were the Magic Fountain really tho as they were just too tall and they were always falling over whether I tied them or not. Too much fiddle for me so out they came.

Hubs has brought me home 3 suitcases I ordered thru Sears to decide which one I want. The first two were really too big. I want one with wheels, after all I am getting older and I can't be carrying hockey bags thru Union Station anymore. *L* So I am keeping a Samsonite 26", I sure hope I'll have enough room in there. *L* I had order a 30" one too but it was too big, so son is going to get that one. They were on sale for almost 190 bucks off! We're going to mom's before Thanksgiving and coming back after Thanksgiving and I needed a bag I could handle. I haven't seen her in over a year when she was still in hospital with her heart attack. I will find a big change in her as she has lost a lot of weight and has shrunk more in height too after fracturing two discs in her back a few months ago. It will be nice to be with my family at Thanksgiving too!

Take care
Debbie :-)

Hey Debbie, you must get tired of us slackers, not holding up our end of this thread! Sorry! But i figured that since this is the last day of the month, we might as well have some action! LOL

It has actually been a nice month, hasn't it? Seems to be all coming to an end quickly, but the longer-range forecast is for a decent October too, so maybe all is not quite lost. I put all my containers in the cold frame - what i could squeeze in there, that is. The others are covered. In other years i've had covered plants last a long time.

I'd better finish this off quick. My computer is acting funny, and i don't want to lose this before it posts. Happy October, all!

Marcia

LOL @ Marcia

I think I just got tired! *LOL*

I'm making a October thread~~~~

Debbie :-)